Every unit may go on every other
There are no forbidden moves. You can pour anywhere there is room. Getting stuck is impossible. The difficulty sits in the move limit.
Sorting puzzle for iPhone
Sort until every jar is clean
Pour colours, shapes and number runs into jars. A level takes about a minute. 1000 levels are waiting on twenty islands, plus a daily level every day. Buy once, play everything.
How it plays
Every level is a fixed board with a few jars and one rule.
One to three stars
The fewer moves you need, the more stars you get. One star is enough to move on. For 100 per cent you need three everywhere.
Islands instead of a list
Levels are grouped into islands of fifty, laid out on an archipelago map. The next island opens once you have collected enough stars.
Points come from playing
Every star earns you ten points. They buy extra moves, an undo or five more seconds. That only lifts the limit, the star threshold stays the same. The points themselves are not for sale.
A daily level, every day. One board a day, the same for everyone. Keep at it and a streak builds up; every fifth solved day earns a streak freeze that covers a missed one. If you like, the iPhone reminds you once a day at a time you pick.
Replaying costs nothing. Every level has a fixed board and runs faster on the second attempt because you already know it. There are no lives, no hearts and no waiting.
Six ways to sort
It is always about sorting, only the rule changes. The rules combine: a timed level made of shapes with target jars is perfectly normal.
Colours
Every jar has to end up in one colour. That is the basic form, from level one.
Target jars
One colour per jar is not enough. The right colour has to end up in the right jar.
Shapes × colours
A terracotta block and a terracotta circle are two different units. You have to read colour and shape at once.
Split colours
One colour fills two jars. You have to work out which one.
Number runs
One colour per jar and in the right order. A mark above the jar shows where the one belongs. A cross means the jar has to end up empty.
Against the clock
The clock can join any rule. The last level of every island runs against time.
What Alembic does not do
The following is missing on purpose.
- No ads. Not even rewarded videos. No ad SDK goes into the app.
- No in-app purchases. You buy the app once and play everything. No subscription, no gacha, no purchasable points.
- No account and no server. Your progress stays on the device. The app calls nothing on its own.
- No analytics and no tracking. No statistics services, no advertising identifiers, no crash reporting. More on that in the privacy policy.
- No lives and no waiting. After a lost level you can carry on straight away.
For iPhone, on the App Store.
Alembic is a paid app for iPhone running iOS 18 or newer: buy once, play all 1000 levels and every daily level. What has shipped stays as it is. Your stars never end up on a different board.
Questions, bugs or wishes? Write to alembic@paloaltea.app. A person answers.