Arcade Whale
Arcade Whale OriginalMade in-house, free to play
Pour Merge
- Developer
- Arcade Whale
- Genre
- Sort & Merge
- Released
- Updated
- Platforms
- Browser (desktop, mobile, tablet)
- Orientation
- Landscape
- Players
- Single player
How to play
Tap / click a tube, then a matching or empty tube to pour · 1-9 pick a tube · U undo · R restart · Enter next level
About Pour Merge
Pour Merge is what happens when a water sort puzzle and 2048 are put in the same box. Tiles carry numbers, you pour them between tubes as you would colours, and pouring a value onto a matching value merges the two into a doubled tile.
That merge changes the arithmetic of the genre completely. In a normal sorter, moving a tile is neutral — the tile still exists and still needs a home. Here a successful pour removes two tiles and creates one, which means the board can actually shrink through play rather than only through completed tubes.
The consequence is that you are chasing doubling chains. Merging two fours into an eight is fine; setting the board up so that the new eight immediately lands on another eight, and that sixteen on another sixteen, is how the higher goals get reached before the tubes jam. Spotting those chains before you commit to the first pour is the skill.
Every pour you make is followed by a new drop landing in one of the tubes, and a level is lost when no legal pour is left. So pouring purely to tidy up is a losing habit: every pour should either merge something or set up a merge. Empty tubes remain precious for the same reason as in any sorter — they are the only home for a value with no partner yet.
Undo, restart, boosters and a shop are all available for when a level resists. Tap a tube to pick it up, then tap a matching-value or empty tube to pour. Runs in the browser on phone and desktop with nothing to install.
The levels travel through four places: a warm corner café, a greenhouse under a glass roof, a cool glass lab and a neon night bar. Each new stage is announced when you reach it — the goal climbs from 16 to 32, 64, 128 and finally 256, the shelf grows from four tubes to six, and from the lab onward some levels are tight shelves with one tube short while others are breathers with a lower goal. After the night bar the levels keep coming: each new level takes one of the lab and bar shelves, never the same one twice in a row, the worlds keep rotating, and the new drop is a little less forgiving about where it lands. The game opens on the furthest level you reached. On a keyboard, the number keys 1 to 9 pick and pour tubes, U undoes, R restarts and Enter moves to the next level.
Frequently asked questions
How does merging work?
Pouring a tile onto another tile of the same value merges them into a single tile of double that value, in the same way 2048 combines matching numbers. Two fours become an eight, two eights become a sixteen, and so on.
Where can I pour?
Onto a tube whose top tile matches your value, or into an empty tube. It is the same restriction as a water sort puzzle, with merging added on top.
How do I reach the higher goals before the tubes jam?
Look for chains before you pour. A merge that immediately creates a tile which can merge again, and again, covers far more ground than several isolated merges. Pours that neither merge nor set up a merge only bring the next drop closer to jamming the shelf.
What is the goal of each level?
Each level sets a target value — the GOAL tile — and you clear the level by merging up to it. A new drop lands after every pour, and the level is lost only when no legal pour is left. Undo, restart, boosters and a shop are available if a level proves stubborn.
Does Pour Merge run out of levels?
No. The levels pass through four worlds — Corner Café, Greenhouse, Glass Lab and Night Bar — and then keep coming: each new level reuses one of the late shelves, never the same one twice in a row, with a drop that is a little less forgiving. Your furthest level is saved and the game opens there.
