Coin Sort is a free online coin sorting puzzle you can play in the browser with no download and no account. A pile of coins lands on the counter and each till drawer has an amount printed on the front. Your job is to share the pile out so every drawer holds exactly that amount, using every coin. It is the only sorting game here whose rule is arithmetic rather than color: two drawers can want the same total and be filled with completely different coins, and a drawer one cent over is as wrong as one left empty. The pile is always dealt from a working answer before you see it, so a solution definitely exists — usually more than one, because ten cents is two fives just as happily as it is a five, two twos and a one. Twelve levels take you from two drawers and six small coins to five drawers and thirty-five, with unlimited undo throughout.
How to play Coin Sort
- Each drawer shows the amount it wants and, underneath, how much it still needs. The counter below holds every coin you have to work with.
- Tap a drawer to make it the active one, then tap coins on the counter to drop them straight in. You do not need to pick the drawer again between coins.
- When a drawer reaches its amount exactly it turns green and the active drawer moves on to the next unfinished one.
- Overshoot and the drawer turns red and says how far over it is. Tap any coin inside a drawer to take it back out onto the counter.
- The level is done when every drawer is exactly full and the counter is empty. Every coin has to be used — the printed amounts always add up to the whole pile.
- Undo steps back one action at a time. Tip Out returns every coin to the counter if you want to start the arrangement from scratch.
- New Till deals a completely different pile for the same level, seeded so a level you replay comes back the same until you ask for a new one.
- A solve with no undos is three stars; up to four undos is two.
Tips
- Place the biggest coins first. A fifty has only a handful of drawers it can possibly go in, while a one fits almost anywhere — so the big coins carry nearly all the information about the answer.
- Read the remainder, not the total. The number under each drawer is what it still needs, which is exactly the question you are answering with the next tap.
- Watch the last digit. A drawer needing an amount ending in 1, 3, 7 or 9 must take an odd number of one-cent coins, and there are usually not many of those.
- If two drawers want the same amount they are interchangeable, so do not agonise over which one gets which coins — swapping them costs nothing.
- When you get stuck, count what is left on the counter and compare it with the sum the drawers still need. They always match, and seeing which drawer the leftover fives have to go in often unlocks the rest.
- Fill the awkward drawer first. The one wanting a total that no single coin gets close to is the one that decides the layout; the round drawers can mop up afterwards.
- Tip Out is cheaper than it looks. One undo is spent either way, and a fresh start with what you have learned beats untangling a board you have half filled wrongly.
FAQ
Is Coin Sort free to play?
Yes. It runs in your browser with no download, no sign-up and nothing to buy. All twelve levels are included and unlock in order.
Is every puzzle solvable?
Yes, and by construction rather than by luck. The coins are dealt into the drawers first and each drawer's printed amount is simply the sum of what was dealt into it, so a working answer exists before the pile is shuffled onto the counter.
Is there only one correct answer?
Usually not. Any arrangement where every drawer hits its printed amount counts, and since ten cents can be made several ways there are normally many. You are not trying to find the deal the game used — only one that balances.
How is this different from the other sorting games here?
Ball Sort and Water Sort ask whether a color matches the top of a tube. This asks whether a set of numbers adds up, which means the same coin can be right in one drawer and wrong in another depending on what is already in it. It is cross-listed under Math for exactly that reason.
Is there a time limit?
No. There is no clock anywhere, no move limit and no way to fail. Undo is unlimited; using it only costs you stars.
What currency are the coins?
None in particular. The values are 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cents, which is a common shape for a coin set, and the value is printed on every coin so nothing depends on recognising a design.
Is it suitable for kids learning to count money?
The early levels work well for that — two drawers, small coins and no clock, with the remainder shown so the subtraction is done for you. The later levels are a genuine adult puzzle, so there is a comfortable range either way.
Does Coin Sort work on a phone?
Yes. The drawers reflow into a grid that fits the screen and the coins stay finger-sized, so a five-drawer level is comfortable in portrait.