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Choose Play Campaign and the first board, First Decant. It opens with Moves 0 and Par 4 — the target number of pours. The guide shows how to finish it in exactly four.
How to play Powderlab
Powderlab is a water sort puzzle played with magic powders. This guide explains the rules, the controls and a complete four-pour solution of the first board, step by step.
Play Powderlab →Why undo a legal pour? Read the second example ↓
A ManyPlay browser walkthrough · Checked . Screenshots below show the actual game. Illustrated catalog covers are presentation artwork. Who publishes these games?
Verified opening-board solution
The rules you need
- Tap or click a source jar, then a destination. Only the exposed top color can move; the destination must be empty or compatible and have room.
- A completed board has full single-color jars and empty spare jars. A legal pour alone does not mean the board is solved.
- Wait for the pour to finish before selecting the next source. Undo is available after a move; its remaining uses appear below its button.
First Decant: a complete four-pour solution
This is the landscape browser layout we completed on October 24. Identify jars by their contents, not just their screen position: A is green with purple on top; B is already full of blue; C is empty; D contains purple over green over purple; E contains only purple. Different screen shapes can place them differently.
A → E: uncover green
Pour A's purple top into E, the jar that already contains purple. A now exposes green. B and C stay untouched.
A → E: uncover green — actual result D → E: uncover the second green layer
Pour the exposed purple from D into E. E now holds three purple layers; D exposes green above its last purple layer.
D → E: uncover the second green layer — actual result D → A: finish the green jar
Pour D's green into A. A becomes a full green jar. D has only its bottom purple layer left.
D → A: finish the green jar — actual result D → E: finish the purple jar
Pour the last purple layer into E. The game confirms Sealed! with 4 Moves and 4 Par. The solid blue jar was already complete, and both spare jars are empty.
D → E: finish the purple jar — actual result
Why this sequence works
Every pour either reveals the next needed layer or finishes a color. Sending the first purple layers straight into the jar that already holds purple keeps the empty jar free instead of spending a move on temporary storage. Later boards need their own plan, but the same idea works everywhere.
Mistakes to avoid
- Do not choose a destination because a matching color is buried inside it: only the exposed top layer counts.
- An empty jar is an option, not a requirement. On the first board, using it for a temporary transfer adds work that the four-pour route avoids.
Powderlab rules: common questions
What are the rules of a water sort puzzle?
Pour the top layer from one container into another. A pour is allowed only onto the same color or into an empty container with room. You win when every filled container holds a single color.
Do I need to move the blue jar?
Not on the first board: it starts full of blue. Leaving it alone keeps all four moves for the mixed colors.
What if my jars are in different positions?
Match the jars by their contents, not by where they sit on the screen. If the contents differ too, use the rules to plan your own sequence.
Is Undo unlimited?
No. Undo becomes available after a move, and the number of remaining uses is shown below its button.
Other modes and further play
The campaign introduces more involved arrangements, each with a par move count, and the workshop uses named materials such as Stardust, Phoenix Essence, Mercury and Dragon Scale. Endless mode continues with rising difficulty once you know the rules.
Report a changed rule or control. Browser and Android editions can differ; the checked date describes this walkthrough, not a new game release.
Why undo a legal pour in Powderlab?
A move can expose the color you want and still spend space you would rather keep. The useful question is what you gain in exchange. These two real frames show the same recorded run before and after Undo—not two different solutions stitched together.
Explanation prepared · Browser footage recorded 2026-10-26. This run is separate from the completed solution above.
Read The Trade, Not Just The Move Count
At Moves 4, green powder occupies the small jar on the left. The upper-right jar now exposes purple. The pour has achieved something: it has uncovered that purple layer. It has also used the jar that was empty one move earlier.
After Undo, Moves returns to 3 and the remaining Undo allowance drops from 2 to 1. The small left jar is empty again. Green is back above purple in the upper-right jar. Undo has restored an option, but it has also restored the layer blocking access to purple. Neither picture by itself proves which continuation is shortest.
That is why “the counter went down” is an incomplete explanation of Undo. Compare the whole arrangement: the source layer, the destination, and the space available for the next transfer.
Ask Where The Exposed Color Could Go
In the restored position, another jar already exposes green. Before spending the empty jar again, check that matching destination and its remaining capacity. If it can accept the exposed green, it may provide another way to uncover purple while preserving the empty space. If it cannot, the apparently obvious match is not a usable move.
Do not choose a destination because a matching color is buried inside it. Only the exposed layer can participate in the next pour. Also compare the amount you expect to move with the room available; matching colors alone do not settle the capacity question.
Spend Undo On A Specific Revision
Before pressing Undo, describe the change you want to make: “I want the empty jar back so I can compare the other green destination.” Then inspect the restored board and choose from that state. Pressing Undo and immediately repeating the same pour gives you the same arrangement with one fewer Undo available.
The visible allowance matters. In this recording the button changes from 2 to 1; it is not an unlimited reset. A fresh level or another version may have different circumstances, so read the controls shown in your game rather than assuming a number from a video.
Use The Example As A Method
For your next board, compare three things before committing: what the pour exposes, which capacity it uses, and where the newly exposed color could move. After the pour, verify those predictions against the actual jars. Use Undo to revise a concrete decision, not simply to chase a smaller counter.
This is a planning example from a real run: Undo let us try a different line from the same position. For a complete winning sequence, see the First Decant solution above.
Try Powderlab in your browser →
ManyPlay publishes Powderlab. AI tools were used during development. The images are actual browser gameplay from our 26 October recording; this is a new explanation of existing footage, not a newly recorded playthrough.