Shelf Star: Goods Sorting Game – Play Free Online

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In this guide

• How to play
• The sorting rules
• The five shops
• Scoring, stars and chains
• The three boosters
• Displays, achievements and the Daily Restock
• 7 tips for tidier shelves
• Goods sorting game FAQ
• Final verdict

How to play Shelf Star

The idea is pure shopkeeper. Every level hands you a set of shelves stocked with jumbled products: milk beside the cheese, bread hiding under the apples. Your job is to sort them so that three of a kind end up together on one shelf. The moment that happens, the three clear off the shelf in a burst of price tags, and the shelf is free for the next pile. Clear every product from every shelf, and the level is done.

1. Press Play on the menu, or open the High Street Map and pick any unlocked level. Levels open one after another, and each new shop also asks for a total number of stars, shown on its door.
2. Pick up the top product of a shelf. Tap the shelf once and its top product lifts. Tap another shelf to place it. On a bigger screen, or if you prefer, press and drag the product straight across – it follows your finger or mouse and settles into the shelf you drop it on.
3. You can only ever move the top product of a shelf, and a shelf holds at most four products. Everything else is planning: dig out the buried milk, park the bread somewhere safe, and build your triples one shelf at a time.
4. Three of a kind on one shelf clear automatically. Watch for doubles: moving a product away can leave three of a kind behind on the shelf you took it from, and that clears too – the neatest moves clear at both ends.
5. Some levels add a delivery box and padlocked shelves. Box stock has to be placed before the level can finish, and a padlock opens once you have cleared the number of triples printed on it. The full rules are below.
6. Finish the level to earn 1 to 3 stars based on your move count against par. Stars open the next shops, fill the window displays and, at 300 in total, unlock the golden shelf skin.

Controls for phone and PC

Action	Phone / tablet	PC / laptop
Pick up a product	Tap its shelf	Click its shelf
Place a product	Tap the shelf you want	Click the shelf you want
Drag a product	Press, slide, release over a shelf	Hold, drag, release over a shelf
Take from the delivery box	Tap the box, then tap a shelf	Click the box, then click a shelf
Use a booster	Tap its button under the shelves (Magnet then asks for a shelf)	Click its button (Magnet then asks for a shelf)
Open the map, levels or menu	Tap Menu or Levels in the top bar	Click Menu or Levels in the top bar
Sound on or off	Tap the speaker button	Click the speaker button

The sorting rules

Shelves and stacks. Each shelf is a stack of up to four products, shown bottom to top. You may only take the product on top – the one with the pale outline. A product can be placed on any shelf with a free slot, whatever is underneath it. There is no rule that a product must land on its own kind; messy parking is allowed, it just costs you moves later.

The clear. A shelf clears when it holds exactly three products and all three are the same kind. Two of a kind with a stranger underneath does not clear, and neither does a pile of four with three matching on top – the odd one has to move first. Every product in the game exists in exact sets of three, so every level can always be fully cleared. In fact, every one of the 150 levels was generated from its finished state and then proven clearable by a solver before it was allowed into the game, and that proof is re-run in automated tests – there is no such thing as a stuck level here, only a stuck minute.

Padlocked shelves. From Market Hall onward, some shelves start padlocked and empty. The lock shows the number of triples you must clear to open it. A locked shelf cannot hold or receive anything; the moment your clear count reaches its number, it swings open and stays open for the rest of the level. Treat locks as a promise: keep clearing and the room you need will arrive.

The delivery box. From the Bakery onward, some stock arrives in a delivery box beside the shelves. The box shows its top product and how many are inside. Placing from the box counts as a move, just like any other, and the box must be emptied before the level can be won. Box stock is ordinary stock in every other way – it clears in threes with its shelf mates.

The five shops

The high street is one long climb. Each shop holds 30 levels, the product range widens as you go – from 4 kinds in the Corner Store to 12 in the Mega Mall – and the levers that make levels harder (more kinds, more stock in the box, padlocked shelves) are wound up a little at a time.

Shop	Levels	Product kinds	Opens at	What is new
Corner Store	1-30	4 to 6	Start	The basics: short stacks, generous spare shelves
Bakery	31-60	6 to 8	40 stars	The delivery box arrives partway through
Market Hall	61-90	8 to 9	110 stars	First padlocked shelves, bigger boxes
Toy Emporium	91-120	9 to 11	200 stars	Two padlocks on the late levels, deeper stacks
Mega Mall	121-150	11 to 12	300 stars	The full range, the tightest shelves in the game

Scoring, stars and chains

Every triple you clear pays 100 points. Clear on the very next move as well and the second triple pays 200, the third in a row 300, and so on – that running multiplier is the chain, and it resets the moment a move clears nothing. A single move that clears two triples at once (one on the shelf you filled, one on the shelf you emptied) pays both at the current chain rate plus a 50 point bonus for the second. When the level ends you also collect a star bonus of 150 points per star. Your best single-level score is kept in the top bar.

Stars are about tidiness, not time. Each level shows its par – the move count of a proven tidy solution. Finish within 130% of par for 3 stars, within 190% for 2 stars, and any finish at all for 1 star. There is no timer anywhere in Shelf Star, and no way to lose a level: the shelves wait for you. If a level feels impossible, it is not – it was solver-proven – so take a breath, find the buried triple, and dig.

The three boosters

Boosters live in the bar under the shelves, with your stock of each shown on its button. You start with one of each, and every window display you complete pays +1 of all three (up to 9 held). Boosters never cost moves, so spending one never hurts your stars.

• Extra Shelf. A spare empty shelf rolls in for the rest of the current level. One per level. The classic answer to a level where every shelf is full and nothing can move – and because every level is solvable without it, it is pure comfort, never a toll.
• Magnet Pick. Tap the booster, then tap a shelf: every matching product sitting on top of another shelf flies across onto it, up to the space available. If that completes the triple, it clears there and then. Reach for it when a pair is one buried cousin away from clearing.
• Shuffle Crates. The crew takes every product still on the shelves, restacks them in a fresh layout, and hands the level back. The new layout is solver-checked before you ever see it, so a shuffle can never deal you a dead board – it keeps your score, your moves and your clear count, and it only ever shuffles the stock that is left.

Displays, achievements and the Daily Restock

Window displays. The 150 levels are grouped into 30 windows of five neighbouring levels. Finish all five in a window with 2 stars or more and the window is dressed – see them all in the Window Displays panel, each one showing the products of its levels. Dressing a window pays +1 of every booster, so tidy play literally restocks your toolbox.

Achievements. Twenty of them, from First Triple and Open for Business up to Perfect Stockroom for all 450 stars and Grand Opening for all 30 windows. They pop as you earn them and are listed, earned and locked, in the Achievements panel. At 300 stars you also unlock the golden shelf skin – swap it on or off from the menu.

Daily Restock. One fresh sorting puzzle a day, the same for every player, generated from the date itself: seven product kinds, a delivery box, and a proven solution. Finish it to build your streak – play on consecutive days and the streak climbs; miss a day and it restarts. Each day’s first completion also adds a Shuffle booster to your bag. The Daily button in the top bar takes you straight there.

More sorting and matching, free in your browser: if you like untangling stacks, try Aqua Sort, our colour-pouring puzzle built on the same top-of-the-stack thinking. Prefer your puzzles mechanical? Screw Sort Puzzle asks you to free jammed boards pin by pin. For pair-matching calm there is Onet Connect, and for classic match-3 chaining, Jewel Blast is waiting.

7 tips for tidier shelves

1. Finish one triple at a time. Half-built piles everywhere is how shelves jam. Pick the pair that is closest to done, protect its shelf, and feed it until it clears.
2. Keep one shelf as your workbench. A mostly empty shelf is worth more than a tidy one. Park odd products there while you dig, and never fill your last free slot without a clear in hand.
3. Dig from the top of the problem. A buried product costs one move per product above it. Before digging, ask where those covering products can go that helps another pile – the best moves tidy two shelves at once.
4. Hunt the double clear. When a shelf of four is three of a kind plus a stranger on top, moving the stranger away clears the shelf behind you. If that stranger also completes a triple where it lands, one move pays twice and starts a chain.
5. Feed chains, do not chase them. A chain pays 100 extra per step, but a forced chain wastes moves and stars. Set up two nearly done piles side by side and let the chain happen on its own.
6. Empty the box early. Box stock is invisible pressure: every item in it still needs a home. Place box products onto their matching piles as soon as those piles exist, instead of treating the box as a problem for later.
7. Replay for stars before you grind. Shops open on total stars, and a replayed early level with a fresh eye is the cheapest 3 stars in the game. If a new shop door will not budge, go back and tidy the Corner Store.

Goods sorting game FAQ

Is Shelf Star free to play?

Yes. Shelf Star is 100% free, all 150 levels, the Daily Restock, every booster and every achievement. You play it right on this page in your browser. There is no download, no sign-up and no payment, and the boosters are earned by playing, never bought.

How do you play a goods sorting game?

Move the top product of any shelf onto any other shelf with a free slot, by tapping or dragging. When a shelf holds exactly three products and all three are the same kind, they clear. Clear every product from every shelf, including the stock in the delivery box, to finish the level. Padlocked shelves open after you clear the number of triples shown on the lock.

Can a level be impossible?

No. Every product exists in exact sets of three, and each of the 150 levels was generated backwards from its finished state and then proven clearable by a solver before it entered the game. Even the Shuffle Crates booster re-checks its new layout with the solver before showing it to you. If you feel stuck, the route out exists – it is usually one buried product deep.

How do stars and shop unlocks work?

Each level has a par move count from its proven solution. Finish within 130% of par for 3 stars, within 190% for 2 stars, and any finish earns 1 star. Levels open one after another as you finish them, and each new shop also needs a total star count: the Bakery opens at 40 stars, Market Hall at 110, the Toy Emporium at 200 and the Mega Mall at 300. Replaying finished levels for better stars is the fastest way through a locked door.

What is the Daily Restock?

It is one extra sorting puzzle per day, generated from the date so every player gets the same shelves. Finishing it starts or extends your daily streak – play on back to back days to grow it, and the streak resets if you miss a day. Your first completion each day also earns a free Shuffle Crates booster. Daily puzzles do not touch your level stars, so they are a no-pressure way to keep the streak alive.

Does Shelf Star save my progress?

Yes, in your own browser. Your stars on all 150 levels, your booster stock, achievements, window displays, daily streak, golden skin and best score all save automatically on this device as you play. Nothing leaves your device, there is no account to make, and clearing your browser data is the only way the record goes away.

Last updated: November 6, 2026. Shelf Star v1.0 – the first release of our original goods sorting game, with 150 solver-proven levels in 5 shops, padlocked shelves, delivery boxes, 3 boosters, 30 window displays, 20 achievements, a Daily Restock with streaks and a golden shelf skin at 300 stars. An original GameOLL browser game. Found a bug? Tell us in the comments and we will fix it in the next version.