Sorta Game — the daily ordering puzzle
Put the world in order… sorta.
Three quiet rounds, five things each, and one hidden way to arrange them. Trust your instinct and see how close your order comes to the truth.
Sorta Game puzzle #50 · August 29, 2026
Three rounds of five things, each with a hidden scale to sort them by — then one last guess at the theme tying all three together. Here’s what this puzzle asks.
Round 1
Order these light-gathering surfaces by their physical area, from smallest to largest.
- A single standard residential rooftop solar panel
- The photovoltaic strip on a standard pocket calculator
- A fully grown lily pad of the giant Victoria amazonica water lily
- The glass panes forming the main pyramid entrance to the Louvre museum
- The fully dilated pupil of a nocturnal tarsier's eye
Round 2
Order these things by the amount of energy (in calories or equivalent) they typically consume or burn in a 24-hour period, from least to most.
- A standard continuously glowing 0.5-watt hallway LED nightlight
- A professional triathlete actively competing in an Ironman race
- A healthy adult pet guinea pig going about its day
- A typical modern American single-family home's total electrical draw
- A massive commercial cruise ship sailing continuously at sea
Round 3
Order these things by the typical time it takes for them to completely break down, dissolve, or degrade, from fastest to slowest.
- A puff of sweet cotton candy melting in a person's mouth
- A thick solid glass wine bottle resting deep in the earth
- A newly applied temporary henna skin tattoo fading away
- A typical disposable plastic toothbrush buried in a landfill
- A 100% cotton canvas tote bag rotting in a damp compost heap