Sorta — a free daily trivia game and ordering puzzle

Sorta Game logo

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 #78 · September 26, 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.

  1. Round 1

    Order these historical 'roots' by the year each debuted or was established, from earliest to most recent.

    • The debut of the modern radical square root symbol (√) in Christoph Rudolff's algebra text
    • Jean-Philippe Rameau's treatise formally defining the fundamental 'root' note of musical chords
    • Edwin Maynard crafting the first specialized dental broach to clean the tooth 'root' canal
    • Charles Elmer Hires commercially introducing his packaged herbal 'root' beer to the public
    • Bell Labs programmers creating the 'root' superuser administrative account in Unix

  2. Round 2

    Order these significant 'stems' by the year each emerged or was established, from earliest to most recent.

    • Swiss watchmaker Adrien Philippe inventing the modern keyless winding 'stem' for pocket watches
    • Venetian glassmakers in Murano perfecting the delicate drawn-glass 'stem' for luxury drinking goblets
    • Canadian biophysicists Till and McCulloch proving the existence of self-renewing 'stem' cells
    • German anatomist Wilhelm His formally defining the human 'brain stem' in medical literature
    • The US National Science Foundation officially adopting the modern education acronym 'STEM'

  3. Round 3

    Order these famous 'leaves' by the year each originated or was officially unveiled, from earliest to most recent.

    • The federal government of Canada officially inaugurating its modern red-and-white Maple 'Leaf' national flag
    • The storied Toronto NHL franchise officially adopting the team name 'Maple Leafs'
    • British engineer Obadiah Elliott patenting the shock-absorbing elliptical 'leaf' spring for carriages
    • The commercial automotive rollout of the pioneering all-electric mass-market hatchback, the Nissan 'LEAF'
    • Walt Whitman publishing the landmark first edition of his poetry collection 'Leaves of Grass'

Browse every past puzzle or play today’s.