- AI brick finder: the community name for Never Sort By Color's part-seeking vision, which surfaces the exact brick you need inside a huge pile
- Core rule: color never counts as a sorting criterion — the finder tracks shape, size, and pattern instead
- Best habit: scan before every grab so each pull is deliberate, not a guess
- Key tip: keep one buffer zone free while hunting to avoid softlocked boards
- Biggest payoff: pair finder scans with reverse-planned solves on double-attribute levels
What Is the AI Brick Finder in Never Sort By Color?
The Never Sort By Color AI brick finder — known in-game as part-seeking vision — is the tool that separates relaxed sorting sessions from frustrating pile-digging marathons. Never Sort By Color is a cozy first-person organization sim built around one mischievous rule: never sort by color. Across its 150+ levels of tangled brick piles, the game hands you three detection and handling tools, and the part-seeking vision mode is the one players most often describe as an "AI brick finder" because it does the hard part for you: it reads the pile and surfaces the brick that matches your current target attribute, whether that is a specific shape, size, or symbol.
Instead of squinting at decoy pieces that only differ by shade, you sweep the pile once, note the highlight, and pull with confidence. On endgame boards where every move counts, this tool is the difference between a clean par run and a restart.
| Tool | What It Does | Best For | | Magnet Glove | Pulls a target brick out of the pile | Extracting buried or awkwardly placed pieces | | Sieves | Filter loose bricks by physical attributes | Bulk triage across a cluttered zone | | Part-Seeking Vision | Highlights the brick matching your active target | Precise hunts for single key parts |
The game itself never uses the phrase "AI brick finder" — that is the player-community shorthand. If you see the term in guides or forum threads, it almost always refers to the part-seeking vision tool described on the game's official Steam page.
How to Use the Brick Finder Step by Step
The finder rewards rhythm more than speed. A clean scan-pull-place loop beats frantic grabbing every time, and the loop below works on every board type from the tutorial onward. Follow it in order until it becomes muscle memory.
Read the Goal Banner First
Before touching the pile, check the level goal banner and name the required attribute out loud — shape, size, symbol, or count. Color is always a trap in this game, and knowing the real target tells the finder what to seek.
Pick the Most Restricted Brick
Identify the piece buried deepest under mismatched bricks. That is your first target. Excavating it early keeps it reachable; leaving it for last often makes the board unwinnable.
Sweep the Pile with Vision Mode
Activate part-seeking vision and sweep the pile in a slow, consistent pass. Highlighted matches confirm where your target sits so you can plan the shortest extraction route.
Pull with the Magnet Glove
Grab the highlighted brick, place it in its assigned container, and resist the urge to grab neighbors "while you're there" — unplanned pulls are how buffers fill up.
Re-Scan After Every Move
Every pull changes the pile's state. A fresh scan takes seconds and catches new targets exposed by your last move, keeping your solve chain unbroken.
Some boards deliberately dress different attributes in identical color patterns to bait you back into color sorting. If the highlighted brick's color "looks wrong," trust the finder and the goal banner — it is tracking the attribute that actually matters, not the shade.
Matching the Right Tool to the Board
The finder is powerful, but it is not the answer to every pile. The magnet glove, sieves, and part-seeking vision each shine in different situations, and knowing when to switch between them is what separates efficient solvers from players who burn their move budgets. Treat the three tools as one kit rather than a hierarchy.
Precision Hunt
- Finder + magnet glove
- One target, one pull
- Best for key items and locked containers
Bulk Triage
- Sieves first, finder second
- Narrows a whole zone quickly
- Best for messy opening piles
Hybrid Flow
- Sieve, scan, then pull
- Filter noise, confirm targets
- Best for double-attribute boards
Use the table below as a quick reference when a board type gives you trouble.
| Level Range | Board Challenge | Recommended Tool Combo | | 1–10 | Learning the real sorting rule | Finder only, to train your eye | | 11–30 | Foundation stacks and buffers | Finder + magnet glove | | 31–60 | Locked containers and key items | Finder to locate keys, glove to extract | | 61–90 | Double-attribute boards | Sieve to pre-filter, finder to verify | | 91–120+ | Move-limited endgame boards | Full kit with strict scan discipline |
On double-attribute boards, verify both attributes before every pull. Assigning each container a fixed attribute pair at the start and never deviating is the single biggest defense against unwinnable boards — switching criteria halfway through is the most common endgame failure.
Advanced Finder Strategies for Faster Clears
Once the scan-pull-place loop feels automatic, layer in the strategies below. They come straight from high-level play patterns, and reverse-planning in particular typically trims 20–30% off move counts on double-attribute levels.
| Strategy | What to Do | Payoff | | Fixed container roles | Assign each container a job at board start | Prevents mid-solve criterion swaps | | One empty buffer | Reserve a free zone for temporary holds | Avoids most softlocks | | Reverse planning | Visualize the finished board, work backwards | Cuts move counts on hard boards | | Scan before every pull | Refresh the finder after each move | Eliminates wasted grabs | | Excavate deep targets early | Free buried items while buffers are open | Keeps endgame options alive |
Pre-Hunt Routine:
- Read the goal banner and name the target attribute
- Spot the most buried brick on the board
- Reserve one buffer zone before the first pull
- Scan, pull, place, then re-scan
- Undo and try an alternate branch instead of restarting
The undo button is free on most boards, which makes it a planning tool rather than a punishment. When a branch goes wrong, undo three or four moves and test an alternate route — it is far faster than replaying an entire level from scratch.
Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them
Even experienced players fall into the same traps, usually in their first ten moves of a board. The mistakes below account for the vast majority of softlocked runs, and each has a simple fix you can apply immediately.
| Mistake | Why It Fails | Fix | | Grabbing by color out of habit | Color is never the win condition | Re-check the goal banner before each pull | | Filling every buffer | No free space means no legal moves left | Keep one zone empty at all times | | Ignoring buried items | Deep pieces become unreachable late | Excavate the deepest target first | | Rushing the opening moves | The first two pulls decide solvability | Slow down and scan before committing | | Switching criteria mid-board | Breaks container assignments | Lock attribute pairs at the start |
Early mistakes on tightly designed boards are rarely recoverable. If your buffer is gone and no legal moves remain, restart the level and apply the pre-hunt routine from the first move — the board layout does not change between attempts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is the AI brick finder a separate download or mod?
No. What players call the AI brick finder is the game's built-in part-seeking vision tool. It ships with Never Sort By Color on Steam, so there is nothing extra to install or enable.
Q: Why does the finder highlight bricks with different colors?
Because it tracks attributes, not color. The win condition is always based on shape, size, symbol, or count, and some boards deliberately use identical color patterns across different attributes as bait. Trust the highlight over the shade.
Q: Does the brick finder matter on double-attribute boards?
It matters most there. Levels 61–90 require sorting by two attributes at once, so confirming both attributes on every highlighted pull prevents the criterion swaps that make boards unwinnable.
Q: Can I finish the game without using the brick finder?
Early tutorial boards are small enough for manual hunting, but with 150+ levels and increasingly buried pieces, skipping the finder burns time and move counts. On move-limited endgame boards, unscanned grabbing is the fastest route to a restart.
Mastered the finder? Put it to work on the full campaign with our level walkthroughs, and check the game's Steam page for current updates and patch notes.