How to Complete Sort Them Ducks
A full-shop route that spends coins on carry first, clears neighborhoods, and leaves window aisles for last if they haze.
A Sort Them Ducks walkthrough is not a boss list. Completing the game means every themed shelf is full, the floor is empty, and the counters agree with what you see. Steam players report finishes in a long afternoon, a couple of streams, or a bit over five hours. Your clock depends on carry upgrades, how often you get lost, and whether you chase easter eggs on the same save.
Use this page as a route, not a script. The shop does not reshuffle into a new dungeon. It is one space that gets prettier. If you are still learning pickup, return to Getting Started. If a counter will not drop, skip ahead to missing ducks instead of brute-forcing the same plank.
Recommended clear order
Phase 1 — Learn two neighborhoods. Stay near spawn. Fill whatever signs you can identify without skills: pirates, knights, chefs, dinosaurs, whatever sits in your first sightline. Buy carry. Do not open the upgrade menu like a gacha. Follow upgrade order.
Phase 2 — One aisle, one handful. Pick a sign, collect only that family until your hands are full, walk, place, return. Mixed handfuls feel productive and waste minutes. The categories page lists the themes the Steam page and reviews name so you stop inventing extra families.
Phase 3 — Spend on speed, then one timed skill. When walking is the bottleneck, buy movement. Then unlock either reveal-shelf or highlight-matches, not both on the same payday. Details sit on skills. Timed tools are for the costume that still looks like two categories.
Phase 4 — Window aisles last if they hurt. Superheroes, countries, and animals sit near windows. Players report a white haze there on some machines. Save those shelves if the flicker bothers you, or wear the joke sunglasses one reviewer mentioned. Store map and performance cover the lighting.
Phase 5 — Towers and leftovers. Tower ducks (yellow, dark blue, green) caused stuck 100% attempts when extras of one color replaced another. Patch 1 claimed a counter and missing-duck fix. Still verify with respawn. Then sweep the floor on your knees for stragglers, using high shelves for the top planks.
The PC gameplay video in the middle of this article is a real session, not a trailer. Watch how often the camera returns to the same sign; that repetition is the intended loop.
What “complete” means
Filling shelves is the main ending. Achievements are a second ending. Some trophies fire late — a preview noted pops on the next boot. If Steam still shows 19/20, relaunch before you hunt a ghost. Egg-related trophies need the secret-egg pass on easter eggs. There is no official extra map after the shop is tidy; one happy reviewer asked what to do with leftover hours and hoped for more ducks later.
You do not need timed skills to enjoy the game, but community posts asked whether some completion paths expect them. If a trophy seems gated on using abilities, treat that as a challenge run, not a fail. The cozy promise on Steam is still “no time limits or penalties.”
Mid-run checklist
Keep the shelf checklist open in a browser. Tick an aisle when its counter matches the planks. If Steam Cloud desyncs after a handheld session, look at one finished shelf before you spend new coins. If upgrades vanished after Patch 1, read patch notes: the official fix refunds the spend once so you can buy again.
When the floor is empty and a counter still nags, do not start a new save out of spite. Use respawn, check Tower colors, then known issues. The walkthrough ends when the shop looks like the screenshots on the Steam store, not when you have memorized every costume.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the questions players ask after a long sorting session.
How long is Sort Them Ducks?
Most finishes land between a focused afternoon and about six hours. Carry upgrades and fewer mixed handfuls shorten it.
Is there a second map after the shop is done?
Not at launch. Completing the store is the campaign. Extra ducks would be a future update, not a hidden wing.
Should I clear window aisles first?
If lighting haze bothers you, leave superheroes, countries, and animals for last. Otherwise any neighborhood is fine.
Do I need skills to 100%?
You can sort without them. Some players asked about ability-gated trophies; treat skills as speed tools unless a specific achievement names them.