Sort Them Ducks Duck Categories and Themes
A working list of families the store actually uses, sourced from Steam copy and player reports — not a fake complete Pokédex.
Sort Them Ducks is a category game wearing a duck costume. The Steam description lists pirates, wizards, astronauts, knights, chefs, and dinosaurs as the welcome set. Reviews and hub talk add superheroes, food and fruit, countries, animals, and Tower families split by color. Hundreds of shelves exist; this page names the ones you can verify without inventing a wiki creature list.
Always believe the HUD name over this article. We are a field guide. The game is the taxonomy.
Families you will meet early
Pirates — hats, hooks, obvious nautical jokes. Usually the first “I get this game” shelf.
Wizards — hats again, which is why you read the name. Hats are not a category.
Astronauts — visors and suits. Easy from the front, easy to lose on a high plank because visors glare.
Knights — armor. If it looks like a knight and the name says knight, do not philosophize.
Chefs — toques and kitchen gear. Neighbor in spirit to food, not always neighbor in furniture. Check the sign.
Dinosaurs — easy silhouettes, popular with people who came for toys not vibes.
The gameplay video in the middle of this page is a real sorting session. Watch how fast signs become more useful than costumes once the pile thins.
Families that show up in reviews
Superheroes — capes, masks, primary colors. Sits near windows in player reports, which means haze risk. See the store map.
Food / fruit — tasty, crowded, and the unit that likes to steal interact prompts through the back of the shelf. Approach from the aisle you mean.
Countries — another window neighborhood in the haze report. Names will be more useful than flags if the paint is busy.
Animals — third window suspect. Also easy to confuse with mascot costumes. HUD first.
Towers — yellow, dark blue, green called out in a stuck-100% review. Same toy, different color name. Extras of one color plus a deficit of another is a spawn/counter problem, not a skill issue. Missing ducks owns that nightmare.
How to learn a new family in two minutes
Pick one duck. Read the name. Walk until the sign matches. Place three more of that name before you change families. That is the whole Getting Started habit applied to catalog work. Timed skills are for the fourth duck that still looks like a crossover episode.
Tick the family on the checklist only when the counter and the planks agree, including the top row. High shelves if you cannot see the agreement.
What we will not list
Every hat. Every joke costume. Every one-off that exists to make you smile. If a Steam update adds a shelf, it will get a sign in the shop before it gets a paragraph here. Come back after patches, but sort first.
When two families still fight in your head, open confusing ducks. When you cannot find the furniture, open the map. When the furniture is right and the number is wrong, stop cataloging and start troubleshooting.
Learning signs without a spreadsheet
If you try to memorize four thousand silhouettes you will hate a cozy game. Memorize the ten signs you walk past every loop instead. Each new HUD name either maps onto a sign you already trust or it is a new family — in which case you walk until the matching board appears, place three copies, and add it to your mental list. That is slower than a wiki table and much closer to how the shop teaches.
Use reveal-shelf only after that walk fails. Use highlight only after the walk succeeds. The upgrade planner will try to sell you those skills early; this page is the reminder that names and signs are free. When a patch adds a board, it will be huge and readable on purpose. You will not need us to screenshot it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the questions players ask after a long sorting session.
Are chefs and food the same shelf?
Do not assume it. Read the HUD name and the sign. They are related jokes, not automatically one unit.
Where do Tower ducks go?
To the Tower sign that matches the color in the name. Wrong-color extras can be a bug — see missing ducks.
Is this every category?
No. It is every family we can source from Steam and player reports. The in-game signs are complete.
How do I remember them all?
You do not. You remember signs and names. Tick aisles on the checklist as they finish.