Peg Solitaire

Peg Solitaire is a quiet puzzle for one player. A board full of pegs has a single empty hole, and with each jump you remove a peg, until you hope to be left with just one.

How to play

The goal is to jump pegs over one another until only one peg is left on the board.

• Jumping: a peg jumps in a straight line over a neighboring peg and lands in the empty hole just behind it. The peg that was jumped over is taken away.
• Directions: on the square-shaped boards a peg jumps up, down, left or right. On the triangle it can also jump along the diagonal lines.
• Moving: drag a peg to the hole it can jump into, or tap the peg and then tap the glowing hole.
• Winning: you win when one peg is left. On the Hard level the last peg must also be in the middle hole.
• Getting stuck: if no peg can jump any more and more than one is left, the game tells you how many remain.

Undo takes jumps back as many times as you like, so a dead end is never final. The Hint button suggests a jump. The number of hints depends on the level.

On a computer, you can use the mouse in the same way. Drag a peg or click it, and then click the hole. Backspace also takes a jump back.

The levels

The levels change the board and where the empty hole starts.

• Easy: a small triangle of 15 holes. Hints are unlimited.
• Medium: the English cross, a plus-shaped board of 33 holes, with one empty hole chosen for you at the start. You have 5 hints.
• Hard: the English cross again, but you start with the middle hole empty and must finish with the last peg in the middle. You have 3 hints.
• Expert: the European board, a rounder shape of 37 holes. You have 3 hints.

Not every starting hole can be solved, so the site keeps a list of starting holes with a known way to finish. Medium and Expert start only from holes on that list, which means a one-peg finish always exists.

Today's game

The daily game is a Medium game. Everyone who plays on the same calendar day starts with the same empty hole on the English cross.

Tips

1. Keep your pegs together. A peg left alone far from the others can never jump again, and it spoils the finish.
2. Work from the edges toward the middle. The outer holes are the hardest to clear later.
3. Think before you jump into a corner. A peg in a corner is hard to use again, so go there only if it is on purpose.
4. Look at what each jump opens. A good move makes the next jump possible, and a poor one leaves a lonely peg.
5. Try to keep the pattern symmetrical for as long as you can. A tidy shape is easier to read.
6. On Hard, remember that the middle must be filled by your very last jump. Plan the final few moves backwards from the middle.
7. If you reach a dead end, use Undo. You can go back as far as you like, and the puzzle is the same from there.

A bit of history

The English cross board has 33 holes, and the European board adds four more to make 37. Peg solitaire has been played on both of these boards for a very long time.

Questions

Does every game have a solution? Yes. On Medium, Hard and Expert, the starting holes come from a list with a known way to finish. The triangle has a solution from every starting hole.

Why did the game stop with more than one peg? No peg can jump any more. Use Undo to go back and try another route.

Do the pegs jump diagonally? Only on the triangle board. On the cross boards, jumps go up, down, left or right.

What does the middle hole matter? On Hard, you start with the middle empty and must end with your last peg in it. On other levels the last peg can be anywhere.