Questions
Peg solitaire FAQ
Everything people ask about the rules, the board, and whether the thing can actually be solved.
What is peg solitaire?
Peg solitaire is a puzzle for one player, played on a cross-shaped board of 33 holes. Every hole starts filled except the centre. You jump one peg over an adjacent peg into the empty hole beyond it and remove the peg you jumped, repeating until no legal move is left. It is also sold as Solo Noble and, in India, as Brainvita.
How do you win peg solitaire?
You win by clearing the board down to a single peg that sits in the centre hole. Finishing with one peg anywhere else is close but not a solve, and ending with two or more pegs and no legal jump means the board is dead.
How many moves does it take to solve peg solitaire?
Exactly 31. The board begins with 32 pegs and every jump removes precisely one, so any complete solution is 31 jumps long. Our published solution walks through all of them.
Is peg solitaire always solvable?
The standard opening — all holes filled but the centre — is solvable, and can be finished in the centre hole. Individual games usually are not: most orders of legal jumps strand pegs on opposite arms of the cross. That gap between “solvable board” and “solvable game” is the puzzle.
What is the hardest part of peg solitaire?
The endgame. With five or six pegs left it is easy to be one hole away from a solve and unable to reach it. Most losses are decided a dozen moves earlier, when a peg gets isolated on an arm with no neighbour to jump or be jumped by.
Can you jump diagonally in peg solitaire?
Not on the English board used here — moves are horizontal or vertical only. Diagonal jumps are legal on the triangular board, the 15-hole version sold in American restaurants as the Cracker Barrel peg game.
What is the difference between the English and European boards?
The English board has 33 holes in a cross. The European (or French) board has 37, with the four corner notches filled in. The extra holes make the European board impossible to solve from a centre start, which is why the English board is the standard.
Is this peg solitaire free?
Yes. The board on this site is free, unlimited, and needs no account or download. There is also a paid native version for iPhone and iPad, Monolume, for playing offline — a single purchase with no ads and no subscription.
Does the game work offline?
After your first visit, yes. The site installs a small offline cache, so the board keeps working without a connection, and you can add it to your home screen like an app.
Is my game saved?
An unfinished board and your best result are stored in your browser on your own device, so closing the tab does not lose your progress. Nothing is uploaded and there is no account.
Play it on iPhone and iPad
Monolume — the same board, offline. One purchase, no ads, no tracking.
