Jumping puzzle
Peg Solitaire
A peg jumps over a neighbor, which disappears. Finish with a single peg.
One puzzle a day, the same for everyone
The day's board has sixteen pegs, built backward from the winning position: we start with a single peg in the center and “un-jump” at random. It's therefore solvable by construction, since all it takes is replaying those jumps forward.
- The same board for everyone, until midnight in your device's time zone.
- The challenge clock starts on your first jump, just like in free play.
- Undo stays available and doesn't invalidate anything: it's a puzzle, not a speed test.
- Completing a challenge, any of the four, extends your streak by one day.
The Free play / Daily challenge toggle sits at the very top of the board. The challenge never touches your free-play best scores, and free play stays unlimited.
Five steps to your first win
- Spot an empty hole.A jump only exists toward a free hole, two spaces away in a straight line.
- Pick a neighboring peg.It has to sit right next to another peg, in line with the empty hole on the far side.
- Jump.The peg passes over its neighbor and lands in the hole. The jumped peg is removed from the board.
- Keep going.Each jump removes one peg. On a board of sixteen pegs, that means exactly fifteen jumps.
- Finish with a single peg.Stuck before the end? Undo a move, or start over: the solution always exists.
What you need to understand
One input for every way to play
Mouse and trackpad
Click a peg to select it: the holes it can jump to light up. Click one of them to jump. A second click on the peg deselects it.
Touchscreen
Pegs are big discs that are easy to hit. Nothing needs to be dragged: two taps are enough, the peg and then its destination.
Keyboard
Move focus to a peg with Tab, then an arrow key attempts the jump in that direction. “Undo move” and “Start over” are in the tab order.
Five things worth knowing
- On a board of sixteen pegs, it takes exactly fifteen jumps: each jump removes one peg, no more, no less.
- Keep the board grouped. An isolated peg, with no neighbor and no hole in line, can never move or be jumped again.
- Work in small groups of three pegs in a row: two of them fold onto the third, and the line shrinks cleanly.
- The order of jumps matters, unlike in other games on the site. The same position can lead to victory or to a dead end depending on the path.
- Every board is built backward from a single peg, so a solution always exists. If you get stuck, it's the path that needs rethinking, not the board.
Peg Solitaire, in detail
A peg jumps over a directly adjacent peg, in a straight line, to land in an empty hole just beyond it. The jumped peg is removed. No diagonal jumps, and no jumping over an empty hole.
Each jump removes exactly one peg. So you need to bring the board down to a single peg: fifteen jumps for a board of sixteen pegs, seventeen for eighteen, and so on.
Yes, by construction. We don't start from a random board: we start from a single peg and play jumps in reverse. Replaying those same jumps forward therefore always solves the board.
That's the heart of the game: a solution exists, but the path you took didn't lead there. Undo one or more jumps, or restart the board, and look for a different order.
A lot, unlike some other games on the site. Two different jump orders can lead one to victory and the other to a dead end. That's why Undo is there.
Peg solitaire, also called English solitaire, is a traditional puzzle whose cross-shaped board of thirty-three holes has been documented since the 17th century. It has long been in the public domain.
It's your best time for bringing the board down to a single peg, kept separately for each board size. The number of jumps is fixed in advance by the number of pegs.
The day's board, sixteen pegs, is built backward from the date: it's solvable by construction and identical for everyone until midnight. Only your first win of the day is recorded.
Keep exploring the site
All four games play right on the page, with no account and no download.