Peg Solitaire
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About This Game
Play Peg Solitaire free online. Jump pegs over each other to remove them, and try to leave just one peg standing. A timeless classic.
How to play Peg Solitaire
Objective: Clear pegs by jumping until exactly one peg is left anywhere on the board.
The board is the English cross shape: a 7 by 7 grid with the four 2 by 2 corners removed, leaving 33 playable holes. You start with 32 pegs filling every hole except the center, which begins empty. The 'Pegs left' counter at the top shows how many remain. A move means jumping one peg straight over an adjacent peg into the empty hole directly beyond it, then removing the peg you jumped.
Tap a peg to select it; the selected peg glows cyan. Then tap an empty hole exactly two spaces away in a straight line, up, down, left, or right. Diagonal jumps are not allowed. The jump only works when a peg sits in the single hole between your selected peg and the target hole. If it does, your peg moves to the target, the middle peg vanishes, and the count drops by one. Tapping the selected peg again deselects it.
You win the instant only one peg remains on the board, and a 'Perfect' banner appears. If pegs remain but no legal jump exists anywhere, the game ends as stuck and shows how many pegs are left. Every board position with orthogonal neighbors is fair game, so scan the whole cross for jumps, not just the area you last touched.
Use the Undo button to step back through your jumps one at a time; it stores up to 100 recent moves, so you can reverse a long chain when a line stalls. Undo works only while the game is still in play, not after you win or get stuck. New Game refills the board with the center empty again. There is no timer, no score points, and no lives, so take as long as you need.
Tips and strategy
Chase one peg
Your best result is a single surviving peg. Since the board starts with the center empty, the classic clean finish lands the last peg back in that center hole. Plan your final few jumps to converge there rather than leaving scattered singles.
Avoid stranded pegs
A peg with no filled orthogonal neighbor and no peg it can jump is dead weight. Watch the arms of the cross, since edge pegs isolate easily. Clear the outer arms early while you still have neighbors to jump over.
Undo to test lines
Undo reverses up to 100 jumps, so treat it as a planning tool. When a promising chain dead-ends, back out several moves and try a different order rather than starting a whole new game.
Build capture chains
One peg can make several jumps in a game, but each is a separate tap here. Line up pegs so that after one jump the landing spot sets up the next jump nearby, sweeping several pegs out of one region.
Work the arms first
The four arms of the cross have the fewest escape routes. Empty them toward the middle early, because pegs left in an arm at the end usually cannot reach a partner to jump and freeze your board.
The history of Peg Solitaire
Peg solitaire is an old single-player board puzzle, and the cross-shaped board used here is the English version with 33 holes. It has been played in Europe for centuries, and mathematicians have long studied which starting positions can be reduced to a single surviving peg. The center-empty start with a center finish is the most famous solvable case.
The puzzle is a favorite subject in recreational mathematics because the set of solvable positions follows strict parity rules, meaning many boards simply cannot end on one peg no matter how you play. That is why finishing with a single peg feels earned: on the standard English board it requires a specific, well-planned sequence of jumps rather than luck.
Frequently asked questions
How do I win?
You win when exactly one peg is left anywhere on the board. The game then shows a 'Perfect - one peg left' banner. Any finish with two or more pegs and no available jumps counts as stuck, not a win, even if only a couple of pegs remain.
Can I jump diagonally?
No. Jumps are only straight lines, up, down, left, or right, over a single adjacent peg into the empty hole two spaces beyond. The code rejects diagonal taps, so a peg two spaces away on a diagonal can never be reached in one move.
What does the Best number mean?
Best records the fewest pegs you have ever left on the board, saved in your browser. Lower is better, so a Best of 1 means you solved it perfectly. It updates whenever a game ends with fewer pegs than your previous record and persists between visits.
What happens if I get stuck?
If pegs remain but no legal jump exists anywhere, the game ends and shows how many pegs are left. You cannot undo after that point. Press New Game or Play Again to reset the full board with the center hole empty and start over.
Does peg solitaire have a timer or a score?
No. There is no clock, no points system, and no lives. The only measures are the live 'Pegs left' count during play and your saved Best of the fewest pegs remaining. You can think through every move for as long as you like.
How far back can I undo?
Undo steps back one jump at a time and holds up to your last 100 moves, which is more than a full game needs. It only works while you are still playing; once you win or the board is stuck, undo is disabled and you must start a new game.