Peg Solitaire

How to Play Peg Solitaire

Peg solitaire (also known as Solo Noble or 孔明棋) is a classic single-player board puzzle played with pegs on a cross-shaped grid. You remove pegs by jumping one peg over an adjacent peg into an empty hole, then taking away the peg that was jumped — much like capturing in checkers. This brain teaser is solved when a single peg remains, ideally sitting in the center hole.

Strategy & Tips

• Work toward the center and avoid stranding lone pegs in the corners, which are the hardest positions to clear.
• Plan chains of jumps — one move that sets up two or three follow-up captures keeps the board connected.
• Don't empty a whole arm of the cross too early; you often need those pegs to reach isolated spots later.

How do you solve peg solitaire? Reduce the pegs with connected jump chains while keeping the survivors clustered near the middle, aiming to finish with one peg in the central hole.