Peg Solitaire
The classic board game with a built-in solver to help you master every position
About Peg Solitaire
Peg Solitaire is a game that is traditionally played on a wooden board that has a pattern of holes drilled, each of which can contain a peg. The rules of the game are very simple: you make moves by jumping a peg over an adjacent peg, much like in checkers, except that the moves must be horizontal or vertical. The peg jumped over is removed. The aim of the game is to remove all the pegs except the last, which should be left in the center of the board.
Peg Solitaire starting position - remove all pegs except one in the center
What Makes This Special?
Built-in Solver
Shows you all the moves that will lead to a winning position from any point in the game.
Visual Hints
Pegs glow in different colors to show winning moves, non-winning moves, and impossible moves.
Learn to Win
Discover the strategies and patterns needed to consistently solve the puzzle.
Classic Gameplay
Faithful recreation of the traditional wooden board game with intuitive mouse controls.
Challenge Yourself
Try to win without hints first, then use the solver to see what you missed.
Free to Play
Completely free Windows application with no ads or limitations.
Can You Actually Win?
When I played this game as a child, I could never manage to win, and I even began to suspect it was not possible! I wrote this program to find out if it was possible, and also to find out just how easy it is to win. This program does this by providing an option to show all the moves that will allow you to reach the winning position, from any point in the game.
How Peg Solitaire Shows the Winning Moves
This image shows a game of peg solitaire in progress. The option to show the winning moves is turned on, so the pegs glow to show which ones to move.
Understanding the Glow Colors
Yellow Glow
Pegs glowing yellow can be moved to reach the winning position. In this screenshot, the mouse is over the center peg, showing possible destination holes.
Green Glow
The hole glowing green is a move that leads to the winning position. This is the move you should make!
Blue Glow
Moving the peg to a hole glowing blue will mean the winning position can no longer be reached. Avoid these moves!
Purple Glow
Pegs glowing purple can be moved, but if any of these are moved the winning position will not be reachable.
No Glow
Pegs not glowing cannot be moved in the current position.