Peg solitaire is a Chinese-Checkers-style logic and strategy puzzle. Remove pegs by jumping over them, just like Checkers, until only one peg remains in the center of the board.

Your goal is to clear all of the pegs but one. To clear a peg, jump over it into an empty space. Click a peg to select it, and then click an empty space to make a jump.

How is Peg Solitaire Different From Regular Solitaire?

Peg solitaire is not like other solitaire games. Instead of a deck of cards, the game is played on a wooden board with holes and, as the name suggests, some pegs. There is one more hole than the number of pegs. The reason for this will become clear…

The rules to this game are very simple. Choose a peg then jump it over another into an empty space. The peg that you have just jumped over is then removed from the game. You are now ready to select any other peg on the board and make another jump, as long as you are able to jump over one other peg and land in an empty space.

The purpose of the game is to keep jumping over pegs until you are left with only one. With only one peg left in play, you have won the game.

There are 12 peg solitaire boards to chose from. If you are new to the game, or maybe it’s been a while since you last played, why not start with the Star board? With only 12 holes and 11 pegs, it’s the most simple Peg solitaire game to choose.

Or would you find it easier to start with a larger board, which gives you more room to move, more pegs to jump and more opportunity to work out your own strategies for playing the game.

The largest peg boards in the game are the incredible Snowflake and Hexagon boards. With up to 60 holes, these boards make an intense and complicated game that you’ll want to play over and over again until you succeed.

Come check out our Coolmath Games blog all about the different kinds of Solitaire variations on our site. Who knows, there might be a kind of Solitaire that you like even more than Peg Solitaire.

The Rules Seem Simple. But is the Game Really that Easy?

As you jump, think about where your peg will land. You must be careful not to make a move which will trap your pegs and make them unable to be removed. Before you jump into a corner for example, will that peg now be isolated and unable to be removed?

As you play the game, try to think one or two steps ahead. Which pegs do you plan to move next?

Will you follow a strategy or will you go with your gut instinct?

What Do You Learn from Playing Peg Solitaire?

Playing peg solitaire teaches players pattern recognition and helps players deal with failure. Pattern recognition is the idea that the player will often see similar layouts and then must learn and execute the best moves when those layouts appear. This can be challenging, but overtime, players will become better and better at recognizing similar layouts.

Peg Solitaire also helps players deal with failure. Failure is a common occurrence in peg solitaire. Players will likely need to try each board multiple times before they succeed. Because of this, players will learn not to dislike failure, but instead to take each failure as a learning opportunity and to incorporate what they learned in future games.

Make Your Next Move…

Enjoy playing games of luck and skill? Why not try Spider Solitaire? Or if you feel that you have mastered solitaire why not try Hearts, a card game that might just ‘suit’ your mood…