How to Win the Peg Solitaire Game (English Board)

Reviewed by Ashton Wu

Last Updated: January 18, 2024 Approved

Peg Solitaire (Sailor's Solitaire) or solo goli is a very popular single player game played with a board having holes in the pattern of a plus sign. There are pegs in all the holes except one. The objective is to clear the board of all the pegs except one.

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The board has the form of a plus sign +
You can jump only horizontally or vertically. The peg that has been jumped over gets removed. ^{[1]
X
Research source}

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The goal is to have only one peg remaining, preferably in the middle of the board, its center. This is the inversion of the start board (you see the start board in the board above).
We start with the sides and clear one side of its pegs, then turn to each succeeding side until we have cleared the four sides. Then an big arrow remains, pointing left. This arrow covers the whole center area.
^{[2]
X
Research source} The full board is shown here.
This way is always the same. We are clearing the right side. We take the peg from the top down: ^{[3]
X
Research source}
It is the first move of starting the right side area.
^{[4]
X
Research source}
So we move towards it from the left:
Saved the poor peg:
Now we consider the right side area as cleared. There are (almost) no pegs left in that area.
To make this easier, you want to turn the whole board 90° to the right (clockwise).
So you can compare the steps above and below now.
Remember, this our first step in the process.
Wow! Let's consider this area cleared.
From top down (1st step) :
Consider the area cleared. Let's rotate again 90° to the right.
Up, Right, Down twice, Left and Up again.
a lying T-figure.
From there, you take the center peg up, the left peg to the center, then the bottom two pegs up and then the two remaining pegs down. ^{[5]
X
Research source}
Please note that the remaining peg is the peg that made the very first move in the game.
We clear the four side areas, come to the arrow and then to the final lying T-figure.

Community Q&A

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Question

How do I start the game? I don't understand the starting move.

Community Answer

See image 8. You move from the right to the center. The peg jumps to the left onto the center hole.

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Question

We have a very old game, and the insert has been lost. It used to have a ranking depending on how many pegs are left, i.e. 1 peg in middle - genius. Do you know what those are?

Community Answer

Genius = 1 left, pretty smart = 2 left, plain dumb = 3 left, ignoramus = 4+ left. (Note that these might change depending on the manufacturer of the board. These titles are just from Cracker Barrel's version of the game.)

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Question

How do I install the peg solitaire game?

Kim G

Top Answerer

You can install the app from iTunes or Google Play. Note that the game is also known as Solo Noble or Brainvita. If you want to purchase the actual board game, it is available online or any brick-and-mortar store where toys and games are sold.

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Tips

Later you can do the whole thing and know it by heart. You don't have to turn the board then by 90° but can make the moves directly.

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Memorize the set of steps for clearing one side. Repeat them four times.

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Memorize the arrow.

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There are a lot of other solutions.

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How to Win the Peg Solitaire Game (English Board)

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