Print & Play
Printable Peg Solitaire Board
The 33-hole English cross with a rules sheet. Print it, put a coin in every hole but the middle, and see how far down you can get.
Style
What the board looks like when someone made one — the default worth printing.
Paper
Sheets
For a PDF, pick Save as PDF as the printer in the print dialog.
Peg Solitaire · 33 holes · playnook.io
Pieces
Cut along the dashed lines — 32 pegs and a spare. Most people never print this sheet: 32 identical coins, dried beans or buttons do the job, and they sit in the holes better than paper.
Peg Solitaire · playnook.io
Peg Solitaire — quick rules
The start: every hole filled but the middle one.
- Set up. Put a peg in every hole except the centre. That is the classic opening; any single empty hole works, and all 33 of them can be solved down to one peg.
- The only move. Jump a peg straight over a neighbouring peg into the empty hole directly beyond, and take the jumped peg off. Up, down, left and right — never diagonally.
- Win. Finish with a single peg. Landing that last peg in the centre is the version people mean when they say they solved it.
- It is always 31 jumps. Every jump removes exactly one peg, so 32 down to 1 takes 31 jumps whatever route you pick. There is no quicker solution — only routes that strand you sooner.
- Where the last peg can end up. Starting from the centre, in only five of the 33 holes: the centre and the four arm tips. The other 28 are arithmetically impossible, which a colouring of the board proves without any searching.
- Two can play it. Jump in turn on the same board and whoever cannot jump loses. It turns the puzzle into a real contest — and unlike the puzzle, there is no luck in it at all.
Play online: playnook.io/games/peg-solitaire
What you get
Two sheets. The board fills the page: thirty-three holes in the English cross, with light lines between neighbours so the four jump directions are obvious and no diagonal ever suggests itself. The rules sheet puts the whole game on one page, with a small diagram of the starting position.
There is a sheet of paper pegs too, and you can ignore it. Thirty-two coins sit better in printed holes than anything cut from paper, and everyone has them.
Why the board has 33 holes and not 37
This is the English board. The French board has 37 holes — the same cross with an extra ring of four — and it is not simply a bigger version. The arithmetic that decides which endings are possible comes out differently, so a solution for one tells you nothing about the other. Nearly every set sold and nearly every puzzle written assumes the 33-hole board.
It always takes exactly 31 jumps
Every jump takes one peg off the board. Starting with 32 pegs and finishing with one means 31 jumps — on every route, without exception. There is no shorter solution to find.
That changes what you are actually doing. You are not hunting for a quick path; you are avoiding dead ends, and a dead end is any position where pegs remain but no two of them line up on an empty hole. Printing the board is worth it precisely because you can leave it on the table and come back to it.
Where the last peg can end up
Starting from the centre, the final peg can only occupy five of the thirty-three holes: the centre itself and the four tips of the arms. The other twenty-eight are impossible — not difficult, impossible — and it can be proved by colouring the holes rather than by trying them. The full working, with the diagram, is on the peg solitaire game page.
Two players on one printed board
Jump in turn on the same board; whoever cannot jump loses. It is a genuinely good two-player game and there is no luck in it whatsoever — which jumps exist depends only on the position, so every position is won or lost from the start. We measured it before adding it: good play beats random play 97 % of the time.
Frequently asked questions
What do I use as pegs? Coins. Thirty-two of the same coin sit in the printed holes better than anything you could cut out of paper, and everybody has them. Dried beans, buttons and small pebbles work just as well. There is a sheet of paper pegs in the print options if you want one, but most people never print it.
How many holes should the board have? Thirty-three, in a cross. That is the English board, and it is the one almost everyone means. The French board has 37 holes and behaves differently — a solution for one is no guide to the other, so do not mix them up.
What are the rules? Fill every hole but the centre. Jump a peg straight over a neighbouring peg into the empty hole beyond it, and take the jumped peg off. Up, down, left and right only, never diagonally. Finish with one peg, ideally in the centre.
How many moves does it take? Exactly 31 jumps, always. Every jump removes one peg, so 32 down to 1 is 31 of them however you play. There is no faster route — only routes that leave you stranded sooner, which is the whole difficulty.
Is it always possible to finish with one peg? From every one of the 33 starting holes, yes. But where the last peg can end up is limited: starting from the centre it can only finish in five holes — the centre and the four arm tips. The other 28 are impossible, and a colouring of the board proves it without any trial and error.
Can two people play on one board? Yes, and it makes a good game. Jump in turn on the same board; whoever cannot jump loses. There is no chance in that version at all, which is why it rewards thinking more than almost anything else you can print on one sheet.
What paper size? A4 or US Letter, whichever your printer has. Pick it in the options before printing; the board is scaled to fill the page either way.
How do I get it as a PDF? Press Print, then choose “Save as PDF” as the printer in the print dialog. Every browser has that built in.
Rather play on screen? Peg solitaire online has undo, three starting holes and a two-player mode against the computer. The same board is also used by Fox and Geese — one fox against thirteen geese, printable alongside the other line boards.