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Triangle Peg Board Puzzle

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Triangle Peg Game

Forget video games! Sit down with a triangle peg game and try to puzzle it out. The puzzle board consists of a triangle with fifteen holes and fourteen pegs. The object is to remove the pegs by jumping one peg over another peg into an empty hole until you are left with only one peg. You can only jump over one peg into an adjacent hole that is set in a straight line.

The game is also often called peg solitaire or less commonly Solo Noble. Makers of the game often replace the pegs with marbles. If you don't have any luck, head back here and take a look at a solution.

The solution given below covers the easiest board shape: the triangle. Once you've mastered the triangle you can go on to master the other forms like the diamond, French, English or German styles.

(intro photo by author)

Simple Triangle Peg Game Solution

In order to discuss a solution, we'll need a common language to describe the board and peg positions. With one of the triangle points facing up, we will number the holes in order from the top row with a single hole to the bottom row with five holes. The first row hole is #1. The second row has holes #2 and #3 and so forth until the last row which has holes #11 through #15. The pattern looks as follows (I show leading zeros and dashes to keep the format looking nice):

--------01
------02 03
----04 05 06
--07 08 09 10
11 12 13 14 15

To start the game the board looks as follows (with a filled circle indicating a peg and an open circle indicating a hole):




We first create a diamond at the top with the following moves: 4-1, 6-4, 1-6. We end up with the board looking as such:




The next set of moves are 7-2, 13-4, 2-7. Now the board should look like the little diamond with a channel of three holes on its side:




We are getting close now. The moves 10-8, 7-9, 11-13 leads us to a little v shape laying on it's side:




14-12, 6-13 and we are oh so close we can almost taste it:




12-14 and finally 15-13! Solved!

Of course there are many other solutions as well as starting positions but I leave those to you so you can still have some fun and say you were able to solve it on your own.

A Brief Peg Solitaire History

A french engraving from 1697 showing the Princess of Soubise with a peg solitaire board next to her is the first reliable evidence that the game existed. Such an engraving also meant that the game was already popular by the time of Louis XIV.

Herbert M. Smith of Rome, New York was issued patent 462,170 in 1891 which involved a peg solitaire game similar to the triangle peg game but the board looked like three merged triangles. In 1892, Charles H. Rickert of Reading, Pennsylvania was issued patent 484,882 which concerned a peg solitaire game in the form of a star.

The Cracker Barrel restaurant has for many years featured this puzzle as a distraction for customers while they wait for their food. You might ask what does "eg-no-ra-moose" mean on the game? You'd be an ignoramus and purdy dumb not to figure it out.

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More Difficult Solution

To make the game even harder, you can opt to try and place the final peg into the original starting hole.

Peg Games on Amazon

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Peg Solitaire Apps!

Peg Solitaire on AppBrain
Play Peg Solitaire on your Android phone!
PegDroid
Marble solitaire on your Android. Play the more difficult versions of peg solitaire.

Triangular Peg Game Commentary

Where did you first encounter the triangle peg game? Did you ever prove yourself smarter than a sibling by solving it when they couldn't? Don't be a pointy head, leave a comment!

  • naheedahsan Mar 21, 2012 @ 2:51 am | delete
    looks interesting, like to play
  • YayasHome Sep 15, 2011 @ 3:24 am | delete
    I can't remember the first time I ever saw the Triangular Peg Game. I've only been able to solve the puzzles a couple 'uh times, but I always enjoy trying, even still. Very interesting page.
  • Waxing-Lyrical Sep 15, 2011 @ 1:47 am | delete
    I picked up several of these at Cracker Barrel. Took me a little while, but eventually got it solved :)
  • Sylvestermouse Sep 15, 2011 @ 12:11 am | delete
    One of my all time favorite games! I always grab one at the Cracker Barrel :) I usually end up with a split :( Think I will take this cheat sheet with me the next time.
  • Harry-Potter Sep 3, 2011 @ 8:34 pm | delete
    Fun! I recall playing this game at my Grandmother's home.
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zdaddyo

I don't remember the first place I saw the triangle peg game, but I do remember that it frustrated me to no end. The peg board puzzle in the photo is... more »

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