Notes and papers on Peg Solitaire (John)

The primary item on this page is now the complete text of the book The Delights of Peg Solitaire, but there is much other material: some after-36-years observations on The Ins and Outs, problems or versions of the game not in The Delights or The Ins and Outs, copies of or references to historical source material, and miscellanea.

The Delights and The Ins and Outs

The Delights of Peg Solitaire (book containing over 400 problems, October/November 2021)
Some observations on The Ins and Outs of Peg Solitaire (October 2021)

The Delights can be downloaded for viewing on screen via the link given, or obtained as a properly printed and bound book from Chess & Bridge, 44 Baker Street, London W1U 7RT, www.chess.co.uk (permission to make printed copies from downloads will not be given while the distributor holds stocks). The Ins and Outs is out of print, but copies surface from time to time on the second-hand market (try www.AbeBooks.com).

Problems and versions

Swaps and merry-go-rounds (July 2013)
Clock solitaire (most recently revised June 2017)
A pentagonal board from Hungary (May 2016)
A 1924 octagram board (May 2016)
New problems on old solitaire boards (George Bell and JDB, April 2005)
Marked-man problems on a 4x4 board with diagonal moves (January 2023)
51 flights of chess fancy (interlude and chapter 9)
Reminiscences of a puzzle enthusiast (pages 6 and 13)

Some of these are in The Delights, but have been retained for convenience or because the copies here give additional detail. See also Some observations on The Ins and Outs of Peg Solitaire above.

Historical source material

Extracts from Mercure Galant, August and September 1697 (May/June 2013)
Material in Les Tablettes du Chercheur, 1891-1896 (June 2013)
The text from issue 28 of The Games and Puzzles Journal (September 2003)
Peg Solitaire papers in the Bodleian Library (July 2017)

An update to the history of peg solitaire (most recent appendix added April 2017)
Contributions towards a historical update (most recently revised October 2014)

These last two are largely superseded by The Delights, but contain a few items not mentioned therein.

Miscellanea

On 33-hole solitaire positions with rotational symmetry (November 2012)
Some observations on the analysis of peg solitaire by computer (February/March 2013)