Peg Solitaire · Wiegleb

Wiegleb’s 45-hole cross extends each arm by one row. Empty e5 and finish at e5 in 43 jumps. Unlike the central game, starting and finishing on e1 is impossible.

Wiegleb, the biggest cross

Take the English cross and give each arm one more row. That is Wiegleb’s board: a cross of 45 holes, forty-four marbles, and one empty hole at e5.

It looks like the board you know and plays a little like a stranger. The centre opening still works, but the first thing you notice is how many more jumps there are before anything starts to feel decided: 43 of them, the longest game on the site.

It rewards the people who like to settle in.

Wiegleb board at the start: 44 marbles and one empty hole, e5; the target ring is on e5; arrows show the first jumps, e3 over e4, c5 over d5, g5 over f5 or e7 over e6. — Every game starts like this: 45 holes, e5 empty. The first jump is e3 over e4, c5 over d5, g5 over f5 or e7 over e6, and after 43 jumps the last marble has to be back on e5.

How to play the Wiegleb board

The Wiegleb cross has 45 holes and the centre is e5. There are four first jumps, all into the centre: from e3, c5, g5 or e7. They are the same move turned by a quarter turn, as on the English board.

Each jump needs two neighbouring marbles in a straight line and an empty hole immediately beyond them. The jumped marble is removed; every jump reduces the count by one.
On square grids, jump horizontally or vertically. On the triangle, use any of the six directions parallel to its three sides. A diagonal on a square grid is never legal.
The marked hole is the required finish. One marble somewhere else is a different result, not a win in this target puzzle. You can undo a jump and explore a different route.
Our counter records individual jumps. Mathematical books sometimes group several jumps by the same marble into one “move”; those totals are not comparable.

Click or tap a marble. If only one jump is possible it happens at once; if there are several, outlined holes show where the marble can land and you pick one. You can also drag a marble onto a hole, or use the keyboard: arrow keys to move, Enter or Space to select and jump, Escape to clear, Ctrl or Cmd with Z to undo.

How to win Wiegleb

Forty-four marbles means 43 jumps. The target ring is on e5, the hole you emptied. The win is the last marble coming back to it.

Wiegleb strategy

Know your last jump. Four jumps can land on e5: e3 over e4, c5 over d5, g5 over f5, or e7 over e6. The last two marbles must be one of those pairs.
Do not clear an arm early. The arms are one row longer than the English board’s, and an outer marble left with no neighbour can never leave the board.
Break the long game into stretches. Pick a region, finish what you can there, then move on, undoing freely.

The Wiegleb solution

The Solutions page replays one verified central route of 43 jumps. It is the mathematical central game documented for this board.

Questions people ask

Is Wiegleb the same as the English board?

No. It has 45 holes, each arm of the English cross extended by one row, and needs 43 jumps against 31.

Can I start from the top and finish at the top?

Not on this board. Emptying e1 and finishing on e1 is impossible, unlike the central game, which works.

Is there a solver for the Wiegleb board?

There is no box where you type a position in, but the game has a solver of its own. The Hint button shows a jump from a route the game has checked can still win. If the search proves the target can no longer be reached, the game says so, which tells you to undo; if it reaches its search limit, the answer is simply unknown. A hint is marked in your result and keeps that game out of your best time.