Copyright: PegSol v1.1, Copyright © 1998 Mark Williams


Game menu commands

The Game menu offers the following commands:

New	Starts a new game.
Undo Move	Undo the last move.
Redo Move	Redo the last move that was undone.
Exit	Exits Peg Solitaire.


View menu commands

The View menu offers the following commands:

Toolbar	Shows or hides the toolbar.
Status Bar	Shows or hides the status bar.
Show Moves	Turns on or off the highlighting of possible moves
Show Winning Moves	Turns on or off the highlighting of moves that allow a game to be won.


Help menu commands

The Help menu offers the following commands, which provide you assistance with this application:

Help Topics	Offers you an index to topics on which you can get help.
About PegSol	Displays the version number of this application.


New Game command
New Game command (Game menu)

Use this command to start a new game.  If the current game still has playable moves, an alert panel warns you that you will be abandoning the current game.

Shortcuts

Keys:	CTRL+N


Undo Move command
Undo Move command (Game menu)

Use this command to undo the previous move.  This command can be repeated to undo all moves until the start position is reached.  To redo a move that has been undone, use the redo move command.

Shortcuts

Keys:	CTRL+Z


Redo Move command
Redo Move command (Game menu)

Use this command to redo a move that has just been undone using the undo move command.  This command is only available if one or more moves have just been undone.

Shortcuts

Keys:	CTRL+Y


Game Exit command
Exit command (Game menu)

Use this command to quit the application.  You can also use the Close command on the application Control menu.

Shortcuts

Mouse:	Double-click the application's Control menu button.

Keys:	ALT+F4


View Toolbar command
Toolbar command (View menu)

Use this command to display and hide the Toolbar, which includes buttons for some of the most common commands in Peg Solitaire.  A check mark appears next to the menu item when the Toolbar is displayed.

See Toolbar for help on using the toolbar.


Show Moves command (View menu)

Use this command to enable or disable the option that lights up in blue, pegs that can be moved.  When the cursor is moved over a highlighted peg, the holes to which the peg can be moved also light up in blue.  When this option is enabled, a check mark appears next to menu item, and if the toolbar is displayed, the toolbar button is depressed.  See also: game options.


Show Winning Moves command
Show Winning Moves command (View menu)

Use this command to enable or disable the option that lights up in green, pegs that can be moved to lead to a winning game.  When the cursor is moved over a highlighted peg, the holes to which the peg can be moved in order to win also light up in green.  When this option is enabled, a check mark appears next to menu item, and if the toolbar is displayed, the toolbar button is depressed.  See also: game options.


Toolbar

The toolbar is displayed across the top of the application window, below the menu bar.  The toolbar provides quick mouse access to several commands used in Peg Solitaire.

To hide or display the Toolbar, choose Toolbar from the View menu (ALT, V, T).

Click	To

Start a new game.

Show/hide possible moves.

Show/hide moves that allow the winning position to be reached.

Bring up the About box.

Bring up the context sensitive help cursor.


View Status Bar Command
Status Bar command (View menu)

Use this command to display and hide the Status Bar, which describes the action to be executed by the selected menu item or depressed toolbar button. A check mark appears next to the menu item when the Status Bar is displayed.

See Status Bar for help on using the status bar.


Status Bar

The status bar is displayed at the bottom of the game window.  To display or hide the status bar, use the Status Bar command in the View menu.

The status bar describes actions of menu items as you use the arrow keys to navigate through menus.  This area similarly shows messages that describe the actions of toolbar buttons as you depress them, before releasing them.  If after viewing the description of the toolbar button command you wish not to execute the command, then release the mouse button while the pointer is off the toolbar button.


Using Help Command
Using Help command (Help menu)

Use this command for instructions about using Help.


Help command
Help command (Help menu)

Opens the help window, showing the contents.

To get context sensitive help on the currently selected object, press F1.

Shortcut

Keys:	ALT, H, H


About command
About command (Help menu)

Use this command to display the copyright notice and version number of your copy of Peg Solitaire.

Shortcut

Keys:	ALT, H, A


Context Help command

Use the Context Help command to obtain help on some portion of Peg Solitaire.  When you choose the Toolbar's Context Help button, the mouse pointer will change to an arrow and question mark.  Then click somewhere in the Peg Solitaire window, such as another Toolbar button.  The Help topic will be shown for the item you clicked.

Shortcut

Keys:	SHIFT+F1


Title Bar

The title bar is located along the top of a window.  It contains the name of the application.

To move the window, drag the title bar.  Note: You can also move dialog boxes by dragging their title bars.

A title bar may contain the following elements:

Application Control-menu button

Document Control-menu button

Maximize button

Minimize button

Name of the application

Name of the document

Restore button


Scroll bars

Displayed at the right and bottom edges of the document window.  The scroll boxes inside the scroll bars indicate your vertical and horizontal location in the document.  You can use the mouse to scroll to other parts of the document.


Size command (System menu)

Use this command to display a four-headed arrow so you can size the active window with the arrow keys.

After the pointer changes to the four-headed arrow:

1.	Press one of the DIRECTION keys (left, right, up, or down arrow key) to move the pointer to the border you want to move.

2.	Press a DIRECTION key to move the border.

3.	Press ENTER when the window is the size you want.

Note:  This command is unavailable if you maximize the window.

Shortcut

Mouse:	Drag the size bars at the corners or edges of the window.


Move command (Control menu)

Use this command to display a four-headed arrow so you can move the active window or dialog box with the arrow keys.

Note:  This command is unavailable if you maximize the window.

Shortcut

Keys:	CTRL+F7


System Minimize Command
Minimize command (application Control menu)

Use this command to reduce the Peg Solitaire window to an icon.

Shortcut

Mouse:	Click the minimize icon [image] on the title bar.

Keys:	ALT+F9


Maximize command (System menu)

Use this command to enlarge the active window to fill the available space.

Shortcut

Mouse:	Click the maximize icon [image] on the title bar; or double-click the title bar.

Keys:	CTRL+F10 enlarges a document window.


Next Window command (document Control menu)

Use this command to switch to the next open document window.  Peg Solitaire determines which window is next according to the order in which you opened the windows.

Shortcut

Keys:	CTRL+F6


Previous Window command (document Control menu)

Use this command to switch to the previous open document window. Peg Solitaire determines which window is previous according to the order in which you opened the windows.

Shortcut

Keys:	SHIFT+CTRL+F6


Close command (Control menus)

Use this command to close the active window or dialog box.

Double-clicking a Control-menu box is the same as choosing the Close command.

Shortcuts

Keys: 	CTRL+F4 closes a document window

ALT+F4 closes the application or dialog box


Restore command (Control menu)

Use this command to return the active window to its size and position before you chose the Maximize or Minimize command.


Switch to command (application Control menu)

Use this command to display a list of all open applications.  Use this "Task List" to switch to or close an application on the list.

Shortcut

Keys:	CTRL+ESC

Dialog Box Options

When you choose the Switch To command, you will be presented with a dialog box with the following options:

Task List

Select the application you want to switch to or close.

Switch To

Makes the selected application active.

End Task

Closes the selected application.

Cancel

Closes the Task List box.

Cascade

Arranges open applications so they overlap and you can see each title bar.  This option does not affect applications reduced to icons.

Tile

Arranges open applications into windows that do not overlap.  This option does not affect applications reduced to icons.

Arrange Icons

Arranges the icons of all minimized applications across the bottom of the screen.


No Help Available

No help is available for this area of the window.


No Help Available

No help is available for this message box.


How to play

Peg Solitaire is played on a board that consists of a number of holes.  At the start of the game, all the holes contain pegs except the center hole.

The aim of the game is to remove pegs from the board one by one, until only the center peg is left.

Pegs are removed by jumping another peg over them, either horizontally or vertically.  The peg being moved must be adjacent to the peg being removed, and there must be an empty hole on the opposite side.  To help learn the moves, use the game options to highlight the pegs that can be moved.

Once there are no pegs that can be removed, the game is over.

Starting position

Winning end position.


Game Options

There are two options that can be set when playing the game:

•	Show winning moves.  This puts the game into "cheat" mode.  In this mode, all moves that can be made which will lead to a winning game are shown.  This is done by lighting in green the pegs that can be moved, as shown below.  When the cursor is moved over one of these lit pegs, the holes that it can be moved to are also shown lit in green.

•	Show all moves.  This puts the game into "help" mode.  Use this mode to help learn which moves are allowed.  Any pegs that can be moved are shown lit in blue, and when the cursor is moved over one of these lit pegs, the holes that it can be moved to are also shown lit in blue.

Example move with no highlighting.

Example move, with the show-all-moves option turned on.

Example move that leads to a winning game, with the show-winning-moves option turned on.


History of Peg Solitaire

Peg Solitaire dates from the early 18th Century, and is traditionally played on a wooden board with drilled holes for the pegs.  This program implements the English game, which is the most common.

English game

Other variations are the French version, and a triangular version.  These differ in the arrangement of the holes as shown below.

French game

Triangle game

If you want to know more about Peg Solitaire, try looking at "The Ins and Outs of Peg Solitaire" by John D. Beasley, publisher Oxford University Press 1985.  ISBN: 0 19 286145 X or 0 19 853203 2.


Facts & Figures
Fascinating Facts & Figures

Although Peg Solitaire appears to be a very simple game, a huge number of possible games can be played out.

There are 8,589,934,592 possible arrangements of the pegs on the board (this is 2 raised to the power 33, since there are 33 holes on the board, each of which may be empty or have a peg in it).

However, of these, only 281,657,274 positions can be reached from the starting position.

And of these, only 13,431,459 positions lead to the winning game.

You can make any moves you like for the first 3 moves, and be in a position from which you can still win.  After that, you have to be careful!

The worst ending position has 26 pegs left.


Abandon Game message box

This message box comes up if you ask to start a new game while the current game still has moves left to play.  Press YES to abandon the current game, or NO to continue playing.


About Extrabit Software

Peg Solitaire is brought to you by Extrabit Software.  For more great software, visit our web site at http://www.extrabit.com.

If you have any questions, comments (or even bug reports!), send email to support@extrabit.com.


End user license

Peg Solitaire is free, but it is not public domain.  You must agree to the following terms if you wish to use and distribute this program.

Distribution

You may make as many copies of this software and documentation as you wish.  You may freely distribute this software by any means provided that you include all files in the original distribution, and none of the files are altered in any way.

Governing Law

This agreement shall be governed by the laws of England.

Disclaimer of Warranty

THIS SOFTWARE AND THE ACCOMPANYING FILES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES AS TO PERFORMANCE OR MERCHANTABILITY OR ANY OTHER WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED.

PegSol Copyright © 1998 by Mark Williams. All rights reserved.