Bell's Puzzles

Only one first jump wins.

How these puzzles work

Every puzzle here can be solved down to one marble on the centre hole, and only one of the opening jumps gets you there. Every other first jump ends in a dead end. After the first jump, a puzzle can still have more than one good move, because the jumps of a solution can often be played in a different order.

A way in

Knowing there is only one winning first jump helps you. The second jump of the solution has to be one that the first jump made possible: if it could have been played first, it would be a second winning first jump, and there is only one. So for each first jump you are tempted by, ask which jumps it opens up. If it opens nothing that carries on, it is not the one. (A tip from George Bell.)

Where to start

The puzzles are grouped by the number of marbles on the board at the start, fewest first. Fewer marbles means a shorter puzzle, but not always an easier one: most of these positions have no symmetry to lean on, and many look odd. You can open any of them. Nothing is locked, and a solved puzzle gets a star, saved on this device.

Where the puzzles come from

The positions are by George I. Bell, who found them with a computer search described in Designing peg solitaire puzzles. There are 51 puzzles on the English board and 197 on the French board. We checked each one again. Every position can be solved to one marble on the centre hole, and has exactly one winning first jump. They are used here with George Bell's permission.