About Tricky Triangle

Tricky Triangle is a free version of the 15-hole triangle peg game that runs entirely in your web browser: no download, no account, and no waiting for a table at a restaurant.

Who makes it

Tricky Triangle is made by The Seasoned Programmer. For more, visit the YouTube channel The Seasoned Programmer (@theseasonedprogrammer).

Where the game comes from

The triangle peg game is a member of a much older family of puzzles called peg solitaire, in which pegs or marbles jump one another until as few as possible remain. Peg solitaire was already fashionable in France in the late 1600s, played on boards shaped like a cross or an octagon, and versions of it have been sold ever since.

The 15-hole triangle is one of the smallest boards in the family, and one of the best known in North America, where it's often called the Cracker Barrel peg game after the restaurant chain that leaves one on every table. Small and cheap to make, the wooden triangle with its handful of golf-tee pegs has also been sold for years as a travel game and a desk toy, under names like the triangle puzzle, the IQ test and, of course, the tricky triangle.

How this version works

Everything happens in your browser. The board, the rules and the solver are written in TypeScript and run on your own device, and nothing about your games is sent to a server. The game in progress and your record are saved in your browser's local storage, so you can close the tab and come back later.

The hints come from an exact solver rather than rules of thumb. The triangle has only 15 holes, so there are at most 32,768 ways to arrange pegs on it, few enough for the solver to look at every position reachable from yours, in a fraction of a second, and work out the fewest pegs that can still be left. A hint is simply a jump that keeps that number as low as it can be, and the "one peg is still possible" message is that same calculation.

The same solver produced the solutions and the numbers quoted in the strategy guide, and the site's automated tests recompute every one of them, so the text always matches what the solver finds.

Not affiliated

Tricky Triangle is an independent site. It is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, and Cracker Barrel is a trademark of its owner.

Get in touch

Found a bug or have an idea for the game? Contact us. Or go back and play a game.