How to play

One player, 32 marbles, one empty hole. The aim is to clear the board until a single marble sits in the centre.

The opening move: a marble jumps its neighbour into the empty centre, and the jumped marble is removed.

The rules

The board starts full except for the centre hole.
A move is a jump: pick up a marble and leap it over an adjacent marble into an empty hole directly beyond.
Jumps go up, down, left or right. Diagonal jumps are not allowed.
The marble you jump over is captured and leaves the board.
The game ends when no more jumps are possible. Finishing with one marble is a win; finishing with it in the centre is a perfect game.

Playing here

Drag a marble. Legal landing holes glow brass while you hold it.
Drop it on a glowing hole to make the jump. Drop anywhere else and it rolls home.
Captured marbles roll into the groove around the edge of the board.

Tips

Clear the outer arms early. Marbles stranded at the tips of the cross are the most common way to get stuck.
Work in blocks of three: a row of three marbles beside an empty pair can usually be cleared completely.
Avoid leaving lone marbles far from the others. A marble with no neighbours can only be captured once another marble travels over to it, and that costs moves you may not have.
Keep the centre in mind for your last few moves, not your first.