Tower of Hanoi

Move the whole tower, one disc at a time

Ages 9+ 1 puzzlesboard
Tower of Hanoi
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About Tower of Hanoi

Tower of Hanoi is the classic thinking puzzle: move a stack of discs from the first peg to the last, one disc at a time, and never let a bigger disc sit on a smaller one. It looks simple with three discs and becomes a real planning challenge at seven โ€” the shortest possible solution doubles with every disc you add. A brilliant way to discover that a hard problem can be solved by solving a smaller version of itself first.

How to Play

  • Tap a peg to lift the disc on top of it.
  • Tap another peg to drop the disc there.
  • A bigger disc can never go on top of a smaller one.
  • Move the whole tower to the peg marked โ€˜finish hereโ€™.

Tips & Tricks

  • Think about where the biggest disc needs to go, and clear a path for it first.
  • The shortest solution is shown as โ€˜best possibleโ€™ โ€” try to match it.
  • Undo is there for experiments; using it costs you nothing.

What Kids Learn

Tower of Hanoi is more than fun โ€” it helps build real skills:

  • Planning several steps ahead
  • Breaking a big problem into smaller ones
  • Recognising doubling patterns

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