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Objective

Move a stack of disks from the first peg to the last, never placing a bigger disk on a smaller one. The classic disk-stacking puzzle — every move is legal as long as you never place a bigger disk on a smaller one, and there's always a minimum number of moves to solve it in.

How to play

  1. Tap a peg with disks on it to select it as your source.
  2. Tap another peg to move the top disk there.
  3. Move the entire stack to the rightmost peg without ever placing a larger disk on a smaller one.

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Playing as

Tower of Hanoi Lite

Move the whole stack from the left peg to the right peg. Tap a peg to select it, tap another to move the top disk. Never place a bigger disk on a smaller one.

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About Tower of Hanoi Lite

Tower of Hanoi Lite presents the age-old disk puzzle with three pegs and four disks stacked from largest at the bottom to smallest on top. You must carry the whole tower from the left peg to the right peg, moving one disk at a time, and never lay a larger disk on a smaller one. It looks easy and turns out to be a tidy exercise in recursive thinking.

Tips and strategy

  • Think of the biggest disk first. To free it, the three smaller disks must sit together on the middle peg, so plan to get them there.
  • Treat the top disks as a smaller tower. Moving three disks is the same problem as moving four, just one size smaller, and the pattern repeats.
  • Move the smallest disk every other turn. In between, there is usually only one legal move for another disk, which keeps your route simple.
  • Alternate the direction of the smallest disk. With an even number of disks, move it first to the middle peg, then keep it circling in the same direction.
  • Aim for the minimum of 15 moves for four disks. Use Show Minimum Moves to see the target number, and Reset to try again for a cleaner run.

What it exercises

Tower of Hanoi Lite builds sequential planning and recursive thinking, where a big problem is solved by solving a smaller copy of it. It also practices rule-following under constraints, holding a multi-step plan in mind, and noticing patterns in a repeating sequence of moves.

Frequently asked questions

What is the goal of Tower of Hanoi?
Move all the disks from the left peg to the right peg. You may move only the top disk of a peg, one at a time, and you may never put a larger disk on top of a smaller one.
How many moves does it take to solve?
With four disks the minimum is 15 moves, which comes from the formula two to the power of the disk count, minus one. Using more moves still solves it, but the score is lower.
How do I move a disk?
Tap the peg that holds the disk you want to move to select it, then tap the peg where it should go. If the move would place a larger disk on a smaller one, the selection is simply cancelled.

Today's Riddles

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