Peg Solitaire on Graphs In Which We Allow Merging and Jumping

• Main Author: McKinney, Amanda L.
• Format: Others
• Published: Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University 2021
• Subjects: games on graphs; peg solitaire; merging peg solitaire; Mathematics
• Online Access: https://dc.etsu.edu/honors/629; https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1792&context=honors

Peg solitaire is a game in which pegs are placed in every hole but one and the player jumps over pegs along rows or columns to remove them. Usually, the goal of the player is to leave only one peg. In a 2011 paper, this game is generalized to graphs. In this thesis, we consider a variation of peg solitaire on graphs in which pegs can be removed either by jumping them or merging them together. To motivate this, we survey some of the previous papers in the literature. We then determine the solvability of several classes of graphs including stars and double stars, caterpillars, trees of small diameter, particularly four and five, and articulated caterpillars. We conclude this thesis with several open problems related to this study.