Skill & Logic
Tower of Hanoi
Move the whole stack from the first peg to the last. You may move one disk at a time. A larger disk may never sit on a smaller one. Short uses three disks (minimum 7 moves). Long uses four (minimum 15). Score is how many moves you took.
Played 16,248 times · average 22 moves
Move the whole stack to the last peg. One disk at a time. Never cover a smaller disk with a larger one.
Pick a length
Short is a quick check. Long is the full run. Your best for each is stored on this device.
What this measures
The Tower of Hanoi is a planning task. You must look several moves ahead and accept temporary piles that look like detours. People who tap the first legal move wander. People who hold the recursive rule (move the top n-1 aside, move the base, then bring the tower back) finish near the minimum. The gap between your moves and the minimum is the planning cost. We score moves, not time, so rushing a bad plan does not win.
Where this shows up in real life
Any job that needs a detour pile (dishes, git branches, a packed suitcase) is Hanoi planning. The first legal move is often the slow path.
How to improve
- Name the rule: free the biggest disk that still needs to travel, then rebuild.
- If you stall, reset the small tower onto the only peg that is not the target.
- Do not chase a disk that is already correct. Leave it.
- Count aloud near the end. Extra flips usually happen on the last four moves.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good Hanoi score?
Finishing three disks in 7 to 10 moves is clean. Four disks in 15 to 20 is strong. Big scores mean you looped.
Is there a trick?
The recursive rule is the trick. Once you see that each tower of n is two towers of n-1 plus one base move, the path stops looking random.
Why score moves instead of time?
A slow perfect plan is the skill. A fast mess is not. Time still matters in daily life, but this page trains the plan.