Build a better approach
Peg Jump is the classic cross. Pegs fill every hole except the center. Tap a peg, then tap an empty hole two steps away in a cardinal direction. The peg you jump is removed. Diagonals are illegal.
The score is how few pegs remain. One peg in the center is the famous finish. There are no lives. Reset when the remaining pegs cannot jump. A stuck board is a lesson, not a failure of the rules—the rules never promised a random mash would solve it.
Turn information into decisions
Work from the edges inward. Early jumps that empty the center leave later pegs with nowhere to land. A peg in a far corner with no neighbor is usually stranded. Look two jumps ahead: the landing of this jump should set up the next.
Avoid leaving two pegs a knight’s move apart. They cannot help each other. Prefer jumps that cluster leftovers so they can still interact. The last five pegs decide the score; the first twenty only set that endgame.
Practice for consistent results
If you see a peg that can neither jump nor be jumped, you have already lost that finish. Name it, reset, and try not to create that shape again. That is study, not repetition.
Drill: reach five remaining pegs without a reset. If you stall earlier, name the stranded peg. That name is the lesson.