The timeless disk-stacking puzzle, reimagined with smooth animations and a glowing violet-to-teal disk palette. Move the whole tower one disk at a time, never stacking a bigger disk on a smaller one. Pick 3 to 8 disks, race the move counter against the mathematical optimum, and beat your own best.
About Tower of Hanoi
Tower of Hanoi is a classic mathematical puzzle invented in the 19th century. You start with a stack of graduated disks on the left peg, largest at the bottom, and must rebuild the entire stack on another peg. The only rules: move one disk at a time, and never set a larger disk atop a smaller one. The minimum number of moves needed is exactly 2^N - 1, so a 3-disk tower takes 7 moves while an 8-disk tower demands a disciplined 255. This build adds satisfying lift-and-drop animations, a live timer, an optimal-move target, persistent best scores for every disk count, and a watchable auto-solver that plays the perfect solution.
Where Tower of Hanoi comes from
The Tower of Hanoi was invented by the French mathematician Edouard Lucas and first sold in 1883, packaged with a legend about temple priests at Benares moving a tower of 64 golden disks, one at a time, until the world ends. A tower of n disks needs a minimum of 2^n - 1 moves, so the legendary 64-disk tower would take about 585 billion years at one move per second. This version is 360 PlayZone's own take on the classic. Source.
Inside Tower of Hanoi: what we checked
The numbers below come from Tower of Hanoi's own source code, and the screenshots are from our own test run of the game (20 October 2026).
- You can play with 3 to 8 disks, and a new game starts on 5. The Optimal box shows the minimum number of moves, which is 2 to the power of the disk count minus 1: 7, 15, 31, 63, 127 or 255.
- You win when the whole stack sits on either of the other two pegs, not only the far one. Finishing on the middle peg counts.
- If you solve it in exactly the minimum, the game says "perfect, the minimum!". Otherwise it shows the optimal figure next to your count.
- Undo takes the last move off your counter as well as off the board, so it is not a penalty.
- Auto-solve starts a fresh board and plays the optimal solution for the current disk count. Those runs are never saved as a best.
- Your fewest moves is stored separately for each disk count in this browser, and the Best box shows the one for the stack size you are on.
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How to play Tower of Hanoi
Choose how many disks you want (3 to 8) using the selector. The full stack begins on the left peg. Drag the top disk of any peg and drop it onto another peg, or use the keyboard to lift and place. A disk can only land on an empty peg or on top of a larger disk. Keep going until the entire tower is rebuilt on either of the two right-hand pegs. Your move count is shown alongside the optimal target (2^N - 1); finish in exactly that many moves for a perfect run. Use Undo to take back a slip, New game to restart, and Auto-solve to watch the optimal sequence demonstrated.
Controls
Mouse / touch: drag the top disk of a peg and drop it onto another peg. Keyboard: Left/Right arrows (or A/D) select the source peg; Up (or W) lifts the top disk; while lifted, Left/Right aim at a target peg; Down or Enter drops it (aiming back at the source cancels the lift); Esc cancels a lift. Shortcuts: R new game, U undo, S auto-solve, M mute.
Tips & tricks
- The smallest disk always moves in the same rotational direction every other turn - pick a direction and stick to it for a clean optimal run.
- On odd turns move the smallest disk; on even turns make the only other legal move available. This rhythm produces the perfect solution automatically.
- Where the smallest disk ends up depends on whether your disk count is odd or even, so glance at the parity before you start aiming for the target peg.
- Start small: master 3 and 4 disks until the pattern feels automatic, then scale up. The strategy is identical, just longer.
Frequently asked questions
Does Tower of Hanoi save my progress?
Yes — Tower of Hanoi keeps your best score and settings in this browser's local storage, so they are still there when you come back on the same device. Nothing is uploaded and no account is involved — clearing your browser data is what resets it.
Is Tower of Hanoi unblocked at school or work?
Tower of Hanoi is a plain web page of about 30 KB — no plugin, no installer, no app store — so it loads on a Chromebook or a locked-down school or office laptop the same way any other page does, and the whole game arrives in one short download. Whether it opens comes down to your network's filter rather than the game itself.
Who made Tower of Hanoi?
Tower of Hanoi was built in-house by the 360 PlayZone team using open web technology (HTML5), which is why it runs instantly without any download.