Play Pebbles online free

About Pebbles

Pebbles is our take on one of the oldest families of board games in the world: the sowing games, where stones travel around a row of pits instead of pieces moving across squares. The board has six small pits on each side and a long store at each end. Every pit starts with four stones (you can choose three to six), and the aim is simple: end the game with more stones in your store than your opponent has in theirs.

On your turn you pick up every stone in one of your own pits and sow them one at a time, counter-clockwise, into the following pits. Your own store gets a stone when you pass it, but your opponent's store is skipped. Two rules make the game come alive. If your last stone lands in your own store, you move again straight away. If it lands in an empty pit on your side and the pit across the board holds stones, you capture them all, together with your last stone. When one side has no stones left, each player banks whatever remains on their own side and the stores are counted.

You can play against the computer at three levels, pass one phone or laptop between two people, or share a link and play a friend online, where every move is checked by the server. Hover or move the keyboard focus over a pit and the board marks where your last stone will land, so you can plan chains of extra turns and spot captures before you commit.

A few tips: pits close to your store are best for extra turns, so empty them early and refill them often. Count the stones in your opponent's pits as carefully as your own, because a pit that is about to fill your empty pit can protect it. Keeping a large pile in one pit is a powerful threat late in the game, since it can circle the whole board.

Pebbles is a free browser game on Playdonya. It works on phones, tablets and desktop computers with touch, mouse or keyboard, and needs no sign-up.