Here is one of the older sliding puzzles:

You have a sliding puzzle that looks like this:

AB
 C
DE

You may move a block with a letter on it to the blank space by sliding it there. How many moves does it take to put D where E is and E where D is at the same time? (The other pieces don't need to be in their original spots.)

31?

AB   AB   AB   A     A   DA   DA
 C   DC   D    DB   DB    B   EB
DE   E    EC   EC   EC   EC    C

DA   DA   DA    A   A    AE   AE
EB   E     E   DE   DE   D     D
C    CB   CB   CB   CB   CB   CB

 E   E    ED   ED   ED   ED    D   
AD   AD   A    AB   AB    B   EB
CB   CB   CB   C     C   AC   AC

D    DB   DB   DB   DB    B   B
EB   E    EC   EC    C   DC   DC
AC   AC   A     A   EA   EA   EA

BC   BC   BC   BC
D    DA   DA    A
EA   E     E   DE

Posted by Jim on 2004-07-20 12:51:45