There is just one way to go from XXXXOOOO to XOXOXOXO in five moves if *three* adjacent coins are moved at each turn. How?

I found a solution in five moves, but it seems unlikely to be unique, especially if the reflection counts separately.  I found it just by playing around with it for a while.  I also glanced at nikki's and owl's solutions.  Unlike owl's solution, the ending position is not to the right or left of the starting position.

   XXXXOOOO
XOOXXX   OO
XO   XOXXOO
XOXXOXO   O
XOX   OXOXO
   XOXOXOXO

Speaking of which, I found a loophole that I don't think anyone mentioned.  If you move a group of three to a row below like shown below, the range of possibilities is pretty wide.

X X X X O O O O => X X X X O
                    O O O

Posted by Tristan on 2004-10-28 00:36:27