You have three small poles and five hoops - XS, S, M, L, XL (as in extra small, small, medium, large and extra large). They are placed on pole 1 in order, with largest at the bottom.
You can move one hoop at a time, and the hoops you are not moving have to be on a pole. You also cannot place a hoop on top of a smaller one. How can you move the hoops so that they are in the same order as they are now, but on pole 3?
I did it in 19 moves, so here goes.
1.) XS to pole 2
2.) S to pole 4
3.) M to pole 5
4.) S to pole 5
5.) XS to pole 5
6.) L to pole 2
7.) XS to pole 4
8.) S to pole 1 (S is still smaller than XL)
9.) M to pole 2
10.) S to pole 2
11.) XS to pole 2
12.) XL to pole 3
13.) XS to pole 1
14.) S to pole 4
15.) M to pole 5
16.) L to pole 3
17.) M to pole 3
18.) S to pole 3
19.) XS to pole 3
There.
solution in 19 moves
