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Gamer say (Posted on 2004-03-18) Difficulty: 3 of 5
Gamer say:

Spiral the words Gamer says around in a 3 by 3 board like this:
G A M
Y   E
A S R
On each turn, you may slide one letter horizontally or vertically into the blank space (the square it moved from becomes the new empty square).

You want to rearrange the letters so that the same word is spelled out around the edge, but beginning from one of the edges instead of the corner.

In other words, the board should look like one of these configurations:
Y G A  S A Y  E R S  A M E
A   M  R   G  M   A  G   R
S R E  E M A  A G Y  Y A S
What is the fewest number of turns it takes to do this?

See The Solution Submitted by Gamer    
Rating: 4.0000 (5 votes)

Comments: ( Back to comment list | You must be logged in to post comments.)
Solution solution | Comment 8 of 16 |
If we call the first A a, then
aGYa produces
YGM
a E
ASR
then aASa produces
YGM
A E
SaR
then AYGA produces
GAM
Y E
SaR
then aREa produces
GAM
Y a
SRE
then aMAa produces
GaA
Y M
SRE
and aGYa produces
YGA
a M
SRE
That's 6 x 4 = 24 moves.
But there were two places where a was moved twice in a row.
So once those two pairs are shortcutted, this is a 20-move solution.
 

  Posted by Charlie on 2004-03-18 16:09:49
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