Exchange the black and white pegs
in the fewest number of moves.
 

I take occasion to call attention to the origin of a pretty
puzzle game, or species of solitaire, which became quite
popular in Europe.  It was an English invention, in that it
was originated by an English sailor who spent forty years
of his life at Sailor's Snug Harbor, on Staten Island, and
whose proud boast was that he had sailed under Captain
Randall, the founder of the institution.

The old sailor used to pick up quite a little bit of extra
"baccy silver," as he termed it, by selling the puzzles to
visitors as fast as he could whittle them out with a jack-
knife.  The game was brought out in London and enjoyed
quite a run under the name English Sixteen Puzzle, but was
never marketed on this side of the pond.

The object of the puzzle is to transpose the positions of
the black and white pegs in the fewest number of moves.  A
peg may be moved from one square to an adjacent vacant
square, or it may be jumped over an adjacent peg (of either
color) provided it lands on a vacant square.  Only moves
along rows (like a rook in chess) are permitted; no diagonal
moves as in checkers.

According to an eye witness, the old sailor was very proud
of his expertness, and used to give purchasers a rule to
perform the feat in the fewest number of plays.  He was
mistaken, however, in his rule, or it must be classed along
with the lost arts.  Perhaps the world has advanced since
his time, for the methods given in English puzzle books, as
well as mathematical works, to be the shortest, are defective
and may be shortened by several moves.
 
 

¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤
 

                 THE SOLUTION
 

[Loyd does not give his solution to this.  Most puzzle books,
he says, present a solution in 52 moves, whereas the puzzle
can actually be solved in 47.  H.E.Dudeney, the British puzzle
expert, went Loyd one better by reducing the number to 46.
For Dudeney's beautifully summetric solution, see W. Rouse
Ball's Mathematical Recreations and Essays, current edition,
p. 125. - M.G.]