Work or Golf?

Binary Arts released this sliding-tile puzzle as a follow up on the 15-tile puzzle. It is much easier to solve, simply because there are more blank areas to temporarily hold tiles in transit. The appealing retro-look about it makes it an instant attraction. The object of the puzzle is to swap the two words so that GOLF appears on the top while WORK appears on the bottom row.

I. Get all green tiles on the top row

There is no guarantee that the puzzle is reset at its initial "out-of-the-box" setup, so we might as well start off with scrambled tiles.

The most noticible feature of this puzzle is the NOOK. We will use this as a starting square for a tile that we want to spring-board later onto it's correct spot.

The first task is to get a certain tile into the nook. Slide all tiles out of the trough and into the top and bottom row; now there are only 8 ways to get that tile into the nook:

			If this square is already green, then let it be; it does not have to be the letter F for now.
			This worst case senerio will be reviewed later.

Note: after moving a certain tile to the nook, you must slide all other tiles out of the trough and fill the rows again. This applies at the end of every move sequence throughout this solution.

Now that there's a green tile in the NOOK, move it to the last square on the top like this:

Move another green tile next to it; after nesting one in the nook beforehand:

Nest another green tile in the nook, and move it to the first square on top:

Only one more green tile to go. In the worst-case senerio, you would have to do the following moves:

II. Spell the word GOLF (top row)

Note: use the same method as before to get a certain tile to the nook

Start off by sliding the letter F in the nook, and then move it to the last square:

Next, you must slide the L tile into the nook, and then move it next to the F tile:

And finally, swap the the G and O tiles if necessary:

III. Spell the word WORK (bottom row)

Note: use the same method as before to get a certain tile to the nook

Start off by sliding the letter K in the nook, and then move it to the last square:

Next, you must slide the R tile into the nook, and then move it next to the F tile:

And finally, swap the the W and O tiles if necessary:

IV. Get back to WORK!

Swap the rows; this time the yellow tiles will end up in the top row:

Use the same method as before to spell out the words, except with WORK on the top row and GOLF on the bottom.

V. Other words to spell

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