April 6–April 12, 2010

Problem

In a round table sits a King with 5 of his subjects. Initially, the King has 6 pieces of gold and the subjects have none. The King proposes a game: whoever has pieces of gold can pass them to both of their two neighbors, but making sure that they pass the same number of pieces to either neighbor. The game ends when each of the five subjects and the King have one piece of gold.

What is the least number of passes that are required to end the game?

Solution

here.

List of solvers

Jonathan Cross, Benjamin Ellers, Peiyush Jain, Congpa You, Matt Inouye, Lloyd Sakazaki, Dou Kaya, David Lingenbrink, Mike Goodman, Brett Kleinschmidt.

Dou Kaya wins the prize!