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The Barrel

Barrel with colored marbles There are at least two types of barrels. The more popular barrel with columns of colored marbles from dark to light. This barrel is very easy to solve. The other has 5 columns of 4 colored marbles each and 3 space filling black marbles (see below). The latter is more difficult to solve due to a lower symmetry and since only a simultaneous shift of marbles in 3 columns is possible.

My Solution of the Barrel

To solve the barrel it necessary to find move sequences (I called them tricks) which interchange only a few marbles. Once you have these tricks, the barrel can easily be solved by suitably selecting and executing them. Indeed, a single trick is sufficient to solve the barrel.

Solution of the Barrel

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