Place twelve plates, as shown, on a round table, with a penny or orange
in every plate. Start from any plate you like and, always going in one
direction round the table, take up one penny, pass it over two other
pennies, and place it in the next plate. Go on again; take up another
penny and, having passed it over two pennies, place it in a plate; and
so continue your journey. Six coins only are to be removed, and when
these have been placed there should be two coins in each of six plates
and six plates empty. An important point of the puzzle is to go round
the table as few times as possible. It does not matter whether the two
coins passed over are in one or two plates, nor how many empty plates
you pass a coin over. But you must always go in one direction round the
table and end at the point from which you set out. Your hand, that is to
say, goes steadily forward in one direction, without ever moving
backwards.
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