"Oh no!" Exclaimed Sammy after realizing how close the King's birthday was. "Jester, I need really need to prepare a present for his Majesty! Can you help me pick out something?"

Jester shook his head and said, "No. I would be terrible at picking something out other than riddles. On that note, would you like to hear what I have --" Before Jester could even finish his sentence, Sammy had already bolted out of the hall. "Maybe I should leave a note," he mumbled to himself.

---------------------------

Later that day, Sammy arrived home to find a note on his doorstep.

Good Evening Sammy,

To continue our conversation from the morning, I would like to present you with this puzzle. To be honest, I too, am quite nervious about his Majesty's birthday. I feel like this puzzle may be too easy. Please, if you have the time, read this note in it's entirety and give me feedback.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

This is the puzzle.

I will present 6 cups to his Majesty. The first 3 will be filled with wine while the last 3 will be empty. I will challenge his Majesty to arrange the cups so they are rearranged to the following order: (filled,empty,filled,empty,filled,empty) However, his majesty can only move one cup at a time and all rearrangements have to be done by one hand. Also, any cup he picks up must be moved to either end of the line or put back down. Finally, if he moves the 3rd one to the right end of the line for example, he will have the follownig arrangement (filled,filled,gap, empty,empty,empty,filled) and would need one more move to fill in that gap.

What is the minimum amout of moves needed to do this?

Thank you for reading to the end. I really appreciate you taking the time to read this. I will try to go present hunting with you tomorrow.

Sincerely,

  Jester