THE GAME
A playing grid consists of the first eight letters of the alphabet (A through H) and an asterisk, arranged in a three by three matrix like this:
D H C
B F *
A E G
For two players there are two of these grids side by side, and in the beginning they are identically scrambled. The method of play is to exchange the letters with the asterisk, one at a time, until the letters are put in their proper order with the asterisk trailing (lower right corner). There is one more rule: in a turn only a letter that is immediately to the left or the right of, or immediately above or below the asterisk may be exchanged.
A move is the entry of just the letter; the program will then exchange the print positions of your choice and the asterisk. (In the example above, valid moves would be F, C, or G. If you are in the dual-player mode, your opponent is permitted to make an entry also before the two new grids are printed. When playing solitaire, there is only one board; so the updated output is nearly instantaneous after each entry.
The program should display different grids each time it is played. There should also be a way for a player to gracefully exit the game if he/she can not solve the puzzle.
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