The puzzles on this page are the result of an obsession of mine to find the hardest puzzles possible that seem simple at first glance. (For another example of puzzles that fit this description, see the Meandering Monk Mazes.)
A recent column on simple sliding block puzzles by Ed Pegg Jr. inspired me to revisit the sliding block genre to see what the PuzzleBeast software could generate. (I will admit that I was also motivated by the fact that Ed bested one of my previous puzzles, Simplicity, by making a trivial change to the layout that converted it from an 18 move puzzle to a 68 move puzzle.)
The result is a collection of twelve puzzles that seem to me to be more effort than they are worth.* They all have basically the same goal: Swap the positions of the red and blue pieces returning the other pieces to their original positions.**
With that introduction, I present A Dozen Irritating Sliding Block Puzzles.