Colored balls in a 4x4 grid

Question

Colored balls are placed in a 4x4 grid. A move consists of swapping two adjacent (horizontally or vertically) balls. What is the least number of moves required to form 4 connected components*, one for each color in the following grid?

*Here a connected component is a collection of balls of the same color, such that there is a path of horizontal or vertical steps from any ball to any other ball.

Retudin · Accepted Answer

Paul Panzer · Answer

Two pretty solutions with mirror and rotation symmetric outcomes:

Note on optimality:

SJuan76 · Answer

Since the question does not request that all of the balls are part of a component, I will go with 3 moves.

YGBR
GBGR
RYGY
GBRR

to

YGBR
GYGR
RBGY
GBRR

to

YYBR
GGGR
RBGY
GBRR

and

YYBR
GGGR
RBGR
GBRY

Compenents are

YY B R
GGG R
R B G R
G B RY

If more than 4 components are allowed, the last step is not necessary, and the total count is 2.

Bubbler · Answer

This can be done in

which I believe is pretty close to optimal, if not already.
Denoting the four colors as R, G, B, Y respectively, the initial state is
Y G B R
G B G R
R Y G Y
G B R R
Now,

Then,

Finally,

Colored balls in a 4x4 grid

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