alt Hacker News> Sarah, an avid gamer, seemed to recognize this strategy immediately.
As soon as I read this, I immediately thought of the puzzle in the last gym of the Gen 3 Pokémon games (Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald). It was a big ice platform that cracked after stepping on it once, and backtracking meant falling through the ice and having to start all over again.
It made me think of the “step on all the colored tiles without crossing your path” puzzles in Links Awakening!
I wonder how the optimal path changes if turns are penalized as well as steps - in real life turning a lawnmower takes a lot more effort than moving the same spot twice in a straight line.