odesk_challange_task2.py

from copy import copy


def go(board, steps):
    print "Step %d:" % (steps+1), board
    new_board = copy(board)
    for i, cell in enumerate(board):
        if cell == 'S' and 'E' in board[i+1: i+6+1]:
            return steps + 1
        if cell == 'R' and 'E' in board[i+1: i+6+1]:
            new_board[i] = 'E'
        elif isinstance(cell, int) and board[i+cell] == 'E':
            new_board[i] = 'E'
    if new_board == board:
        return None  # no solution
    return go(new_board, steps+1)

board = ['S', 1, 'R', 4, 3, 4, 3, - 5, 2, -4, 'E']
print go(board, 0)