Hanoi Towers solver (python)

This is not the most elegant of efficient piece of code, but it was quite fun to write (http://www.ideone.com/g6Zhb):

def print_game(board):
 for l in board:
  print l
 print "----"


def initial_state(board,count):
 board[0] = range(count,0,-1)
 board[1] = []
 board[2] = []
 
def goal_state(board,count):
 board[0] = []
 board[1] = []
 board[2] = range(count,0,-1)
 

def children(board):
 children = list()
 if board[0] != []:
  val = board[0][-1]
  if len(board[1]) == 0 or board[1][-1] > val:
   #print_game(board) 
   child = list([[],[],[]])
   child[0] = board[0][0:-1]
   child[1] = board[1][:]
   child[1].append(val)
   child[2] = board[2][:]
   children.append(child)
   #print_game(child)
  if len(board[2]) == 0 or board[2][-1] > val:
   #print_game(board)
   child = list([[],[],[]])
   child[0] = board[0][0:-1]
   child[1] = board[1][:]
   child[2] = board[2][:]
   child[2].append(val)
   children.append(child)
   #print_game(child)
 if board[1] != []:
  val = board[1][-1]
  if len(board[0]) == 0 or board[0][-1] > val:
   #print_game(board)
   child = list([[],[],[]])
   child[0] = board[0][:]
   child[0].append(val)
   child[1] = board[1][0:-1]
   child[2] = board[2][:]
   children.append(child)
   #print_game(child)
  if len(board[2]) == 0 or board[2][-1] > val:
   #print_game(board)
   child = list([[],[],[]])
   child[0] = board[0][:]
   child[1] = board[1][0:-1]
   child[2] = board[2][:]
   child[2].append(val)
   children.append(child)
   #print_game(child)
 if board[2] != []:
  val = board[2][-1]
  if len(board[0]) == 0 or board[0][-1] > val:
   #print_game(board)
   child = list([[],[],[]])
   child[0] = board[0][:]
   child[0].append(val)
   child[1] = board[1][:]
   child[2] = board[2][0:-1]
   children.append(child)
   #print_game(child)
  if len(board[1]) == 0 or board[1][-1] > val:
   #print_game(board)
   child = list([[],[],[]])
   child[0] = board[0][:]
   child[1] = board[1][:]
   child[1].append(val)
   child[2] = board[2][0:-1]
   children.append(child)
   #print_game(child)
 return children

def isInExplored(explored,state):
 for s in explored:
  if s == state:
   return True
 return False
 
def main():
 board = list([[],[],[]])
 goal = list([[],[],[]])
 initial_state(board,7)
 goal_state(goal,7)
 frontier = []
 level = []
 currentLevel = 0
 explored = []
 path = []
 parent = [0]
 frontier.append(board)
 level.append(currentLevel)
 while len(frontier) > 0:
  state = frontier.pop(0)
  currentLevel = level.pop(0)
  father = parent.pop(0)
  #print currentLevel
  #print_game(state)
  if state == goal:
   print "GOAL FOUND:"
   print currentLevel
   print_game(state)
   for i in range(currentLevel):
    print_game(explored[father])
    father = path[father]
   
  explored.append(state)
  path.append(father)
  for child in children(state):
   if isInExplored(explored,child) == False and isInExplored(frontier,child) == False:
    frontier.append(child)
    level.append(currentLevel + 1)
    parent.append(len(explored)-1)
 print len(explored)
 

main()