2021 AMC 10A Problem 25

How many ways are there to place 3 indistinguishable red chips, 3 indistinguishable blue chips, and 3 indistinguishable green chips in the squares of a 3 \times 3 grid so that no two chips of the same color are directly adjacent to each other, either vertically or horizontally?

\textbf{(A)} ~12\qquad\textbf{(B)} ~18\qquad\textbf{(C)} ~24\qquad\textbf{(D)} ~30\qquad\textbf{(E)} ~36

Full credit goes to MAA for authoring these problems. These problems were taken on the AOPS website.