Game

Pentomino

Alignment and Abstract Strategy Games

A pentomino is a shape made of five equal squares joined edge to edge, a polyomino of order five whose name comes from the Greek word for five combined with domino. Counting shapes that differ only by rotation or reflection as the same, there are 12 free pentominoes; treating mirror images as distinct gives 18 one-sided pentominoes, and treating rotations as distinct as well gives 63 fixed pentominoes. Pentomino tiling puzzles and games are popular in recreational mathematics, and video games that imitate Tetris, as well as Rampart, usually use the full set of 18 one-sided pieces, whereas Tetris itself uses four-square pieces called tetrominos. Each of the twelve free pentominoes satisfies the Conway criterion, so every one of them can tile the plane, and each chiral pentomino can do so without being reflected.

Facts
Origin Year
1969 3
Playing Time
10 3
Designer
Solomon W. Golomb 3
Publisher
Zimpfer Metallwarenfabrik 3
Game Category
Abstract Strategy 3
Game Category
Puzzle 3
Game Mechanic
Tile Placement 3
Minimum Players
2 3
Maximum Players
2 3
Classification
Player Count
Two-Player 1
Sport
Game Type (category)
Puzzle 2
Connections

Long-Form Articles

Sources
1. Board Game Matcher: Pentomino - Board Game Matcher
Board Game MatcherGame page summary
Quote, Game page summary
Pentomino is a board game for 2 players
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2. Pentomino (Wikipedia)
Lead
Quote, Lead
Pentomino tiling puzzles and games are popular in recreational mathematics.
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3. Pentomino (BoardGameGeek)
  • Origin Year: 1969
  • Playing Time: 10
  • Designer: Solomon W. Golomb
  • Publisher: Zimpfer Metallwarenfabrik
  • Game Category: Abstract Strategy
  • Game Category: Puzzle
  • Game Mechanic: Tile Placement
  • Minimum Players: 2
  • Maximum Players: 2
View the Source

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