Pentomino

Pentomino is a puzzle game built around fitting five-cube pieces together. It has 148 levels across 14 sections, from A to N, with challenges ranging from easy to difficult. Clearing a section lets you generate a new puzzle for it, so you can play that section again with a different layout. The game provides no video or graphic guides for solving the puzzles.

Pentomino puzzles

Five cubes can form up to 12 different shapes. The game presents these pieces as spatial logic puzzles, with a low barrier to entry and challenges that can be difficult to master. It also introduces the idea of NP problems through puzzles that show how complex combinations can be.

About the puzzle

Pentomino, also known as five-grid dominoes, is called the “brain-racking twelve pieces” in China. The description notes that scholars have studied the puzzle and that Tetris was based on research into, and a simplification of, five-grid dominoes. It also suggests possible links to older games and to the study of interlocking structures, while presenting these as speculation.