A pentomino, if you don't know, is a group of five squares joined together along the edges. It's possible to build 12 pentominoes only, not counting rotations and flips. You could see them in the picture below. They are named: F, I, L, P, N, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z.

The picture which you see is a rectangular box 6 x 10 (really 12 x 5 = 6 x 10). There are 2,339 different way to put the twelve pentominoes in a container like this box. But I bet a byte, the first time, you'll spend an hour or more!

I promptly prepared this page, when I was noticed that in an OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD there were chatters about the same matter. I think people are speaking about pentominoes in many sides of the Universe! However Bart F. Larsen created a nice PROGRAM: you could use it (it's shareware) to play pentominoes described in these pages.

In the twentieth century (!) , I created a game where the pentominoes fell down from the top. Some malicious friends say I had an inspiration by Tetris of the Academy of the Sciences of Moscow: we let them talk away.
The program has been also compiled in DOS3.0. I introduce to you this version. It runs yet, in simulated DOS or in Windows3.x/ 95/ 98/ NT. You must set a 8x8 character. Unlike Tetris, you must know the 'A' key causes the pentomino flip. Frequently the pentomino doesn't find an exact position to place in: you need think more!
Download the game: it's free!

If you want MORE INFORMATION about pentominoes, click here.