As it is, recently I have been drawn back to Katamino whenever I had a spare 10-15 minutes before dinner.

For example a Penta 6 is created by laying the slider between the number 6 and the number 7 on the game board (see below). And although he quickly raced ahead of me in the book, he is now grappling with a sticky slam in a very frustratingly fun way! An old version of the game had only 10 pieces; the completely straight 5 square and the 5 square “plus sign” were not included. To solve it, you place the divider between 3 and 4 and then select the 3 pentaminos shown in row A up to the number 3.Sitting and turning the pieces over in my hands as I puzzle it out is a really grounding as well as a fun experience. Your goal is to completely fill the board space between the edge and the divider (known as a “penta”) with the allotted pieces. If at any point we think that we will take longer than this, we will inform you as soon as possible. My fellow Meeple Mountaineer, David McMillian even penned a polyomino Step Ladder article a few years ago.

This list has wallet-sized and wallet-friendly games; games for the first timer and for friends who have been playing for years.We are a group of passionate individuals who share our love of board games through written and video reviews, articles, and humor, so that others can join us in our journey. To begin your first small slam, Place the slider on the board between numbers 3 and 4, and then take the first 3 Pentaminos shown on the table on line A until column 3 and complete the PENTA 3. The Deluxe version of Katamino features beautiful stained wood pieces, which make it attractive to display in your home or office. If you enjoy puzzles or have/know kids who do, Katamino is a good entry into the pentominoes and their puzzle-y possibilities. But the challenges ramp up quickly, and before you know it, you’ll be arranging and re-arranging and re-arranging some more to try and fit in that last piece!

The game consists of 12 different pieces constructed of right angled blocks so each piece is made of 5 “squares”. This game, known in pentomino circles as Golomb’s Game, has players choosing a pentomino and placing it on the board such that all of the parts of the pentomino line up with the grids and it remains within the boundaries of the playing area. Choose one each of the mirrored image shapes and add them to the twelve others and you’ll have what is known as a set of Pentominoes. A PENTA is a group of several pentaminos which perfectly fills the rectangle bound by the positioning of the slider. Once you have completed all the pentas in row A, you move down to row B and the process beings again.The two or three player strategy game is accomplished on a square board divided into 64 smaller squares.

Back in the mid-80s, a Soviet software engineer created an early video game using only four squares.Continue solving PENTAS, each time adding the Pentamino shown in the next column and moving the slider up one space until you have completed PENTA 8 of Line A. Carrying on along row A, you add another shape each time the slider moves across one space to complete the penta each time. Once this PENTA is completed, move the slider up one space between numbers 4 and 5, add the Pentamino shown in Column 4 of Line A to the three pieces you just used , and then complete the PENTA 4 with those 4 pieces.