Pentomino Checkers

This is a cutthroat game for two players, playing with a set of 12 pentomino pieces.

The pentominoes are all composed of five 1-inch squares arranged so that they are contiguous on at least one full side.  There are 12 possible such  arrangements of 5 squares.

The game is played on an 8”-by-8” square board.  The area of this board is 64 square inches.  The area of the 12 pentomino pieces is 60 square inches.

Players take turns placing pentomino pieces on the board until one player cannot place a piece on the board.  So rather than trying to place their pieces to conserve space, players deliberately try to waste space, thus leaving their opponent no room to place a piece.

The last player who can place a pentomino on the board is the winner.   The player who can’t place a pentomino on his or her turn loses.

You can print the checkerboard on a sheet of paper or cardstock and laminate it.  As always, print a test page.  The side margins are less than a quarter-inch, and not all printers can handle that.

Download Checkerboard and rules