Pentominoes is a jigsaw puzzle involving twelve rectilinear pieces. These pieces constitute all the ways in which five squares may be arranged with their edges matching. Their total area is 5 x 12 = 60 squares. The challenge is to fit the twelve pieces into a rectangle. The possible sizes for the rectangle are:
The pieces may be freely moved, rotated and flipped over. All these operations may be done using basic mouse gestures. I do not include instructions because I believe well-written programs should be usable without requiring instructions. If you have trouble manipulating the pieces, do send me details, and I will gladly modify the program to hopefully address the issue you uncovered.
There are many solutions to the problem, ranging from just two for the 3 x 20 rectangle, to over 2000 for the 6 x 10 rectangle. Despite this, the problem is amazingly difficult, and I'd be glad to know if you find any solutions, or have comments in general about this Java implementation or the game of pentominoes.
Here's the code, cleaned up and fairly well documented. Have fun!