Bumpy Pentominos by Juno

Some of the first puzzles I ever made were Pentomino type puzzles, there is something about them that I find so intriguing.  When making Stewart Coffin’s ‘Cornucopia’ design #76 I even contacted Ishino from ‘Puzzle Will Be Played’ to send me all his relevant files as I was trying to decide which variant I was going to make.  He had sent me so many files that I soon regretted that!  Once I spotted Juno’s pentomino version I knew I had to grab one.

Be sure to drop by Juno’s website to see what’s available   Pluredro

Here's Juno's Description:

“This puzzle was designed in 1998 and Juno made only one at the time. Although the configuration of the puzzle looks relatively simple, it is very time consuming to produce the puzzle giving reasonable detail and finish, thus we believe not so many puzzles were produced in the past even by the second party.

The puzzle has several challenges, making an 8 x 8 square using all the 13 pieces, making a 6 x 10, 5 x 12, and 4 x 15 rectangle using 12 pentominoes and so on. All the above-mentioned challenges have multiple solutions, but it does not mean the puzzle is easy. There are two ways to glue five cuboid blocks to form F, L, N, P, Y, and Z pentominoes. Juno carefully chose the one among dozens of possible combinations of pentomino sets and made the puzzle with the smallest numbers of solution to form 8 x 8 and 6 x 10. Non-puzzlers often struggle to form a 6 x 10 rectangle with ordinary pentominoes, so it sure is more challenging to form a shape using the bumpy pieces.

Not only to grown up children, we also recommend the puzzle to kids. Unlike burr puzzles, there are less hurdles to try put-together type puzzles and the Bumpy Pentominoes give them a good accomplishment feeling when they complete each challenge.

The puzzle is quite big and it is a reasonable size to play with. Thanks to the bumpy shape of the pieces, it is easy to pick a piece up in the box.”