Changes Since Release 1

Polyform Puzzler now requires Python 2.5 or later. Python 2.7.2 or later is recommended.

• Added docs:
  • Hexominoes: Puzzles & Solutions
  • My talk from G4G10: The 10th Gathering for Gardner
  • X’s from G4G10
  • Polytwigs: Puzzles & Solutions
  • An Introduction to Polytwigs
  • Polytrigs: Puzzles & Solutions
  • An Introduction to Polytrigs
  • An Introduction to Polysticks
  • An Introduction to Polycubes
  • An Introduction to Polyhexes
  • An Introduction to Polyominoes
  • An Introduction to Polyiamonds
  • Notes on Polyominoes
  • Notes on Polyiamonds
  • Notes on Polyhexes
  • Notes on Polycubes
  • Notes on Polysticks
  • Notes on Polytrigs
  • Notes on Polytwigs
• Added lots of puzzles, many listed below (but not all; I lost track):
  • Hexominoes: several puzzles.
  • Polytwigs (hexagonal-grid polysticks): new puzzle type. Added many puzzles.
  • Polytrigs (triangular-grid polysticks): new puzzle type. Initially added puzzles: 7 tritrigs, 11 one-sided tritrigs, 14 polytrigs of order 1 through 3, 21 one-sided polytrigs of order 1 through 3.
  • (Square) Polysticks of order 1 through 4: 7x7 grid, 3x7 diamond lattice.
  • Tetrahexes: 4x7 parallelogram; clipped 3x10; "coin".
  • Pentahexes: 10x11 & 5x22 parallelograms; 15x11 & 5x24 trapezia; hexagons with holes; triangles; hexagrams.
  • Polyhexes of order 1 through 4: 4x10 & 5x8 parallelograms.
  • Polyhexes of order 1 through 5: 5x30, 6x25, & 10x15 parallelograms.
  • Hexiamonds: 4x9 & 6x6 & 3x12 parallelograms; 4x11 trapezium; 4x10 elongated hexagon; 5x8 stacked long hexagons; 4x12 stacked hexagons; 5x8 stacked long butterflies; 4x12 stacked butterflies; snowflake; ring 2; crescents; 6x8 "coin"; trefoil; 12x3 & 4x9 & 6x6 chevrons; 6x6 & 3 types of 12x3 stacked chevrons; 7x8 irregular hexagon.
  • One-sided hexiamonds: O'Beirne's hexagon, 8x3 [11x6] long hexagon, 11x3 [11x6] butterfly.
  • Heptiamonds: 7x12, 6x14, 4x21, 3x28 parallelograms; 12x13, 6x17, & 4x23 trapezia; 4x21, 6x14, 12x7, 14x6, & 28x3 chevrons; 11x8 & 4x24 stacks; snowflakes; triangle with central hole; diamond ring; regular & irregular hexagons; 4x22 long hexagon; 10x12 short hexagon; irregular "Tenyo" shape; hexagrams; hexed triangle; short hex ring; triangle ring; configurations of four 2x3 hexagons; sets of two identical 6x2/8x8 semi-regular hexagons with triangular holes.
  • One-sided pentominoes: 3x30, 5x18, 6x15, 9x10.
  • Tetracubes: 2x2x8 & 2x4x4.
  • Pentacubes: 5x5x6 towers; 2x11x11 frame; 5x7x7 & 3x9x9 open boxes; corner crystal; nine slices; great wall; 3x3x20 towers; 3x3x17 tower; 3x3x19 crystal tower; 5x9x9 fortress; 3x9x9 mound; 9x9x9 octahedral planes; 2x13x13 diamond frame; 2x3x2 chair; 11x11x5 pyramid with base; 5x7x5 cubbyholes; 9x9x5 cubbyholes; 7x7x5 block.
  • Pentacubes Plus: 5x5x6, 3x5x10, 2x5x15, 2x3x25; 11x11x11 octahedral planes.
  • Non-Convex Pentacubes: 2x5x14, 2x7x10, 4x5x7; zigzag 1 & 2.
  • Solid pentominoes: 5x5x4, 4x4x6, & 3x3x10 steps; 4x4x8 crystal; 3 6x6x6 crystals; 3x5x7 slope.
  • Pentominoes: 8x8 without corners, 8x8 with 2x2 square tetromino, 10x10 triangle with one omitted piece.
  • One-sided tetrasticks: 5x5 diamond lattice, 8x8 grid with center hole, 8x8 grid with one clipped corner, 8x8 grid with two clipped corners (2 variations).
  • Soma cubes: tunnel, screw, clip.
  • Polycubes: Diabolical Cube & Nancy Sheldon's variations.
  • Seven-segment digits polysticks.
• Added -n/--stop-after option.
• Added SVG image generation support for polyominoes, polyiamonds, polyhexes, polycubes, and polysticks (-s/--svg option).
• Added the ability to read in an existing solution record for rendering (-r/--read-solution option).
• Added unit tests.
• Added "Polyform Puzzler: Puzzles & Solutions" document (docs/puzzles.txt).
• Removed puzzler/core.py, moved its code into puzzler.__init__.py, and modified the front-end apps in bin/ accordingly.
• Simplified the front-end API.
• Added the ability to automatically save & restore the session state (-S/--save-search-state option).
• Added X3D model generation support for polycubes (-x/--x3d option).
• Added docs/extend.txt, "How to Extend Polyform Puzzler", and sample code in docs/examples/.
• Split docs/puzzles.txt up; it's now a table of contents linking to docs for each puzzle type.
• Converted polysticks to a pseudo-3D coordinate system (puzzler.coordsys.SquareGrid3D etc.).
• Renamed polystick puzzles to reflect the number of grid lines, instead of the number of squares.
• Added a Sudoku puzzle solver.
• API changes: moved the "convert_matrix" function into the ExactCover class and renamed as the "load_matrix" method; changed ExactCover.__init__ to allow the matrix to be passed in at instantiation time. Also improved test output.
• Added a second implementation of the exact cover solver, exact_cover_x2.py, based on code by Ali Assaf.
• Added the ability to report on the current search state (partial solution), useful for long-running puzzles (-R/--report-search-state).
• Split the enormous puzzler/puzzles.py module into a package of smaller modules, in puzzler/puzzles/.

Release 1 (2006-08-08)

The first release of Polyform Puzzler. Included 28 puzzles:

• Pentominoes: 3x20, 4x15, 5x12, 6x10 rectangles; 8x8 square with central 2x2 hole; 3x20 loop (short edges joined); 3x20 tube (long edges joined).
• Solid pentominoes: 2x3x10, 2x5x6, 3x4x5 solids; 3x3x9, 3x5x7, 5x3x5, 6x3x4 ring walls.
• Soma cubes: 3x3x3 cube, bathtub, cornerstone, crystal, curvedwall, highwall, longwall, skew 1 & 2, sofa, steamer, steps
• 6x6 Tetrasticks & 5x5 welded one-sided tetrasticks.

For the pre-history, see section 1.2 of the FAQ.