Rectangular Shapes Puzzle

This model provides an inexpensive, engaging toy for people who appreciate brain teasers, particularly people who like LEGO toys -- but really, everyone! Brain teasers such as this puzzle are perennially popular. Many adults enjoy them, and kids who have been playing with LEGO toys throughout childhood but who are getting older could appreciate this brain teaser's appeal to their intelligence with the 'cachet' of LEGO.

This model comprises thirteen colorful shapes and a neutral-colored board, and the goal of this challenging but enjoyable puzzle is to fit all the shapes together into the board's central 8x8 space. Each shape is made out of 1x1 squares: there are twelve shapes which are each made out of five 1x1 squares, and there is a thirteenth shape which is a 2x2 square made out of four 1x1 squares. Tetris uses similar shapes. A name for these shapes is "polyominoes" (per Solomon Golomb in the mid-1900s).

The dimensions of this model are approximately 3.1 x 3.1 x 0.6 inches, i.e. 8 x 8 x 1.6 cm. I estimate that it could be priced around $10 because it uses only 152 basic pieces. Consequently, this set would be a good choice when people purchase small gifts for a large range of occasions including holidays for which people exchange presents, children seeking affordable gifts for their family members or friends, party favors (particularly at LEGO-themed birthday parties!), small tokens of appreciation, and so on. Also, instead of generally being stored away as is typical for games and puzzles, this model would be good sitting out in living rooms or on desks because of several factors:

Building this model is easy and quick. When a person builds this model, they can actually customize which of the colors are used for the various shapes because several of the shapes are made from equivalent LEGO pieces. After being built, all of this model's components stay together well -- for example, it works fine to pick up the board with the shapes on it, dump them out into a pile, and pick through them while working on this puzzle.

This puzzle has thousands of solutions, but to achieve some of them it's necessary to flip some of the shapes upside down, e.g. for the following solution:

The shapes can fit upside down because of properties of LEGO pieces, which we all know and love. 😊 But if having a shape upside down bothers someone, well, they can actually reconstruct the shape so that it can be used right side up, e.g. as follows for that solution:

Besides solving the basic 8x8 square puzzle, other ways for people to play with this LEGO set include forming different patterns such as big versions of each of the small shapes, or playing a two-person game which goes as follows: Each player in turn takes an unused shape and places it wherever they choose onto the 8x8 board until one of the players is unable to place a shape, and then the winner is the player who was last able to place a shape onto the board. 

Please press the button labeled "SUPPORT" at the top of this page to register your support for The LEGO Group to create a set of this model -- and please ask other people to do so also to help reach the needed number of supporters (10,000).

Thanks for your consideration!