Summary: This guide shows how to turn the Tetromino module into a stack of ready-to-print shape puzzles — puzzle pages, answer keys and cut-out pieces at the right size. You will pick a preset, set the board, decide how pieces may move and how many start on the board, and export a full run at once.
Overview
Tetromino generates puzzles built from the five four-square shapes — I, L, O, S and T. Each puzzle comes with its piece bank, its answer, a board-only copy and a cut-out sheet printed at the board’s own square size, so children can solve with real pieces. The presets generate in a few milliseconds per puzzle, so a whole workbook’s worth comes out in one run, and by default every puzzle has exactly one solution: the generator places starter pieces until there is only one way to finish.
New to the puzzle itself? Start with How Tetromino Puzzles Work.
Required Modules
Tetromino [/product/tetromino/ - confirm] — the module itself. The free demo covers every current module and makes one watermarked puzzle at a time, so you can try the workflow before buying.
Tetromino (Standard) makes Random mix puzzles on rectangular boards — every move rule, the one-solution setting, starter pieces and styling included — exports JPG, PNG, SVG and print PDF, and includes Instant Puzzle Books, a book PDF built from your current page settings. Creative adds drawn board shapes, the full choice of which pieces to use (one of each shape, the full set of five, or your own counts), numbers, other letters, colour shapes or your own pictures on the pieces, Puzzle Book Studio Creative (one puzzle collection, full book editing) and Puzzle Slides, an interactive PowerPoint deck for teaching on screen. Productivity adds Time Saver for batch runs, Puzzle Book Studio Productivity for books that combine several collections, and JSON export. Creative + Interactive and Productivity + Interactive add online play. You can move up to a higher edition later, so start with the one that fits what you are making today — see Puzzle Maker Pro Editions Explained.
Commercial rights: Tetromino (Standard) and Creative both carry the licence to sell the finished puzzle products you make — books, worksheets and printable packs — to your own readers and customers, including KDP, Etsy and Teachers Pay Teachers. Productivity adds the right to sell or supply the puzzles themselves to other publishers and sellers.
Preparation
The generator picks the pieces and finds the solution, so there is nothing to prepare beyond three decisions: the page size (on the Layout tab), the number of puzzles, and the age of the solvers — it decides the board size, the move rule and how many starters to show.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Open the Module and Pick a Preset
Select Tetromino in the puzzle list. Next to the usual preset buttons and quantity box are the module’s Main, Settings and Advanced tabs and the shared Style, Content and Layout tabs.
Three presets grow the board and tighten the move rule step by step:
- [Easy] — 4×6 board, 6 pieces, at least 3 starters, turned and flipped.
- [Medium] — 4×8 board, 8 pieces, at least 2 starters, turned and flipped.
- [Hard] — 4×10 board, 10 pieces, turned only. Pieces already placed is 0, and Exactly one solution adds the starters each puzzle needs — typically one to six — so the challenge comes from the longer board and the stricter rule.
The activity presets set the page up for a job: [Activity Book] for drawing the boundaries on the page, [Cut and Place] for cutting out the bank, and [Reusable Classroom Set], which gives every card the same pieces so one printed set serves the whole class. On Creative, [Full set] uses each of the five shapes once on a drawn 20-square board.
Set the Board
Enter Board width and Board height — up to 30 squares each, with the area between 8 and 120 squares. Total pieces is worked out for you (the area divided by four), so a 4×8 board means 8 pieces. Keep the area a multiple of four; otherwise the generator suggests the nearest sizes that work.
On Creative, Edit board shape… opens a shape editor where you paint the board square by square — a stepped outline, an animal shape, a board with a gap. By default the editor keeps the square count a multiple of four, and the board fields follow your drawing. Use rectangle goes back to a plain board.
Choose Which Pieces
Which pieces controls the bank. Random mix — the default, and the mode Tetromino Standard uses — chooses the shapes for you, with at most three copies of any one shape; raise Maximum copies of one shape on the Advanced tab for boards of more than 15 pieces. On Creative, One of each shape uses different shapes with no repeats (so at most five pieces, 20 squares), Full set (all shapes) uses all five exactly once on a 20-square drawn board (no rectangle can be filled by the five shapes), and I choose lets you type a count for each shape — I pieces, L pieces, O pieces, S pieces and T pieces on the Advanced tab — adding up to Total pieces.
Choose the Move Rule and Starters
Pieces can be sets how solvers may move the pieces: Turned and flipped (easiest), Turned only, or Kept as printed (hardest). The web game enforces it; on paper, write it into the puzzle description (for example “Pieces may be turned but not flipped”) whenever it is not turned and flipped.
Pieces already placed sets the smallest number of grey starters — more starters make a gentler puzzle. Leave Exactly one solution ticked for puzzles with a single answer; the generator then adds starters beyond your minimum whenever it needs to. Untick it for free-play sheets where any complete covering counts.
Set the Quantity and Batch Behaviour
Enter the number of puzzles in the quantity box. On the Settings tab, When making several puzzles chooses Different pieces in each puzzle (the default), Same pieces, different starters, or Same pieces in every puzzle (one cut-out set for a class) — every card is a different puzzle, but the pieces stay the same. Piece list position puts the bank below the board, beside it, or chooses automatically. Smallest printed square (mm) stays at 0 to fit the page; set a minimum, such as 15 mm, to keep cut-out pieces big enough for small hands — if the board and pieces would print smaller, the run stops and says so rather than shrinking them.
Style the Page
On every edition, the Style tab sets the bold Solution boundaries on the answer, the Piece boundaries in the bank and the Starter fill; bold lines and a clear starter colour help young solvers. The canvas, cells, cell grid and piece-label font work as in every module — see How to Customize Puzzle Designs in Puzzle Maker Pro.
On Creative, the Content tab puts numbers, other letters, colour shapes or your own pictures on the pieces instead of their letters — at least five different items, one per shape. See How to Use Content Variation in Puzzle Maker Pro.
Set the Title and Description
The Layout tab holds the title. Tetromino offers one title option:
- Custom — your own text, starting from “Tetromino”
The description is the instruction line. Every built-in preset sets one: [Easy], [Medium], [Hard] and [Activity Book] use “Draw piece boundaries to cover the board using every piece in the bank.”; [Cut and Place], [Reusable Classroom Set] and [Full set] use “Cut out the bank and cover the board using every piece.” Add the move rule here when it is not turned and flipped. The shared title control is explained in How to Create Smart Puzzle Titles in Puzzle Maker Pro.
Generate and Export
Click Create. Each puzzle is written out as the puzzle page (board plus bank), the answer, a board-only copy, a board-only answer and a cut-out sheet at the same square size as the board, in the formats ticked in the app’s output settings: JPG, PNG, SVG or print PDF.
On Creative and up, tick Puzzle Slides in the output settings to add a deck where the remaining pieces are movable pictures on a clean board — handy for whole-class solving on a screen. Productivity adds JSON, and Creative + Interactive and Productivity + Interactive add the web-playable version.
Scale Up to a Book
On Tetromino (Standard), Instant Puzzle Books turns a run into a book PDF from your current page settings. Puzzle Book Studio (Creative and up) lays the pages out as a book with front matter, contents and answers; Productivity combines several collections in one book. With Time Saver (Productivity), one run produces several rows — Easy, Medium and Hard, say — each with its own settings and quantity. See How to Batch Create Puzzles with Time Saver and Puzzle Book Studio Tutorials.
Outcome
You end up with tetromino puzzle pages, answers, board-only copies and matching cut-out sheets at the difficulty you chose, plus a preset to reuse for the next workbook or class set.
FAQ
Which edition do I need?
Tetromino (Standard) makes Random mix puzzles on rectangular boards with every move rule and the one-solution setting, and builds books with Instant Puzzle Books. Creative adds drawn boards, your own choice of pieces, picture pieces, Puzzle Slides and Puzzle Book Studio; Productivity adds Time Saver, multi-collection books and JSON. You can move up to a higher edition later.
Why can’t I use One of each shape on a 4×6 board?
There are only five tetromino shapes, so One of each shape tops out at five pieces — 20 squares. A 4×6 board needs six pieces; use Random mix or a 20-square board.
Why are there more starters than I set?
Exactly one solution is ticked, so the generator adds starters until only one answer remains. Untick it to keep exactly your number.
Can one set of cut-out pieces serve a whole class?
Yes. Choose Same pieces in every puzzle or the [Reusable Classroom Set] preset; every card then uses the same pieces at the same square size.
What can I export?
JPG, PNG, SVG and print PDF for the puzzle page, the answer, the board-only copies and the cut-out sheet. Creative adds Puzzle Slides, Productivity adds JSON, and the Interactive editions add the web-playable version.