diff --git a/projects/atlanti/src/java/com/samskivert/atlanti/util/PiecenUtil.java b/projects/atlanti/src/java/com/samskivert/atlanti/util/PiecenUtil.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3ff9f045
--- /dev/null
+++ b/projects/atlanti/src/java/com/samskivert/atlanti/util/PiecenUtil.java
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+//
+// $Id: PiecenUtil.java,v 1.1 2001/12/18 11:59:09 mdb Exp $
+
+package com.threerings.venison;
+
+import java.awt.Image;
+
+import com.threerings.media.tile.Tile;
+import com.threerings.media.tile.TileManager;
+import com.threerings.media.tile.UniformTileSet;
+import com.threerings.media.tile.NoSuchTileException;
+
+public class PiecenUtil
+{
+    /**
+     * Loads up the piecen images using the supplied tile manager.
+     */
+    public static void init (TileManager tmgr)
+    {
+        // load up the piecen tiles
+        UniformTileSet piecenSet = new UniformTileSet();
+        piecenSet.setTileCount(PIECEN_TYPES);
+        piecenSet.setWidth(PIECEN_WIDTH);
+        piecenSet.setHeight(PIECEN_HEIGHT);
+        piecenSet.setImagePath(PIECEN_IMG_PATH);
+        piecenSet.setImageProvider(tmgr);
+
+        // fetch the tile images
+        _images = new Image[PIECEN_TYPES];
+        for (int i = 0; i < PIECEN_TYPES; i++) {
+            try {
+                _images[i] = piecenSet.getTileImage(i);
+            } catch (NoSuchTileException nste) {
+                Log.warning("Unable to obtain piecen tile [id=" + i + "].");
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the piecen image for the specified piecen color.
+     */
+    public static Image getPiecenImage (int color)
+    {
+        return _images[color];
+    }
+
+    /** Our piecen images. */
+    protected static Image[] _images;
+
+    /** The number of different colors of piecen. */
+    protected static final int PIECEN_TYPES = 6;
+
+    /** The width of the piecen image in pixels. */
+    protected static final int PIECEN_WIDTH = 16;
+
+    /** The height of the piecen image in pixels. */
+    protected static final int PIECEN_HEIGHT = 16;
+
+    /** The path to the piecen image (relative to the resource
+     * directory). */
+    protected static final String PIECEN_IMG_PATH = "media/piecens.png";
+}