  We present a combinatorial model, called \emph{perforated tableaux}, to study
$A_{n-1}$ crystals, unifying several previously studied combinatorial models.
We identify nodes in the $k$-fold tensor product of the standard crystal with
length $k$ words in $[n]= \{ 1, \ldots n\}$.
  We model this crystal with perforated tableaux (ptableaux), extending this
identification isomorphically to biwords, RSK $(P,Q)$ tableaux pairs, and
matrix models. In the ptableaux setting, crystal operators are more simply
defined and we can identify highest weights visually without computation. We
generalize the tensor products in the Littlewood-Richardson rule to all of
$[n]^{\otimes k}$, and not just the irreducible crystals whose reading words
come from semistandard Young tableaux. We relate evacuation (Lusztig
involution) to products of ptableaux crystal operators, and find a
combinatorial algorithm to compute commutators of highest weight ptableaux.
