Tangram

Tangram is the classic seven-piece shape puzzle: two large triangles, a medium triangle, two small triangles, a square and a parallelogram. Your job is to fit all seven pieces, called tans, into a dark silhouette so it is completely filled with no overlaps. Play tangram online free in your browser, with no download or sign-up, on a computer or on your phone. There are 45 original puzzles, from a plain square to a cat, a swan, a dinosaur and a dancer, plus a free play mode.

How to play

The game opens on an unsolved puzzle, so you can start dragging right away.

• Move: drag a piece with the mouse or your finger and drop it on the outline.
• Rotate: tap or click a piece to turn it 45 degrees. The rotate buttons and the R and E keys turn the selected piece either way.
• Flip: the parallelogram is the only tan that changes when you mirror it. Press Flip or F to turn it over.
• Snapping: a dropped piece snaps onto the nearest corner of the outline or of another piece, and otherwise onto a fine grid.
• Solving: the puzzle is solved the moment the outline is fully covered with no overlaps. Any arrangement that fills the shape counts.

Stars, hints and the timer

The timer starts with your first move. It pauses with P or Esc, and when you switch tabs. Par time is one minute for the simple shapes, rising to three minutes for the animal and people figures.

• 3 stars: no hints and inside the par time.
• Hints: Hint (or H) places one piece where it belongs, largest first, and moves anything in the way back to the tray. Each hint costs a star, down to one.
• Over par: finishing after the par time takes off one star.
• Solution: shows the answer. The round ends with no stars and does not count as solved.

Your best stars and time per puzzle and your recent solves are saved in your browser. The Puzzles button opens the level select, with a thumbnail for every shape.

The puzzles

The 45 silhouettes are grouped into Shapes, Letters, Numbers, Buildings, Boats, Objects, Animals and People. The early shapes teach how the pieces combine; letters and numbers like L, T, Y, 4 and 8 come next, then a castle, a sailboat, a rocket and more. Animals and people are hardest, with more points and narrow joins. Every puzzle was built from a real arrangement of the seven tans, so each one can be solved. Free play drops the outline and lets you build anything, with no timer.

Tips

• Place the large triangles first. They make up half the area of the set, so where they go decides most of the puzzle.
• Find the 45-degree corners. A sharp point in the outline is almost always the tip of a triangle. A square corner can be the right angle of a triangle, or the square itself.
• Save the small pieces for last. If you are left with an odd gap, a bigger piece is probably in the wrong place.
• Remember the flip. If the parallelogram almost fits but leans the wrong way, flip it instead of rotating it.
• Count the area. The two small triangles together equal the square, the medium triangle and the parallelogram. Swapping pieces of equal area is a quick way out of a dead end.

FAQ

Is this tangram game free?

Yes. All 45 puzzles and free play are free, with no account and no install.

Does my solution have to match the stored answer?

No. The game checks that the outline is fully covered with no overlapping pieces, so a different arrangement that fills the same shape is accepted.

Does it work on a phone or tablet?

Yes. Drag with your finger and tap a piece to rotate it. Narrow screens get a tall board with the tray underneath.

What are the keyboard controls?

R rotates the selected piece, E or Shift+R rotates it back, F flips the parallelogram, keys 1 to 7 select a piece, arrow keys nudge it, H gives a hint, P or Esc pauses, and N moves to the next puzzle after a win.

Like shape puzzles? Try our Jigsaw Puzzle, or slide numbered tiles into order in the Sliding Puzzle.