Seven flat pieces, cut from a single square, can form a cat, a boat, a running man and many other figures. Your task is to find out how. Tangram unblocked hands you an outline and asks you to cover it completely, with nothing poking out and no gaps left over.
This take from Christopher Müller's PaperGames collection uses patterned black-and-white pieces and works entirely by tapping, which makes it easy on phones and small laptops alike.
How to play Tangram
Your set is two big triangles, one mid-size triangle, two little triangles, one square and one parallelogram. They sit in a tray under the outline. Choose a piece, rotate it in 45-degree steps with Turn, mirror it with Flip, then tap the spot in the outline where it should go. It snaps into the closest place it fits.
To move a piece again, tap it on the board and it goes back to your hand. A counter tracks how many of the seven are placed. Cover the outline fully and the puzzle counts as solved, with a button to jump to the next unsolved one.
Outlines come in Easy, Medium and Hard. Easy ones show faint lines from a valid answer. There is also an Outline only set where pieces stay exactly where you drop them, even if they overlap the edge, much like real wooden tans on a desk.
Controls
| To… | Mouse | Touch |
|---|---|---|
| Choose a piece | Click the piece in the tray below the outline | Tap the piece in the tray below the outline |
| Turn or flip the chosen piece | Click "Turn 45°" or "Flip" | Tap "Turn 45°" or "Flip" |
| Place the piece | Click inside the outline where it should go | Tap inside the outline where it should go |
| Pick a laid piece up again | Click the laid piece | Tap the laid piece |
| Get help | Click "Hint" to lay one piece correctly | Tap "Hint" to lay one piece correctly |
Tips
- Start with the big triangles. Together they fill half the shape, and there are rarely many spots where they can fit.
- Read the points. A thin, sharp tip in the outline almost always belongs to a triangle corner.
- Leave the parallelogram for the end. It is the one piece that changes shape when you flip it, so test both sides once its gap is clear.
- Remember the swaps. A pair of small triangles covers the same area as the square or the mid-size triangle, handy for awkward corners.
- Ask for one hint, not five. A single correctly placed piece usually makes the remaining figure obvious.
Tangram questions
How many puzzles are included?
You get 61 graded outlines split between Easy, Medium and Hard, and another 29 sit in the Outline only group. Solved ones get a check mark in the list.
Why won't my piece snap into place?
It is probably turned the wrong way. Each Turn rotates by 45 degrees, and every outline expects edges that run straight or at a clean diagonal, so try one more turn or a flip.
Does Tangram work on a phone?
Yes. Every action is a tap, with no dragging at all, so it is comfortable on a touch screen.
