how to play tangram daily

tangram daily is a free daily tangram puzzle. Every day there's one new shape, the same for everyone. Fit the seven classic tangram pieces into it, with no gaps and no overlaps, and it comes to life.

the rules

• Drag the seven pieces onto the shape. Pieces click into place when an edge or corner gets close.
• Tap a piece to turn it an eighth of a turn. With a mouse, use the scroll wheel.
• Flip turns the parallelogram over. It's the only piece that needs it.
• Use all seven pieces. When they cover the shape exactly, it solves itself. There's no submit button.
• Undo and start over are always there. Neither costs anything.

stars and nudges

Stuck? A nudge tells you how much of the shape is covered and how much is hanging over the edge. It never shows where a piece goes. Each day starts at three stars: solve with no nudges for 3★, one nudge for 2★, more for 1★. Time isn't scored, so take as long as you like.

streaks and your zoo

Solve on consecutive days to build a streak. A three-star solve brings that day's creature home to your zoo, a little collection of every shape you've finished cleanly, with a stamp for each day.

sharing

The share button sends your stars, your time and the puzzle number, never the shape or the answer, so nobody gets spoiled.

what is a tangram?

A tangram is a dissection puzzle from China: a square cut into seven pieces, called tans. There are two large triangles, one medium triangle, two small triangles, a square and a parallelogram. The challenge is to arrange all seven into a given outline, often an animal, a person or an object, without overlapping them. Tangrams reached Europe and America in the early 1800s and became a craze there around 1817.

tips

• Place the two large triangles first. They cover half the shape between them.
• Sharp 45° corners in the outline usually belong to a triangle; right angles can be the square.
• If a gap is the right size but the wrong shape, try the parallelogram, flipped.

questions