Guide
How to Play Tangram
Use all seven pieces, rotate and flip them, avoid overlaps, and build the silhouette — with practical solving tips.
How to Play Tangram
- 1.
Recreate the target silhouette using all seven pieces (the tans).
- 2.
Every piece must be used exactly once - no piece left over, none doubled.
- 3.
Pieces may be rotated freely; the parallelogram is the only piece that ever needs flipping.
- 4.
Pieces must not overlap each other or stick out of the silhouette.
- 5.
The puzzle is solved when the seven tans exactly fill the silhouette - any valid arrangement counts.
Tangram FAQ
A tangram is a dissection puzzle that originated in China around 1800. Seven flat pieces called tans - five triangles, a square, and a parallelogram - form a perfect square, and the goal is to rearrange them to match a target silhouette using all seven pieces without overlaps.
Exactly seven: two large triangles, one medium triangle, two small triangles, one square, and one parallelogram. Together they always have the same total area, which is why every silhouette uses all seven.
Only the parallelogram. It is the one asymmetric tan, so some figures need its mirrored side - use the Flip button. Every other piece can reach all of its useful positions by rotation alone.
A new silhouette is published every day. Starting November 10, 2026, the daily puzzle changes every day at 5 am Eastern Time, the same moment for every Coffee Break game. It is the same puzzle for everyone, and every past daily stays playable in the archive at its own permanent URL.
Easy puzzles show the internal piece outlines inside the silhouette, so you can see where each tan belongs. Medium gives you the plain silhouette. Hard outlines are chunky, with very few ways to fit, so most first moves are dead ends. Expert has the fewest solutions of all, no preview while you drag, and one hint per board.
Sometimes, yes - many silhouettes can be dissected more than one way, and the two large triangles (and the two small ones) are interchangeable. This game accepts any arrangement that exactly fills the silhouette, not just the intended one.
Completely free - no download, no account, no daily cap. It runs in any modern browser on phone, tablet, or desktop, and your progress, streak, and best times are saved on your device.