History of Tangrams

The invention of the tangram puzzle is unrecorded in history. The earliest known Chinese book is dated 1813 but the puzzle was very old by then. One reason for this could be that in China, its country of origin, at the time it was considered a game for women and children. This would have made it unworthy of "serious" study and unlikely to be written about. Different times, different ways of thinking. Glad that's changing.

The roots of the word Tangram are also shrouded in time, with a number of possible explanations. The one I like best involves the Tanka people. These river people of China were great traders who were involved in the opium trade. The western sailors they traded opium to likely played with the puzzle when they visited their Tanka girlfriends. The story I believe is that it comes from the obsolete English word "tramgram" meaning puzzle or trinket .In Chinese this puzzle is called ch'i ch'iao t'u. This translates to 'ingenious-puzzle figure of seven pieces'.

Tangrams enjoyed a surge of interest during the 19th century in Europe and America. This, no doubt, was due to the opening up of trade with China and the aforementioned sailors bringing home new found amusements. "The Chinese Puzzle" spawned a flood of books and picture card sets. Some quite elaborate Chinese examples exist with pieces carved from and/or inlaid with ivory, jade and other fine materials. Others were cheap, locally made copies in wood or fired clay. Some books blindly reproduced previous mistakes in the patterns. Some things never change.

In 1903, Sam Loyd wrote his great spoof of tangram history, The Eighth Book Of Tan. He had many people convinced that the game was invented 4000 years ago by the god Tan. According to Loyd, the first 7 Books Of Tan were linked with many famous people and historical events. All very convincing and it made Sam a lot of money. Later examination showed it to be a colossal joke. The book did catalog over 600 patterns, many by Loyd himself. He also introduced (along with H. F. Dudeney) the idea of paradoxes

Fu Tsiang Wang and Chuan-chin Hsiung mathematically proved in 1942 the existence of a finite set of patterns referred to as "convex." In this context, it means that there are no indentations along the outside edge. There are only 13 silhouettes that qualify. Other finite sets may exist.

Tangrams continue to entertain and frustrate now days. The puzzle attracts people on a number of levels. It gets the math inclined with the geometry and ratios of the pieces. The figures spark visually inclined people though their form, liveliness and striking simplicity. It is one of the classic puzzles, appealing to young and old, the serious and the carefree. Go make one and enjoy it.