Also
known as the "Board of Wisdom", the TANGRAM
is a puzzle of Chinese origin made up of 7 geometric shapes (known as
"tans") that are cut out of a square. Legend has it that whilst
admiring a magnificent ceramic tile a 16th Century Chinese Emperor
accidentally dropped it to the floor. The tile broke into 7 pieces. The
Emperor tried to reconstruct the broken tile but failed to do so,
creating instead thousands of different shapes. At the beginning of the
19th Century, the TANGRAM was introduced to Europe and the United
States. The first documents relating to this game appeared in the Far
East around 1818.
