Egg of Columbus (tangram puzzle) facts for kids

This picture shows how the Egg of Columbus puzzle is put together. Some versions of the puzzle have an extra cut on the white triangle.

The Egg of Columbus (called Ei des Columbus in German) is a fun puzzle that looks like a flat egg. It is made up of 9 or 10 pieces cut from this egg shape. Your goal is to move these pieces around to create different pictures or shapes. It's a lot like another famous puzzle called a tangram.

What is the Egg of Columbus Puzzle?

This puzzle challenges your brain to think about shapes and space. All the pieces are flat and fit together to form an egg. But the real fun begins when you try to use these same pieces to make other things, like animals, people, or objects.

A Puzzle with History

The very first Egg of Columbus puzzles were made by a German company called Richter. They were a toy maker. Richter stopped making these puzzles in 1963. But don't worry, the puzzle came back! Production started again around the early 2000s, so new generations can enjoy it.

Tricky Pieces: Flipping Them Over

Some of the pieces in the Egg of Columbus puzzle are a bit special. Look at the two pieces that are colored turquoise in the pictures. These pieces do not have bilateral symmetry. This means they are not the same on both sides, like a mirror image.

Because of this, sometimes you need to flip one of these pieces over. This helps you make the correct shape for your puzzle. For example, if you are trying to build a shape where both turquoise pieces need to face the same way, you might have to turn one of them upside down.

Some shapes you can make with the Egg of Columbus puzzle. The two shapes on the top right need one of the blue pieces to be flipped. The shapes on the bottom row use a version where the light grey triangle is split into two darker grey triangles.