Egg of Columbus (tangram puzzle)
Encyclopedia
The Egg of Columbus is a puzzle
consisting of a flat egg
-like shape divided into 9 pieces by straight cuts. The goal of the puzzle is to rearrange the pieces so as to form other specific shapes, as in a tangram
.
The earliest known examples were produced by Richter
, a German toy manufacturer. Production ceased in 1963, but restarted near the start of the 21st century.
Puzzle
A puzzle is a problem or enigma that tests the ingenuity of the solver. In a basic puzzle, one is intended to put together pieces in a logical way in order to come up with the desired solution...
consisting of a flat egg
Egg (food)
Eggs are laid by females of many different species, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and have probably been eaten by mankind for millennia. Bird and reptile eggs consist of a protective eggshell, albumen , and vitellus , contained within various thin membranes...
-like shape divided into 9 pieces by straight cuts. The goal of the puzzle is to rearrange the pieces so as to form other specific shapes, as in a tangram
Tangram
The tangram is a dissection puzzle consisting of seven flat shapes, called tans, which are put together to form shapes. The objective of the puzzle is to form a specific shape using all seven pieces, which may not overlap...
.
The earliest known examples were produced by Richter
Richter (toy company)
Friedrich Adolf Richter was a German toy manufacturer and pharmaceutical manufacturer and founder of the Anker factory in Rudolstadt, Germany. He was born 1847 in Herford, North Rhine-Westphalia and died 1910 in Jena...
, a German toy manufacturer. Production ceased in 1963, but restarted near the start of the 21st century.