There are at least 13 Tangram applications in the iTunes store at current count, which can make selecting one a difficult choice. I’m a bit of a Tangram puzzle nut, well I am at the moment anyway. I love the challenges of figuring out which piece can go where, so you can guess I’ve tried a fair few of the options.

Initially I installed TanZen Lite (a full version of TanZen is also available) tangram app, which has a really elegant and beautifully designed interface. With hundreds of puzzles this application was one of the top 100 iTunes Store games of 2008.

However it’s not my favourite tangram app – right now I’m really digging Tangram Puzzle Pro. With its clean interface, funky music and draw style block selector it has earned it’s right to life on my iPhone.

Tangram Puzzle Pro's Puzzle Selector

Currently FREE, (yeap 100% free, full version) there is a dedicated Christmas (holidays) version with heaps and heaps of puzzles, and the normal version has over 200 puzzles. There are 6 puzzle packs each with 4 to 6 screens of puzzles. [Ed: The Christmas version is unfortunately no longer available.]

I spend hours playing this game, it’s a personal challenge to see how quickly I can get a puzzle solved.

One of the things I like about this is that it will honor the silent mode of your phone. I find some games will and some games will not honor silent mode. This means you can quiet discreetly play this one in the office … err in church … I mean … umm on the bus and not disturb others around you.

The interface on most of these is the same, where you tap an item and can drag to place. When an item currently has focus, a “ring” comes into view around it allowing you to click and rotate any item. In TanZen when you double tap a item it will flip it, however Tangram Puzzle Pro doesn’t use this feature.

Want to check out some Tangram Puzzles on your iTouch?

• Tangram Puzzle Pro, and Tangram Puzzle Pro Free
• TanZen, and TanZen Lite
• Tangrams, and Tangrams Lite
• TanGramon
• Tangrams Express