At first glance, the image seems simple: a tidy pyramid of bright, colorful triangles. But the longer you look, the more complex it becomes. Some people count only the most obvious shapes and stop at nine, while others begin noticing larger triangles formed by combining smaller ones. With closer attention, the total can rise into the teens or even beyond twenty. That’s why this visual challenge has spread widely online—it encourages people to slow down and question their first impression.
This fascination comes from how the human brain processes patterns. Psychologists often explain it through Gestalt principles, which describe our tendency to see whole forms rather than individual pieces. When viewing the triangle puzzle, some people focus on single shapes, while others naturally group elements into larger patterns. Neither approach is wrong; they simply reflect different ways of organizing visual information.