Can You Draw a Square with 3 Lines? The Viral Challenge Explained

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Learn to solve the viral TikTok riddle!

Co-authored by Jeanine Hattas Wilson and Aly Rusciano

Last Updated: November 24, 2025 Fact Checked

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Solving the Riddle

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Is it possible?

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Common Solving Attempts

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Can you draw a square with 3 lines? The challenge has been blowing up the internet! People all over the world are trying to solve this tricky riddle, and if you’re just as stumped as they are, you’ve come to the right place. Keep reading to learn how to solve the “draw a square with 3 lines” riddle and find out if it’s actually possible.

How to Solve the “Draw a Square With 3 Lines” Riddle

An illustration of the solution to the "draw a square with 3 lines" riddle, a square with 3 lines inside it

Draw a square as you normally would.
Draw 3 lines inside that square.

Section 1 of 3:

The Riddle Explained & Solved

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If someone asks you to draw a square with only 3 lines, you’re likely going to try it. But when you do, you’ll be stumped to find that it’s impossible. No matter how you situate the lines, you can’t make a square with only 3; you need 4. So, how do you solve the riddle?
The riddle is all about wordplay. You need to draw a square with 3 lines, not make a square out of 3 lines. So, draw a square as you normally would, and then draw 3 lines inside it!^{[1]
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Section 2 of 3:

Is it possible to draw a square with 3 lines?

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No, it’s not possible to draw a square with only 3 lines. A square has 4 lines, not 3! No matter how you position 3 lines, they’ll never make a square. You could draw a triangle or an “open box” with 3 lines, but never a proper square—it’s geometrically impossible.
- It is possible to draw a square with 3 lines. While you may not be able to literally draw a square using only 3 lines, you can draw a square with 3 lines.
- Looking for even more challenging and fun riddles? Check out these 120 Tricky Riddles!

Section 3 of 3:

How People Try to Solve the Riddle

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There are many unique ways people have tried to solve the riddle. The internet is full of loved ones trolling each other with the “draw a square with 3 lines” riddle. The riddle is tricky, so if you were stumped, don’t sweat it—thousands of people have been fooled! Unsuspecting victims of the riddle have been challenged and filmed by their loved ones, and we’ve noticed a few patterns in how they attempt to solve the task:
- ryantrickstv on YouTube and TikTok user gettishow’s victims tried to solve the riddle by drawing an open square along the side of a whiteboard, using the side of the board as the fourth line, but that doesn’t count.
- YouTube teacher ravirajmaster challenged his students, and many of them tried to draw the square closer together or at an angle to no avail.
- thejtcouple on YouTube grew frustrated with the challenge and kept drawing a triangle, claiming that’s what the riddle must be asking.