2048

How to play

Slide every tile on the board at once with the arrow keys or a swipe. When two tiles with the same number collide they merge into one, and the new value is added to your score. Every move drops a fresh 2 or 4 onto a random empty cell, so the board keeps filling up. Reach the 2048 tile before you run out of moves.

Tips

• Park your biggest tile in a corner and never let a move pull it out.
• Stick to two directions, like down and left, so your rows stay ordered.
• Build descending chains such as 64, 32, 16, 8 so one merge cascades into several.
• An early game over still counts: your best score saves as you play, not just at the end.

A little history

2048 was written in a weekend in March 2014 by Gabriele Cirulli, a 19 year old Italian developer, as a practice project. It was itself a clone of a game called 1024, which in turn drew on Threes, released a month earlier. Cirulli released it free and open source, and it spread across the internet within days, becoming one of the most copied browser games ever made. The rules have not changed since: slide, merge equal tiles, reach 2048.

What makes it last is that the goal is only the beginning. Reaching 2048 is achievable with a corner strategy; reaching 4096 or 8192 takes real discipline, and the score keeps counting past the title tile.

The corner strategy, explained

• Pick a corner and keep your largest tile there permanently. Every strategy that works is a variation on this one rule.
• Use only two or three directions. If your big tile is bottom right, you mostly press down and right, with left as a rescue. Pressing up is what dislodges the corner.
• Keep the row containing your big tile full. A full row cannot be disturbed by a slide in the other direction.
• Build a descending chain along that row: 512, 256, 128, 64. When a new 64 arrives it merges along the chain in a cascade.
• Every move spawns a 2 or a 4, and about nine in ten spawns are a 2. Plan for the 2; the 4 is the surprise.
• When you must break the pattern, break it early in the game while there is still room to recover, never when the board is three quarters full.

Common questions

Who made 2048 originally?

Gabriele Cirulli released the original in March 2014 as a free, open source weekend project. It was inspired by 1024 and Threes, and became one of the most widely copied browser games.

Does the game end when I reach 2048?

No. The 2048 tile is the named goal, but you can keep playing and merging towards 4096 and beyond, and your score keeps rising.

Are new tiles always a 2?

Most are. Each move drops a 2 or a 4 onto a random empty cell, and the 4 is the less common of the two.