About 2048
2048 is a sliding-tile puzzle played on a 4 x 4 grid. Every move pushes all the tiles as far as they can go in one direction, and two tiles with the same number that collide combine into one tile worth their sum. The goal is to build a single 2048 tile, but you can keep playing past it for a higher score.
How to play
- The game starts with two tiles on the board. After every move that changes the board, one new tile appears in a random empty square: a 2 nine times out of ten, otherwise a 4.
- A move slides every tile in the chosen direction. If two equal tiles meet, they merge into one tile of double the value. A tile can only merge once per move, so a row of 2, 2, 2, 2 pushed left becomes 4, 4, not 8.
- If a move would not shift or merge anything, it is ignored and no new tile appears.
- Your score goes up by the value of every merged tile you create. Merging two 8s into a 16 is worth 16 points.
- Making a 2048 tile shows a win screen with a Keep going button, so you can continue building bigger tiles.
- The game ends when the board is full and no two neighbouring tiles match, so no direction can change anything.
Controls
- Keyboard: the arrow keys or W, A, S and D slide the tiles up, left, down and right.
- Touch: swipe across the board in the direction you want the tiles to move. Very short swipes are ignored.
- The New game button clears the board and starts again from zero. There is no undo.
Tips and strategy
- Pick a corner for your largest tile and keep it there. Most strong players avoid one direction (for example, never pressing up) so the big tile is never pulled out of its corner.
- Build a descending chain along the edge next to that corner, such as 512, 256, 128, 64, so each merge feeds directly into the next.
- Keep the row that holds your big tile full. If that row has a gap, a new 2 or 4 can drop into it and block your chain.
- When you have a choice, make the move that leaves the most empty squares. Space is what keeps you alive.
- Do not chase small merges on the far side of the board if the move shifts your important edge row. A tidy board is worth more than a few points now.
Background
2048 was written by Italian developer Gabriele Cirulli and released as a free web game in March 2014. It was inspired by the earlier games 1024 and Threes, the latter designed by Asher Vollmer. The original code was open source, which led to a huge number of copies and variations within weeks of its release.
Questions
- Can I keep playing after reaching 2048?
- Yes. When the 2048 tile appears, choose Keep going and the game continues until you run out of moves. Your score keeps counting.
- Where is my best score saved?
- Your best score is updated after every scoring move and kept in your browser's local storage on this device. It will not carry over to another browser, and it may not be kept in private browsing mode.
- How often does a 4 appear instead of a 2?
- Each new tile has a 10 percent chance of being a 4 and a 90 percent chance of being a 2.