Use the arrow keys (or swipe on touch) to slide all tiles in one direction. When two tiles with the same number collide, they merge into one whose value is their sum. After every move a new 2 or 4 appears in an empty cell. The goal is to reach the 2048 tile — but you can keep going for 4096 and beyond.
Pick a corner and keep your highest tile pinned there. Build a descending chain along one row or column. Avoid moves that disturb the corner — usually never press the direction that empties it. The game ends when the board fills up and no merges remain.
2048 is a single-player tile-merging puzzle on a 4×4 grid, designed by Italian programmer Gabriele Cirulli in 2014 and released as open-source the same week. The goal is to combine matching numbered tiles by sliding them, doubling each merge until you create a tile valued 2048. Game ends when no further moves are possible.
Press an arrow key (or swipe on touch) to slide every tile in that direction. Two adjacent tiles with the same number merge into one of double value. After every move, a new 2 (90% of the time) or 4 (10%) appears in a random empty cell. The board fills as you fail to merge; the game ends when no slide produces movement or merge.
| Tile | Source | Score on merge |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Spawn (90%) | — |
| 4 | Spawn (10%) or two 2s | +4 |
| 8 | Two 4s | +8 |
| 16, 32, 64, 128 | Two of half-value | +value |
| 256, 512, 1024 | Two of half-value | +value |
| 2048 (win) | Two 1024s | +2048 |
| 4096, 8192… | Continue past the win | +value |
The dominant strategy is the corner snake: pin your largest tile in one corner (most use bottom-right) and never move it. Build a descending zig-zag from that corner: bottom row right-to-left increasing, second row left-to-right, etc. Avoid pressing the direction that would shift the corner away — typically Up if your corner is bottom-right. With perfect play this strategy reaches 2048 reliably and 4096 often.
Arrow keys or swipe to slide all tiles in one direction. Adjacent matching tiles merge into one of double value. A new 2 or 4 spawns each move. Reach 2048 to win; keep going for higher tiles.
Pin the largest tile in a corner; never move it. Build a snake-pattern row that feeds into it. Avoid pressing the direction that would shift the corner.
Theoretically 131,072 (2¹⁷). Practically the game ends earlier when the board fills. The 2048 win tile is reached by ~5–10% of casual players; 4096 by ~1%.
Each merge adds the value of the new tile to your score. Reaching 2048 from a fresh game scores ~20,000; reaching 4096 ~50,000.
Spawn position is uniformly random among empty cells. It feels biased after a streak but isn't. The 2-vs-4 spawn is weighted 90/10.
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