How to play
You start with a 4×4 grid holding two tiles. Each turn you push the whole board in one direction (up, down, left or right) and every tile slides as far as it can that way, stopping at the wall or against another tile.
When two tiles with the same number meet during a slide, they fuse into one tile worth both: 2 + 2 becomes 4, 64 + 64 becomes 128. After every move, one fresh tile drops into a random empty square. Nine times out of ten it’s a 2; the other time it’s a 4.
Controls. Swipe anywhere on the board on a phone or tablet. On a keyboard, use the arrow keys or W, A, S and D. If a direction wouldn’t shift or merge anything, nothing happens: the move isn’t counted and no new tile appears. New game clears the board and starts again.
The goal. Build a 2048 tile. When you do, a message pops up with two choices: Keep going carries on with the same board and score, so you can chase 4096 and beyond. The game ends only when the board is full and no direction can merge anything. The final screen shows your score and your biggest tile, and Try again deals a fresh board.
How merges are resolved
A few details decide close positions, and they’re worth knowing exactly.
- Each tile merges once per move. Sliding a row of 4, 4, 8 to the left gives 8, 8, not 16. The new 8 can’t join the old 8 until the next move.
- Merges start from the wall you’re pushing toward. A row of 2, 2, 2 pushed left becomes 4, 2; pushed right it becomes 2, 4. The pair nearest the wall pairs up first.
- Two pairs in one row both merge. 2, 2, 2, 2 pushed in either direction becomes 4, 4.
- Gaps don’t matter. Tiles slide through empty squares before merging, so 2, empty, empty, 2 still merges into a single 4.
Scoring
Every merge adds the value of the new tile to your score. Merge two 8s and you gain 16; merge two 1024s and you gain 2048.
Because each big tile is built out of smaller merges, the score adds up quickly. If a 2048 tile were made entirely from spawned 2s, the merges along the way would be worth 20,480 points. Some of your spawns are 4s, which skip the first step, so the real figure for your first 2048 is usually a little lower. Your best score is kept on this device and shown next to the current one.
Strategy
Anchor your largest tile in a corner. Pick one, often a bottom corner, and keep the biggest number there for the whole game. Every move that pulls it out risks a 2 dropping into the corner behind it.
Favour two directions, allow a third, avoid the fourth. With a bottom-left anchor, play mostly down and left. Use right when you must. Press up only when nothing else is legal, since it lifts the bottom row and opens the space under your big tile.
Line up a descending row. Fill the edge row beside your corner from large to small, such as 512, 256, 128, 64. When the small end merges, the result is the same size as its neighbour, so merges cascade back toward the corner in one or two moves.
Keep the row full. If your anchored row has a gap, a stray 2 will eventually spawn in it and block the chain. Prefer moves that keep that row packed, even if they skip a merge elsewhere.
Look at where the new tile can land. After a move, the spawn goes into one of the empty squares at random. A move that leaves only one empty square, right in the middle of your chain, is riskier than one that leaves three squares on the far side of the board.
Merge small tiles before the board fills. With eight or more empty squares you have slack. Below four, every move is forced, and one 4 in the wrong place can end the run.
If you’d rather work with numbers at a slower pace, try Number Target or the logic puzzle Sudoku.
If you enjoy 2048, try Binary Grid or Bridge Islands next.
