2048
2048 is a number puzzle where every move shifts the whole board. Two tiles with the same value combine into their sum, and your aim is to keep doubling until one square reads 2048.
This is Gabriele Cirulli's open-source original, and the whole grid lives inside a web page, so a school Chromebook handles it without any setup. A single round can take five minutes or half an hour, depending on how carefully you plan.
How to play 2048
You begin with two small tiles on a sixteen-square grid. Pick a direction and every tile glides as far as it can that way. When two equal tiles run into each other, they fuse into one tile with double the value, and that new value is added to your score.
After each move that changes something, a fresh tile drops into a random empty square. It is usually a 2 and sometimes a 4. A tile that was just created cannot fuse again until the next move, so a row of four 2s becomes two 4s, not one 8.
Reaching 2048 brings up a win screen, but you can choose to keep going and chase bigger numbers. The round is over only when all sixteen squares are filled and no neighbors share a value.
Controls
| Action | Keyboard | Mouse | Touch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slide tiles | Arrow keys, W A S D or H J K L | — | Swipe in any direction |
| Restart | R | Click New Game | Tap New Game |
| Continue past 2048 | — | Click Keep going | Tap Keep going |
Tips
- Choose one corner as home for your largest tile and avoid moves that pull it out of that spot.
- Lean on two directions most of the time, such as down and left, and use a third only when the board forces it.
- Keep the row along your home corner full so that sliding sideways cannot open a gap under your big tile.
- Build a staircase of values that shrink as they move away from your corner, so a single merge can set off the next one and the next.
- Before every swipe, look at where the new tile could land. A stray 2 in the wrong corner can block a whole chain.
- When the board feels tight, merge small tiles first. Freeing even one square gives you more choices next turn.
If you like 2048, try these
HextrisSwap swipes for spins: blocks fly at a six-sided core, and you group same colors before any stack overflows.
Factors GameNumbers drive this one too, but instead of doubling tiles you divide your way down four rows until you land on exactly 1.
Questions
Does 2048 save my game if I close the tab?
Yes. Both the board in progress and your top score are stored locally in the browser. Come back on the same device and browser, and the grid is right where you left it.
What is the highest tile you can make in 2048?
After the win screen you can keep merging, so 4096 and 8192 are possible with careful play. The run stops only when the board is full and no merge is left.
Can I play 2048 on a phone?
Yes. Swipe up, down, left or right on the board to move the tiles. The layout is tall, so holding the phone upright gives the grid the most space.
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