2048

How to play 2048

Slide tiles up, down, left or right with the arrow keys or by swiping. When two tiles with the same number touch, they merge into one tile worth double. A new 2 or 4 tile appears after every move. Keep merging until you build a 2048 tile. The game ends when the board is full and nothing else can merge.

Tips

• Pick one corner and keep your biggest tile parked there
• Build a single descending row instead of stacks of equal pairs
• Avoid moves that scatter your high tiles to the centre
• If a swipe does not change anything, try a different direction

About 2048

2048 was made over a single weekend in 2014 by Italian developer Gabriele Cirulli, partly as a riff on a similar game called Threes. He shared the source code on GitHub and the simple maths puzzle blew up across phones and laptops within days. The appeal is obvious. Five seconds to learn, hours to chase a higher score. Our version runs entirely in the browser with smooth tile animations and a saved best score so you always have a number to beat.

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• Lights out: Turn off every light in the 5x5 grid. Trickier than it looks.
• Slide fifteen: The classic 15 puzzle. Slide tiles into order in as few moves as possible.

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