How to play

Every move slides all tiles as far as they go in one direction. When two tiles carrying the same number collide they merge into their sum, and that sum is added to your score. After each move a new 2 or 4 appears in a random empty cell. Keep merging until a 2048 tile appears — then keep going for as long as the board lets you. The game ends when the board is full and no two neighbours match.

Controls

• ← ↑ → ↓ or WASD — slide the tiles
• Swipe — slide the tiles on a touch screen
• U or the ↶ button — take back the last move
• R — new game

Your game is saved in this browser, so you can close the tab mid-run and pick it up later. Best scores are kept per board size.

Board sizes

Tips

• Pick a corner and never leave it. Keep your largest tile pinned in one corner and only ever slide in the two directions that hold it there. Almost every high score comes from this one habit.
• Build a staircase. Along the row holding your biggest tile, keep values descending — 1024, 512, 256, 128. A sorted row collapses in a chain reaction when the ends finally match.
• Avoid the fourth direction. If you anchor at the bottom-left, sliding up is what breaks the anchor. Play left, down and right; treat up as a last resort.
• Merge small before you merge big. Clearing 2s and 4s keeps empty cells available, and empty cells are what keep you alive. A full board with no pairs is the only way to lose.

About 2048

2048 was written in a weekend in March 2014 by Italian developer Gabriele Cirulli, who released it as an open-source project and watched it collect millions of players within a week. It drew on two games that came just before it — Veewo's 1024 and the Sirvo-made Threes! — and the sliding-and-merging idea has since been rebuilt hundreds of times over. This version is an independent implementation with undo, larger boards, and progress that survives closing the tab.