The classic 2048 puzzle — swipe to merge matching tiles and try to reach the legendary 2048 tile.
The board is a 4×4 grid that starts with two tiles. Swipe up, down, left or right anywhere in the game area — or press the arrow keys on a keyboard — and every tile slides as far as it can in that direction.
When two tiles with the same number collide, they merge into one tile with double the value: 2 and 2 make 4, 4 and 4 make 8, and so on. Each tile can merge only once per swipe, so a row of 2, 2, 2, 2 pushed left becomes 4, 4 rather than 8. When three equal tiles sit in a line, the two nearest the wall you are swiping toward merge first.
After every swipe that moves at least one tile, a new tile appears in a random empty cell — a 2 nine times out of ten, otherwise a 4. A swipe that cannot move anything is ignored: no new tile, no change.
Every merge adds the value of the tile it creates to your score, so joining two 64s is worth 128 points. Your score and your best are shown above the board; the best is remembered on your device.
Making 2048 for the first time brings up a "You win!" screen where you can save your score to the Hall of Fame, continue the same board toward 4096 and beyond, or start a new game. The game ends when the grid is full and no two neighbouring tiles — side by side or one above the other — share a number; you can then save your final score.
Reloading the page, or going back and forward in the browser, brings your board back where you left it; opening the game fresh from the portal starts a new one. The New button starts over at any time.
The single most important habit in 2048 is to keep your largest tile locked into one corner and never let it move. Pick a corner — the bottom-right is a popular choice — and mostly swipe in the two directions that keep that big tile pinned in place, using a third direction only when you must and the fourth one almost never.
Build the rest of your board as a descending staircase along one edge, so equal values naturally end up next to each other and are always ready to merge. A tidy row that reads 512, 256, 128, 64 can collapse into a single huge tile in just a couple of moves, which is how big jumps in score actually happen.
Most games end not because the board is genuinely full, but because one rushed swipe scatters the large tiles away from your corner. Slow down before every move and, when you are unsure, choose the swipe that keeps the layout calm and predictable rather than the one that clears the most tiles right now.
Because merges are the only source of points, your score is really a record of the tiles you have built. A 2048 made entirely from spawned 2s is worth 20,480 points — each of its ten merge levels adds another 2,048 — and every tile that arrived as a 4 trims that by four. So when your first 2048 appears you will usually be past 20,000, plus whatever the smaller tiles on the board are worth, and a 4096 on its own stands for about 45,000. There is no shortcut to points: lasting longer is the only way up the Hall of Fame.
Let the rules work for you. When three equal tiles share your corner row, swipe toward the corner: the pair nearest it merges, so the bigger tile lands on the corner side and the leftover stays further out, ready for the next merge. When only one or two cells are empty, think about which cells your swipe will leave open — the new 2 or 4 is certain to land in one of them, so on a crowded board you can often predict, and even pick, where it will appear. And because a swipe is read by its longer axis once it travels about 24 pixels, a lazy diagonal flick on a phone can come out as the one direction you meant to avoid; swipe in straight, deliberate lines, or use the arrow keys.