2048
Slide tiles and combine them to reach the 2048 tile.
About 2048
2048 exploded across the internet in March 2014, when Italian developer Gabriele Cirulli released it as a weekend project inspired by the games 1024 and Threes. Within weeks millions of players were sliding tiles at 2 a.m., drawn in by a ruleset that takes ten seconds to learn and a difficulty curve that hides how brutal the endgame is — fewer than a few percent of games ever produce the golden tile.
This is the classic 4×4 version, faithfully implemented. Tiles slide with the arrow keys or with swipe gestures on touch screens; equal numbers merge into their sum, and every merge adds its value to your score. New tiles appear after every successful move — 90% of them are 2s, 10% are 4s — so space management is everything. Reaching 2048 triggers a celebration overlay with the option to keep playing for a higher score, and the game only ends when the board is full with no merges left in any direction.
How to Play 2048
The board starts with two tiles (2s or 4s) on a 4×4 grid.
Press an arrow key — or swipe on a touch screen — to slide every tile as far as it can go in that direction.
When two tiles with the same number collide, they merge into one tile worth their sum, and that sum is added to your score.
After every move that changes the board, one new tile (usually a 2) spawns in a random empty cell.
Build the 2048 tile to win; you can keep playing afterwards to chase 4096 and beyond. The game ends when no slide can move or merge anything.
Controls
Tips & Tricks
- 💡Pick one corner — bottom-right is popular — and treat it as sacred: your biggest tile lives there and you never make a move that dislodges it.
- 💡Build a descending staircase from that corner: largest tile in the corner, next-largest beside it, and so on, so merges cascade in the right order.
- 💡In practice this means favouring two directions (for example Down and Right) and using the third only when forced; avoid the fourth almost entirely.
- 💡When the board gets crowded, merge small tiles in the open region first — a single freed cell often unlocks a chain of merges.
2048 — Frequently Asked Questions
Is 2048 actually winnable?+
Yes, and regularly — disciplined corner play gets most players there within a few dozen attempts. The catch is the endgame: the last few merges before 2048 need a nearly full board of large tiles arranged in exactly the right order.
How is the score calculated?+
Every merge adds the value of the tile it creates. Merging two 64s adds 128, merging two 1024s adds 2048, and so on — which is why scores grow explosively once big tiles start combining.
How often do 4 tiles appear?+
Each new tile has a 90% chance of being a 2 and a 10% chance of being a 4. The occasional early 4 is a small gift; treat it as a head start on the staircase, not a tile to waste in the open.
Does 2048 work on mobile?+
Yes — swipe anywhere on the board to slide the tiles in that direction, with the same rules and scoring as the keyboard version.
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