2048

Overview

2048 is a sliding-tile puzzle played on a 4x4 grid. Each move shifts every tile to one edge — up, down, left, or right — and any two tiles that share a value merge into one tile worth their sum. The goal that gave the game its name is to combine tiles until a single 512 + 512 pair forms a 2048 tile, though seasoned players push much further and chase 4096, 8192, or higher.

The board starts with two random tiles, and a new 2 or 4 appears after every successful move. Because the board is small and tiles keep arriving, every shift has to make space rather than just rack up points. This browser-based version preserves the original rules: arrow-key or swipe controls, exponential merges, and a permanent game-over the moment no merge or empty cell is available.

How it works

Each move processes one row or column at a time. Tiles slide as far as they can in the chosen direction, and a pair of equal adjacent tiles merges into a tile of double value — but only once per move, so three matching tiles in a row will combine into one merged pair and a leftover, not a triple stack. The score gained equals the value of the merged tile, which means doubling rewards grow exponentially with each merge.

After the move resolves, a new tile spawns in a random empty cell, drawing a 2 with about 90 percent probability and a 4 with about 10 percent. The game ends when the grid is full and no adjacent pair of tiles shares a value, because at that point no further merge is possible regardless of direction.

Examples

• Two side-by-side 2 tiles slid together produce a 4 tile and add 4 to the score.
• Four 2 tiles in a row slid right collapse into two 4 tiles in the same move, not a single 8.
• Reaching the 2048 tile requires combining ten doublings starting from 2: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048.
• A common winning strategy parks the largest tile in a corner and feeds tiles into it from a single direction, keeping the high-value chain contiguous.

FAQ

Does the game end at 2048?
No. Reaching 2048 is the milestone goal, but you can keep playing and merging until the board locks up.

Why does a new 4 sometimes appear?
Roughly one in ten new tiles spawns as a 4 instead of a 2, adding a small element of variance.

Is there a guaranteed winning strategy?
No, because tile spawns are random. Corner-anchoring and snake-pattern descents reliably reach 2048 in most starts.

Can I undo a move?
This implementation plays straight through with no undo, matching the original game.

What's the maximum possible tile?
Theoretical max on a 4x4 board is 65 536, but it requires near-perfect play and luck.

Try 2048