2048 🔢

2048 is played on a 4 × 4 grid. Each move slides every tile in one direction: left, right, up or down. When two tiles with the same value collide, they merge into a single tile worth their sum: 2 + 2 = 4, 4 + 4 = 8, and so on up to 2048.

After each move, a new tile appears on an empty cell: usually a 2, sometimes a 4. A tile can only merge once per move. Your score goes up by the value of every tile created by a merge, and the game ends when the grid is full and no merge is left.

Reaching the 2048 tile doesn't end the game: if the board allows it, you can keep going for 4096 or more, and your score keeps climbing.

The most reliable strategy is to keep your biggest tile in a corner, for example bottom left. Play mostly with two directions (left and down in that example), use the third only when you have no choice, and avoid the fourth: that's the move that pulls your big tile out of its corner.

Keep the row along your corner full, so it doesn't shift when you slide the other way. Then build a descending chain from the corner (1024, 512, 256…): each merge at the end of the chain then sets off a cascade of merges all the way to the big tile.

Finally, don't chase every possible merge. Before moving, look at where the new tile might appear, and merge small tiles next to your chain rather than in the middle of the grid, where they end up blocking you.

Here, 2048 runs straight in your browser, with no download and no sign-up. On a computer, you play with the arrow keys; on a phone, you swipe on the grid or use the arrow buttons below it. A finished game restarts in one click.

You don't need an account to play. If you create one, your best score goes onto the leaderboard next to the grid. And when you feel like playing with others, NoBrainGame also has party games to start with friends, each on their own phone.