How to play 2048

2048 is a deceptively simple sliding-number puzzle that has soaked up countless hours since it first appeared. The board is a 4×4 grid. Every move slides all the tiles as far as they'll go in one direction, and matching tiles combine into a single bigger number. The numbers only ever double — 2 and 2 make 4, 4 and 4 make 8, and on up the chain.

Goal

Merge tiles until one of them reads 2048. That's the classic victory, but the game doesn't have to stop there — choose to keep playing and you can chase 4096, 8192, and beyond. The game ends only when the grid is completely full and no adjacent tiles can merge in any direction.

How a move works

Each time you slide, every tile travels as far as it can toward that edge. Two tiles of the same value that bump into each other join into one tile worth their sum, and that new tile can't merge again on the same move. After every slide that actually moves something, a fresh 2 (occasionally a 4) appears on a random empty square. If a direction wouldn't move or merge anything, it does nothing — so spamming a wall is wasted.

Controls

• Desktop: the arrow keys or W, A, S, D to slide up, left, down, and right.
• Mobile: swipe in any of the four directions across the board.
• Undo: press U to take back a move — you can step back up to ten moves when an experiment goes wrong.

Strategy

The single most important habit: pick one corner and keep your largest tile pinned there, never letting it wander. Build a descending "snake" of values along an edge so big tiles can merge in order without smaller ones orphaning them in the middle. Favour two directions (say, down and left) and avoid the move that would unseat your corner tile. Plan a few slides ahead, keep some empty squares in reserve, and merge low tiles early so the board stays uncluttered for the big chains.