How to play

The board is a 4×4 grid. At the start, two tiles (each showing 2 or 4) appear in random empty cells. Use the arrow keys (or swipe on mobile) to slide all tiles in one direction. Every tile slides as far as possible until it hits a wall or another tile. When two tiles with the same number collide, they merge into a single tile with their combined value. After each move, a new tile (2 or 4) spawns in a random empty cell. The goal is to create a tile showing 2048.

Controls

Device	Action
Desktop - Arrow keys	Slide all tiles Up / Down / Left / Right
Desktop - WASD	Same directional movement
Mobile - Swipe	Swipe in the desired direction

Scoring

Every time two tiles merge, you score points equal to the new tile’s value. Merging two 32 tiles scores 64 points; merging two 512 tiles scores 1024 points. There is no time limit, so your score purely reflects the quality of your merges.

Strategy tips

Build your largest tile in a corner: pick one corner (e.g., bottom-left) and always keep your highest tile there. Avoid moves that pull it away from the corner.
Chain along a wall: arrange tiles in descending order along one edge (1024 -> 512 -> 256 -> 128) so they merge in sequence without needing to travel far.
Don’t fill the board: maintain free cells. When the board is nearly full, merges become impossible and the game ends quickly.
Think two moves ahead: consider not just your current merge but how the board looks after the new tile spawns.

Tile progression & merge scores

Every merge combines two equal tiles into one tile with double the value. The score added per merge equals the resulting tile's value:

Merge	Result tile	Points scored
2 + 2	4	4
4 + 4	8	8
8 + 8	16	16
16 + 16	32	32
32 + 32	64	64
64 + 64	128	128
128 + 128	256	256
256 + 256	512	512
512 + 512	1024	1024
1024 + 1024	2048	2048

The chain shows exponential growth - each level doubles the tile value and the score earned. Reaching 2048 requires a minimum of 10 successful merge chains from the very first 2-tiles.

Maximum possible score

In a theoretically perfect game where every tile starts as a 2 and every merge is optimal, the maximum achievable score is approximately 3,932,156 points. This assumes the board is cleared in an ideal sequence with no wasted moves - a fun benchmark for competitive players pushing for high scores.