How to play 2048
- Press an arrow key, or swipe on a phone. Every tile slides as far as it can in that direction.
- Two tiles with the same number join into one with their total, and that total is added to your score. A new 2 or 4 appears after every move.
- Make a 2048 tile to win, then keep going for a bigger one if you like. The game ends when the board is full and nothing can join. Undo takes back your last move.
A strategy that works
- Pick a corner and keep your biggest tile there. Most players use a bottom corner. Build the bottom row from the biggest number down so tiles can join in a chain.
- Use only three directions. If your corner is bottom left, move down, left and right, and only press up when nothing else moves. Pressing up lets a small tile slide under your big one.
- Keep the edge row full. A full bottom row can’t shift sideways, so your big tile stays put when you move left or right.
- Think about where the new tile lands. Each move adds a 2 or 4 to an empty square. Fewer gaps near your big tiles means fewer stray numbers in the way.
What comes after 2048
The game doesn’t stop at 2048. Keep joining and you can make 4096, 8192 and more. Each new tile needs twice the work of the last, so a 4096 takes about twice as many moves as your first 2048.