2048

How to play 2048

2048 is played on a 4x4 grid. Every move slides all tiles as far as they can go in one direction: up, down, left or right. When two tiles with the same number collide, they merge into one tile worth their sum. So two 2s become a 4, two 4s become an 8, and so on up the powers of two.

After every move that changes the board, a new tile appears in a random empty square. On Poozee, as in the original game, it is a 2 nine times out of ten and a 4 the rest of the time.

Your goal is to build a single 2048 tile. The game ends when the board is full and no neighboring tiles match, so no move can change anything.

Scoring

Each merge adds the value of the new tile to your score. Merging two 64s into a 128 adds 128 points. That means big merges late in the game are worth far more than lots of small ones, and your score climbs fastest when you are close to your next milestone tile.

Rules that trip people up

• A tile can only merge once per move. Sliding a row of 4 4 8 to the left gives 8 8, not 16.
• When three equal tiles line up, the two closest to the wall you are moving toward merge first. Sliding 2 2 2 left gives 4 2.
• A move that changes nothing does not count and does not spawn a new tile.

A strategy that works: pick a corner

Almost every strong 2048 player uses some version of the corner strategy:

1. Choose a corner, for example bottom-left, and keep your largest tile there.
2. Build a chain along the bottom row in descending order: 1024 512 256 128, then continue along the row above.
3. Mostly use only two directions (down and left in this example). Use the third (right) when you must, and avoid the fourth (up) unless there is no other option.
4. Keep the bottom row full so the corner tile cannot slide out of place.

Merges then cascade naturally toward your corner, and new tiles spawn away from your big numbers. Our full guide on how to win 2048 walks through the strategy with examples, including how to recover when your corner tile gets dislodged.

Pro tip: Before each move, look at where the new tile could appear. A move that leaves an empty square next to your big corner tile invites a stray 2 into the worst possible spot.

Features of Poozee 2048

• Undo: take back your last move with the Undo button or Ctrl/Cmd + Z. Handy when a spawn wrecks your setup.
• Keep going after 2048: you can continue to 4096, 8192 and beyond.
• Best score saved: your top score is stored in your browser on this device.
• Plays anywhere: keyboard arrows or W A S D on a computer, swipes on phones and tablets.

Where 2048 came from

2048 was created by Italian developer Gabriele Cirulli and released as a free web game in March 2014. It spread incredibly fast and inspired countless variants. The core idea of sliding and merging numbered tiles was influenced by earlier games such as Threes!. More than a decade later it is still one of the most played puzzle games on the web, because a single round takes minutes but mastering it takes much longer.