2048 Questions and Answers

2048 is a free sliding puzzle game on a 4×4 grid. You merge matching numbered tiles to double their value, aiming to create a tile that shows 2048.

Press the arrow keys or swipe to slide every tile in one direction. Tiles with the same number merge into one, and a new 2 or 4 appears after each move. Keep merging until you build the 2048 tile.

Choose one corner, keep your highest tile in it, and use only two directions for almost every move. Build a descending row from your anchor corner and merge small tiles quickly to keep the board open.

You cannot, because tile placement is random. The corner strategy will still take you from losing most games to winning most of them, so aim for a high win rate rather than a perfect one.

131072 is the highest tile the rules allow, but board space makes it effectively unreachable. Skilled players usually stop between 8192 and 16384.

3,932,156 points, based on a perfect final board. Real high scores by human players usually land between 20,000 and 200,000.

Expect a few days of practice as a beginner. An experienced player finishes a winning run in roughly 10 to 20 minutes.

Yes. Click Keep Playing and the board continues, letting you chase 4096, 8192 and beyond.

Yes. 2048 is free at play-2048.io. No download, no account, and no payment.

Yes. Open the site in any mobile browser and swipe to move the tiles. It works on iPhone, iPad and Android.

Yes, on play-2048.io. Press Ctrl + Z on desktop or tap the undo button on mobile. The original 2014 version had no undo.

Any corner works equally well. Pick the one that feels natural for your hand, most often bottom-left or bottom-right, and use it every game.

Your largest tile has almost certainly drifted away from its corner. Once it sits in the middle, it splits the board and blocks merges on every side.

Yes. Merges resolve from the edge you move toward, and each tile can merge only once per move. With three matching tiles in a row, the pair nearest your chosen edge merges and the third tile stays.

About 10%. Roughly nine out of ten new tiles are 2s, and that occasional 4 is what wrecks tight plans.

Both. Randomness decides where tiles land, but skill decides whether you survive it. Over many games, strategy dominates.

Gabriele Cirulli, an Italian developer who was 19 at the time, built it in a weekend and released it on 9 March 2014.

No. Threes! inspired 2048, but it merges 1 with 2 and then combines matching multiples of 3. The two games feel very different to play.

Only when the board fills and no neighbouring tiles match. There is no time limit and no move limit.