2048
Slide and merge tiles to reach 2048.
Use arrow keys or swipe to move tiles.
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What is this?
2048 is a puzzle game on a 4x4 grid — slide matching tiles together to build bigger numbers. Create a 2048 tile to win, or keep playing for a higher score.
How to play
Use arrow keys or swipe to push all tiles in one direction. When two matching tiles collide, they merge into one worth double, adding that amount to your score. A new tile (2 or 4) appears after each move. The game ends when no move is possible in any direction.
Privacy
Your score and best score are stored only in your browser (localStorage) and are never sent to a server.
Minimum merges to reach 2048 — the exponential structure
Since 2048 is 2¹¹, it's tempting to assume "1,024 merges will do it" — but the correct answer is 1,023. Doubling a value requires two tiles of the same value, so making one 2048 tile needs two 1024 tiles, each 1024 tile needs two 512 tiles, and so on down to 2¹⁰ = 1,024 tiles worth 2 at the base. Pairing up 1,024 leaf tiles in a binary merge tree always takes one fewer merge than the leaf count: 1,024 − 1 = 1,023. The intuition that "2048 = 2¹¹, so 1,024 merges" confuses the exponent with the merge count.
The theoretical max tile and why the corner strategy works
On a 4x4 board, each step up to a bigger tile needs exponentially more open space and supporting tiles, so the moves and merges required grow exponentially with every new tile level. That's why the common real-world tactic is to anchor the largest tile in one corner. A tile locked into a corner has nowhere left to slide in that direction, so it stays safe while you clean up the smaller tiles on the other three sides — reducing the risk of an accidental shuffle that collapses your layout.