How To Play 2048

2048 is still a relatively new game but it seems to have taken the world by storm. Numbers and tiles combine to make a tricky little brain teaser. To someone watching a game of 2048, it can look a bit like mathematical Tetris. Two of the same numbers merge on each move creating higher and higher values. Your goal is to combine numbers until you’ve reached 2048.

How to Play 2048

At its core, 2048 is a matching game. You match numbers together so they merge and create bigger numbers. All you need to play are your arrow keys and a bit of a plan. The rules on how to play 2048 are pretty simple: move your titles up and down, left and right, and when two of the same numbers touch, they combine and grow.

The game itself can be over in a flash or go on for several minutes. It depends on your strategy and how good you are at planning ahead. It also depends on the luck of the draw. You may start with two tiles but how the game pans out is really up to chance.

2048 Tactics

Higher numbers stay put. Concentrate your highest value tiles into one corner space on the board to ensure they can combine quickly and effectively. Once you’ve selected your corner, two directions will keep things concentrated there, the other two directions will create a bigger risk of disruption. It’s up to you how risky you want to be.

Line up from lowest to highest. Once you’ve picked a corner, you should try and build the biggest chain of numbers you can. This chain should include the biggest numbers on your board, in order from smallest to largest. This will make it much easier to merge tiles into one another. Keeping these chains of numbers, no matter how small, will ensure that you can move safely in three directions. 

Keep things concentrated. If you place tiles with large numbers all around the board, it will be incredibly tough to merge them. You need to keep the largest numbers to a minimum and keep them concentrated into one area of the board. This will keep your game going for longer and give you a better chance of reaching the magical 2048. 

The History of 2048

The game was unleashed on the world in March of 2014, created by a 19-year old developer named Gabrielle Cirulli. Garbrielle was inspired by the game of three’s and created the game over a weekend. Just after its release, the game received more than 4 million views and has grown exponentially since then. 

You may think that this has made Gabrielle Cirulli incredibly rich, but it was never his intention to make money. He made the game and released it for free. This is because it wasn’t his original idea, rather an adaptation of other games. Instead, Cirulli put the the code and the game on GitHub, the open source coding platform. From there, the game has been downloaded and adapted hundreds of times. 

Where to Play 2048

So what are you waiting for? Now that you know how to play 2048, go play 2048 for free on Coolmath Games now. There’s also 2048 Fibonacci, an adapted version of the original, that you can play. Once you’ve completed 2048, you should also give Tetroid 3 a go.