Tile Merge 2048

On a computer, use the arrow keys or W, A, S and D to slide every tile up, left, down or right. Press U to undo your last move, H for a hint and N to start a new game.

On a phone or tablet, swipe anywhere on the board in the direction you want the tiles to move. Use the Undo, Hint and New buttons above the board.

Your current score, best score for the chosen board size and number of moves are shown at the top. The game saves automatically after every move, so you can close the page and pick up where you left off.

1. The board starts with two tiles, each a 2 or a 4.
2. A move slides every tile in the chosen direction until it hits the edge of the board or another tile.
3. When two tiles with the same number collide, they merge into a single tile with double the value. A tile can only merge once per move, so a row of 2, 2, 2, 2 becomes 4, 4 rather than 8.
4. If three equal tiles line up, the two nearest the wall you are sliding towards merge first.
5. After each move that changes the board, one new tile appears on a random empty square: a 2 nine times out of ten, otherwise a 4.
6. You win when a 2048 tile appears. You may keep playing for a higher score.
7. The game ends when the board is full and no two neighbouring tiles match, so no move is possible.

Pick a corner and keep your biggest tile in it. Most strong players choose one corner — say bottom-left — and build everything around it. Avoid moving in the direction that would pull that tile out of its corner.

Build a chain along one edge. Arrange the bottom row in decreasing order away from the corner: 256, 128, 64, 32. When the small end gets a matching tile, the whole row can collapse into the corner in a few moves.

Favour two or three directions. If your corner is bottom-left, use down and left most of the time, right when you need to, and up only as a last resort. An up move often drops a small tile into your corner and breaks the chain.

Keep the board open. Empty squares are your safety margin. Merging small tiles early, even when it scores little, gives new tiles somewhere harmless to land.

Think about where the next tile will land. Before you move, look at which squares will be empty afterwards. A move that leaves a single gap next to your big tiles invites a 2 to land in the worst possible place.

Use undo to learn, not to rescue. Taking back a move to see what would have happened teaches you to spot traps; relying on it every turn makes the game far less satisfying.

Sliding-merge games grew out of a wave of mobile puzzle design in early 2014. Threes!, released that February, introduced the idea of sliding numbered cards that combine. A few weeks later Italian developer Gabriele Cirulli wrote a quick web version with powers of two and a target of 2048 as a weekend project, shared its source code openly, and it spread around the world within days. Countless variations followed, and the format is now a modern classic alongside sudoku and solitaire. Tile Merge 2048 is zyarcade’s own version, with an original look, a choice of board sizes, hints and undo.

• Larger boards. Our 5×5 and 6×6 modes add space, so reaching 2048 is easier and five-figure tiles become realistic.
• Keep going. After 2048, carry on to 4096, 8192 and higher; the record on a 4×4 board is far beyond 2048 for patient players.
• No-undo challenge. Try a whole game without undo or hints — the purest test of planning.
• Score attack. Ignore the target and play purely for points, aiming to beat your best score for each board size.