2048 guide
How to win 2048: the corner strategy, step by step
Choose one corner and keep your biggest tile there all game. Line up your next biggest tiles beside it in falling order, swipe only towards that corner (two directions, plus one sideways), and never swipe the fourth way unless you have to. Do that and 2048 goes from luck to a game you win most of the time.
The rules in one minute
The board is a 4×4 grid. Each swipe slides every tile as far as it will go. Two tiles with the same number that meet merge into one tile of twice the value, and a tile can only merge once per swipe. After every swipe that moves something, a new tile appears on an empty square: a 2 nine times out of ten, a 4 otherwise. You win by making a 2048 tile, and you lose when the board is full and no two neighbours match.
Two facts follow from those rules, and the whole strategy rests on them:
- Big tiles are only useful next to tiles their own size. A 512 marooned among 2s and 4s is a wall, not an asset.
- New tiles are small. So small tiles should live where the new ones arrive, far from your big ones.
Rule 1: pick a corner and never leave it
Decide on a corner before your first swipe. This guide uses the top left. Your biggest tile goes there and stays there. A tile in the corner can only be disturbed from two sides, and if its row is full it cannot be disturbed at all.
Rule 2: build a snake
Fill the corner tile's row in falling order: biggest in the corner, the next biggest beside it, and so on. When the row is full, the second row runs back the other way, so the smallest tile of the top row sits above the biggest tile of the second. Follow the numbers with your finger and they trace a snake.
The point of the snake is the chain reaction. Make one more 64 in the picture above and it merges up into 128, which merges along into 256, 512 and 1024 on your next few swipes. One small merge at the tail travels all the way to the head.
Rule 3: three directions, not four
With the corner at the top left, your working swipes are up and left. Both push tiles towards the corner and neither can move the corner tile. Right is safe only while the top row is full, because a full row of different numbers cannot slide. Down is the dangerous one: it drags your biggest tile out of the corner and lets a new 2 appear behind it.
| Swipe | Use it | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Up | Freely | Packs tiles towards the top row. The corner tile cannot move. |
| Left | Freely | Packs tiles towards the corner's column. The corner tile cannot move. |
| Right | When the top row is full | A full top row with no equal neighbours stays put, so only the lower rows shift. |
| Down | Only when nothing else moves | Pulls the top row away from the wall. A new tile can land in the corner. |
When you are forced the wrong way
Sooner or later up, left and right all do nothing and you must swipe down. Limit the damage:
- Look before you swipe. After the down swipe a new tile appears. If the corner's column has a gap above your big tile, the new tile may land in the corner.
- Swipe straight back. Your very next move is up. If nothing landed in the top row, the board is exactly as it was plus one tile.
- If a 2 did land in the corner, don't panic and don't shuffle everything about. Slide the top row so the 2 can merge with a neighbour (you may need to feed it another 2), and rebuild from there.
You can often avoid the forced move altogether. The trouble comes when the corner's column is full but the rest of the board is not, so keep your lower rows from filling unevenly: prefer merges that leave the gaps on the side away from the corner.
When to undo
Yuzool's 2048 gives you three undos a game (the Daily gives everyone three as well). An undo takes back your move and the tile that came with it, and the same move brings the same tile back, so you cannot re-roll your luck. What you can do is choose a different direction. Save undos for mistakes that are yours:
- A slip of the thumb that sent the corner tile wandering.
- A forced down swipe that went badly. Undo it and look for a different way out, for example a left swipe that frees a row first.
- The move that ended the game, if there was another direction you could have taken one or two moves earlier.
Don't spend an undo on a small tile landing somewhere awkward. That is the game, and the snake is built to absorb it.
The last stretch: 1024 to 2048
With 1024 in the corner you need a second 1024, which means building 512, 256, 128 and so on all over again in the twelve squares that are left. This is where most games are lost, because the board is tighter than it was the first time.
Worked example
Your top row reads 1024, 512, 256, 128. The next merge you need is a second 128 directly below the first, in the right-hand column. So work the second row from left to right: 16, 32, 64 building towards the right, under the 128. When the 64 doubles twice it slides up into the 128, and the top row collapses leftwards: 128 + 128, then 256 + 256, 512 + 512 and finally 1024 + 1024.
- Count your spare squares. With fewer than three or four empty squares, stop reaching for big merges and make any small merge that frees space.
- Don't split a pair. Two equal tiles side by side should be merged before anything can come between them.
- Keep the top row full. If a merge on the top row leaves a hole, fill it from below (swipe up) before you swipe right.
After 2048 the same method carries on: 4096 needs the snake to reach into the third row, and 8192 into the fourth.
Common mistakes
- Swiping in circles. Up, right, down, left over and over scatters big tiles across the board.
- Chasing every merge. A merge that pulls the corner tile out of place costs more than it gains.
- Two big tiles in two corners. They can never meet. One corner, one snake.
- Letting a small tile get trapped between big ones on the top row. Keep the row in order and merge small tiles below it.
- Playing too fast near the end. The first 500 moves forgive haste. The last 200 do not.
Questions
What is the best strategy for 2048?
Pick one corner and keep your biggest tile there for the whole game. Fill that tile's row with your next biggest tiles in falling order, use only the two directions that push towards the corner plus one sideways direction, and avoid the fourth direction unless nothing else moves.
Can every game of 2048 be won?
No. The new tiles land at random, so a few games are lost whatever you do. With the corner strategy a careful player wins most games, and strong computer players reach 2048 nearly every time.
What is the highest possible tile in 2048?
On the 4×4 board the highest tile that can exist is 131,072. It needs a perfect snake and a 4 to appear at the right moment. Reaching 4096 or 8192 is a realistic goal for a practised player.
How many moves does it take to reach 2048?
About 950 to 1,100. Each move adds one tile worth 2 or 4 (2.2 on average), and a board holding a 2048 tile has tiles adding up to a little over 2048, so you need roughly 2048 ÷ 2.2 moves.
Is 2048 luck or skill?
Mostly skill. Luck decides where each new tile lands, but a player who keeps the board ordered is rarely hurt by one bad tile, while a player with a messy board needs good luck every move.
Who made 2048?
Gabriele Cirulli released 2048 in March 2014 as a free, open-source web game (MIT licence), building on the earlier games 1024 and Threes. Yuzool's version is our own code and design, based on his idea.