Play 2048 Online

This is the 2048 game with its original rules: a 4×4 board, tiles that double when they merge, and one goal tile. Play 2048 online in your browser on a Chromebook, laptop or phone. There is nothing to install, and your game is saved on this device, so you can close the tab and come back to the same board.

How the 2048 game works

Use the arrow keys or swipe. Every tile slides as far as it can in that direction. Two tiles with the same number merge into one worth their sum: 2 and 2 make 4, 4 and 4 make 8, and so on up to 2048. After each move a new tile appears, usually a 2. The game ends when the board is full and nothing can merge. New to it? The how to play 2048 tutorial walks you through each rule on a small board you can move.

The original rules, kept intact

• A new tile is a 2 nine times out of ten and a 4 the rest of the time, the same odds as the 2014 original.
• Each tile merges only once per move, so a row of four 2s becomes two 4s, not an 8.
• Reaching 2048 is a win, and you can keep playing for 4096 and beyond.
• There is no undo button. The original game does not have one, so this Classic version does not either.

Controls

On a keyboard, use the arrow keys or W, A, S and D. On a phone or tablet, swipe anywhere on the board; the page will not scroll while your finger is on it. The New game button starts over, and your best score is kept separately from the current game.

Other ways to play

If plain numbers get old, try 2048 Cupcakes, where each merge bakes a fancier cake until you reach a three-tier wedding cake, or Alphabet 2048, which swaps numbers for letters from A to K. Both use the same rules as this board.

Stuck around 512?

Most players stall once the board fills with mid-sized tiles. The fix is a plan, not luck: keep your biggest tile in one corner and build a descending row next to it. Our guide on how to win 2048 has practice positions you can try right on the page, and the 2048 AI can suggest a move from any position when you want a second opinion.

Where 2048 came from

Gabriele Cirulli, then a 19-year-old web developer in Italy, released 2048 on March 9, 2014. He described it as conceptually similar to Threes! and drew on 1024 and an earlier game also called 2048. He published the code under the MIT open-source license, which is why so many versions exist today. 2048HQ is an independent version written from scratch and is not affiliated with him. (Source: Wikipedia, the original code on GitHub.)