Play 2048 online with undo and three board sizes
This 2048 game is the sliding-tile puzzle made famous in 2014: slide every tile on the board in one direction, and tiles with the same number merge into one tile of double the value. Start from 2s and 4s, work up through 8, 16, 32 and so on, and the goal is a tile reading 2048. Here you can play it with the arrow keys, W A S D or swipes, on the classic 4 × 4 board or on roomier 5 × 5 and 6 × 6 grids.
Two small comforts are built in. Undo move takes back exactly one move — enough to recover from a slip of the finger, not enough to remove the challenge — and when you reach 2048 you can keep playing towards 4096, 8192 and beyond. Your score and your best score for each board size are kept on your device.
The game is a single page that runs in your browser; nothing is downloaded or sent anywhere while you play.
How to use the 2048 Game
- Choose a board: 4 × 4 is the original and the hardest; 5 × 5 and 6 × 6 give you more room and much higher scores.
- Slide the tiles with the arrow keys or W A S D on a keyboard, or swipe anywhere on the board on a phone or tablet. Every tile moves as far as it can in that direction.
- When two tiles with the same number touch while sliding, they merge and their value is added to your score. A new 2 (or occasionally a 4) appears after every successful move.
- Made a mistake? Press Undo move straight away — it works once per move. Plan ahead so you do not need it.
- Reach 2048 and choose Keep going to continue, or New game for a fresh board. The game ends when the board is full and no merge is possible.
2048 Game features
Keyboard, WASD and swipe
Arrow keys and W A S D work the moment the page loads; on touch screens a swipe of about a centimetre in any direction slides the board.
One-move undo
Each move stores the board before it. Undo restores that board and score, then stays disabled until you make another move, so it cannot be used to brute-force a win.
Three board sizes
4 × 4, 5 × 5 and 6 × 6 share the same rules; best scores are recorded separately for each size.
Win and continue
Reaching 2048 shows a win message with a Keep going option; tiles beyond 2048 get their own dark style so the board stays readable.
Original tile colours
The warm palette from 2 up to 2048 follows the familiar scheme, and the font scales down on larger values and larger grids so numbers never spill out of their tiles.
Accessible board
Every tile has a text label, score changes are announced to screen readers, and animations are switched off when your system prefers reduced motion.
Rules in detail
- A move slides all tiles as far as possible in the chosen direction. If nothing can move, the move does not count, no tile is added and undo is not consumed.
- Tiles merge only with an equal neighbour in the direction of travel, and each tile merges at most once per move: a row of 2 · 2 · 4 slid left becomes 4 · 4, not 8.
- Merges resolve from the leading edge: 2 · 2 · 2 slid left becomes 4 · 2 (the two tiles nearest the edge merge first).
- After every successful move a new tile appears in a random empty cell — a 2 with 90% probability, a 4 with 10%.
- Your score is the sum of all merged tile values. Making a 2048 tile from two 1024s adds 2048 points on its own.
- The game is over when the board is full and no two adjacent tiles are equal.
Strategy that actually works
Random swiping stalls at around 256. The approach used by strong players is simple to state: pick one corner, keep your largest tile there, and build a chain of decreasing values along one edge. In practice that means using only three directions for most of the game (for a bottom-left corner: left, down and right) and reserving the fourth for emergencies. Never make a move that lifts the big tile out of its corner unless you have no choice, and try to keep the bottom row full so an “up” move will not slide it.
- Merge counts are approximate: a 2048 tile contains 1,024 twos, so it needs about 1,023 merges if every new tile is a 2, fewer when 4s appear.
| Tile reached | Minimum merges needed | Rough skill level |
|---|---|---|
| 256 | ~110 | Beginner |
| 512 | ~230 | Casual |
| 1024 | ~470 | Regular player |
| 2048 | ~950 | Win |
| 4096 | ~1,900 | Strong |
Why the larger boards feel easier
On a 4 × 4 board there are only 16 cells, so you are nearly always one bad move from a jam. A 5 × 5 board has 25 cells and a 6 × 6 has 36, which gives far more room to park awkward tiles — 2048 becomes routine and 8192 or 16384 is a realistic target. If you want to understand the numbers themselves, the exponent calculator shows how tile values double as powers of two, and the minesweeper and memory card game pages offer two other quick puzzles.
2048 Game FAQ
Is this 2048 game free?
Yes. It is free to play in the browser with no download, sign-up or in-game purchases.
How do I play 2048 on a phone?
Swipe up, down, left or right anywhere on the board. A swipe needs to travel at least about 24 pixels to count, so a tap does nothing.
Can I undo more than one move?
No. Undo restores the board to just before your last move, once. After undoing you need to make a new move before undo is available again.
What happens after I reach 2048?
A win message appears. Choose Keep going to continue on the same board; tiles of 4096 and higher appear in a dark colour. Your score keeps counting.
What is a good score in 2048?
On the standard 4 × 4 board, reaching the 2048 tile usually means a score of roughly 20,000 points. Around 2,000–4,000 points is typical for a first few games.
Does the game save my progress?
Only your best score per board size is saved, in your browser’s local storage. The current board is not saved, so a new game starts when you reload the page.