2048

2048 is a single-player sliding block puzzle game designed by Italian web developer Gabriele Cirulli. The game's objective is to slide numbered tiles on a grid to combine them to create a tile with the number 2048. However, one can continue to play the game after reaching the goal, creating tiles with larger numbers.[2]

2048 was originally written in JavaScript and CSS during a weekend, and released on March 9, 2014, as free and open-source software subject to the MIT license. Clones written in C++ and Vala are available.[3][4] There is also a version for the Linux terminal.[5]

2048 is played on a gray 4×4 grid, with numbered tiles that slide smoothly when a player moves them using the four arrow keys.[9] Every turn, a new tile will randomly appear in an empty spot on the board with a value of either 2 or 4.[2] Tiles slide as far as possible in the chosen direction until they are stopped by either another tile or the edge of the grid. If two tiles of the same number collide while moving, they will merge into a tile with the total value of the two tiles that collided.[16][19] The resulting tile cannot merge with another tile again in the same move. Higher-scoring tiles emit a soft glow.[2]

The simple gameplay mechanics (just four directions) allowed it to be used in a promo video for the Myo gesture control armband,[24] the availability of the code underneath allowed it to be used as a teaching aid for programming,[17] and the second-place winner of a coding contest at Matlab Central Exchange was an AI system that would play 2048 on its own.[25]

2048 has been described as very similar to the Threes! app released a month earlier.[6][7] Cirulli himself described 2048 as a clone of Veewo Studios' app 1024, who has actually said in the description of the app to be a clone of Threes!.