2048: Top Tips And Hints On How To Get A Higher Score (And Beat Your Friends)
Beating 2048 might be far easier than it seems. Here are some tips to make sure you get the highest 2048 score possible.
By Sadho Ram — 14 Jun 2014, 06:07 PM — Updated over 10 years ago
Over the past month or so, 2048 has conquered the mobile Web. The game involves combining same-numbered tiles laid out on a 4x4 grid until you create a single tile with the score of 2048.
The game is based on an open source software where developers can make creative additions, variants and better interface. The game had crossed 4 million visitors within a week, said Hacker News. The game has been compared to Flappy Bird and is even compared with Candy Crush for its addictiveness.
The game is played on a 4×4 board with tiles of different colors which can slide when moved by the player. The player uses arrows keys to control the tile to move it inside the board. If two tiles collide, then they will merge and form a new tile with their existing values added up. If a tile has a higher score, then it will have a faint glow on it. A new tile will enter the game with values of 2 or 4 only.
2048, in its purest form, is very simple. You have a gird or cards, and you can slide your cards in all four directions, as a group
If a card meets another of its type it merges and doubles - so two '4's become '8', and so on. You keep going to get the highest card number, and as such score, as you can. Easy. Well... No. That's the problem. 2048 is easy to learn, but difficult to master, but fortunately is incredibly relaxing and entertaining to play either way.
Still, if you want to get better, here are some tips to make sure you get the highest 2048 score possible
1. Take it slow and understand how the board moves
2048 is so easy to play, you might get into the habit of tearing through games without even really paying attention to what you're doing. That's a bad idea. You want to go slow - there's no penalty for thinking your moves through after all. Think about where the blocks are going to come in and how you'll deploy it.
In 2048 you only have 4 main gestures and they are up, down, left, and right. Every time you swipe, every tile on the board moves in that position as far as it possibly can. If multiple cards can combine at once, they will do so. Keep this in mind and understand how moves work before swiping a tile that may or may not end up where you thought it would.
2. Set up lines and do not chase large tiles
So '2048' is a game about chains, and so the more pairs you have in a line the better. Try to set up whole lines of matches so that you can wait to deploy them - and build up big combos. It won't affect your score - but it will affect how much space you have and how you're able to combine to really big cards.
Sometimes it's really hard to resist temptation and chase larger numbered tiles across the board in order to combine them. This almost always puts you in a worse position than a better one. Instead, focus on combining smaller tiles and worry less about a specific set of tiles. They'll almost always meet up at some point, or you end up making a tile that ends up right next to it.
3. Work your way towards the corners
Staying in the corners assures you have more of the main game board to bring in new tiles. I've found that keeping tiles grouped into the corners works the best. Bring new tiles into the middle area when you can and then you can swipe them to the corners in order to combine. Sometimes I start off in the upper left hand corner but see an opportunity to make larger combos by moving the entire board to the bottom left or diagonal. Working in the corners makes a shift in strategy a lot easier.
4. Plan ahead while stacking up columns to move your big pieces into position
Look at everything you have on the board and what bringing a 2 or 4 card in will do to change it. Perhaps you see a match right now but bringing a 2 down on the other side would create multiple matches in one move. That's what you want to do.
Eventually you'll end up with 64s or 128s in opposite corners - and there's nothing more frustrating. So try to set up columns above those numbers that can rapidly combine, so you can move them back together.
5. Slow down and think
Sometimes it's hard to tell what the absolute best move is, and if we don't make it, that's okay too. 2048 gives you lots of opportunities to recover from a bad move as long as you have empty spaces on the board to work with. If you really aren't sure what the best move is, re-evaluate where cards are on the board and whether or not you need to change their position before worrying about new cards.
6. Always make moves where multiple tiles merge first
If you come across an instance where you can merge multiple stacks of cards at once, take it. The more spaces you keep open on the board, the better flexibility you have when bringing in new cards and getting them where you want. With single moves you're basically replacing a card you stacked with a new one. When multiple cards can be combined, you're only bringing one new card onto the board but you're getting rid of more than one. And that's always a good thing.
NOTE: Clear the playing field at the right time
Of all the six tips and tricks (cheats) gamers must know when to start clearing the playing arena. No matter how mindful you are of the moves and incoming tiles, you may reach a point when you will feel all blocked. This is the time you must start clearing up the arena if you wish to gain high score or get '2048' tile, whatever your goal is.