2048 Game Online Free (3D) — Rules, Strategy Tips, 3×3 to 8×8 Boards, Daily Challenge

2048 is a single-player number puzzle in which you slide tiles up, down, left, or right on a 4×4 board and merge tiles with the same number to make the 2048 tile. Gabriele Cirulli released it in March 2014. After you make the 2048 tile, you can keep playing until you can no longer move. On this page, you can play in 3D in your browser and choose the board size (from 3×3 to 8×8). There is also the daily challenge, a game set for each date in Japan time in which everyone gets the same sequence of new tiles, and a hint that shows the direction to move next.

Rules and how to play

The board (4×4 with 16 squares by default) starts with 2 numbered tiles. When you choose a direction (up, down, left, or right), every tile on the board slides as far as it can in that direction. When 2 tiles with the same number meet as they slide, they merge into 1 tile with double the number. The goal is to make the 2048 tile by repeating merges: a 2 and a 2 make a 4, then a 4 and a 4 make an 8.^[1][9]

Examples of moving a single row. Tiles with a dark border are the ones made by a merge in that move.

In a single move, each tile can merge only once. When you move the row 2, 2, 4 to the left, the 2 and the 2 merge into a 4, but that 4 does not merge with the 4 next to it in the same move, so the row becomes 4, 4. When you move the row 2, 2, 2, 2 to the left, it also becomes 4, 4, not 8.^[1]

When 3 tiles with the same number are next to each other, the 2 tiles closest to the side you move toward (the wall side) merge. When you move the row 2, 2, 2 to the right, the 2 tiles on the right merge, so the row becomes 2, 4.^[1]

Each time you move the tiles, 1 new tile appears on one of the empty squares. A new tile is a 2 with a 90% chance and a 4 with a 10% chance. If you choose a direction in which no tile can move, nothing happens and no new tile appears.^[1]

An example of moving the tiles on a 4×4 board to the left. Merges happen in all 4 rows, and the score goes up by 48 points, the total of the tiles made by merging (4, 8, 32, and 4). Then 1 new tile (dotted outline) appears on one of the empty squares.

You clear the game when you make the 2048 tile. On this page, you can keep playing after that and make even larger tiles, such as 4096 and 8192.^[1]

When there are no empty squares and no tiles with the same number next to each other (up, down, left, or right), you cannot move in any direction, and the game is over. The rules above were checked against the source code of 2048 released in 2014 and match it.^[1]

How scoring works and typical scores

Your score is the total of the numbers on the tiles made by merging. Merging a 2 and a 2 adds 4 points, and merging a 16 and a 16 adds 32 points. New tiles that appear do not add points.^[1]

If you build the 2048 tile only from 2s, the points from the merges along the way add up to 20,480. Building a tile of 2 to the power of n only from 2s scores (n − 1) × 2 to the power of n points, which gives the following for the main tiles. Each new 4 tile that you use lowers the score by 4 points.

1024 tile: 9,216 points
2048 tile: 20,480 points
4096 tile: 45,056 points
8192 tile: 98,304 points
16384 tile: 212,992 points

It has been calculated that making the 2048 tile takes at least 938.8 moves on average. The sum of the numbers on the board goes up with each move only by the value of the new tile (2 or 4), and it does not change when tiles merge. So you cannot make the 2048 tile in fewer moves than it takes for that sum to reach 2048.^[2]

When the operator had the hint AI on this page play 4×4 games, it first made the 2048 tile after an average of 1,037 moves (minimum 926), with an average score of 21,449 points at that point. These are averages over the 180 games that reached the 2048 tile, and the score includes points from merges that did not go into the 2048 tile.

Strategy tips and how to win

Pick 1 corner for your largest tile. If you pick the bottom left corner, move mainly down and left.
In the row with that corner (the bottom row for the bottom left corner), line up the tiles from largest to smallest, starting from the corner. When that row is full, line up the row above it in the opposite direction (from largest to smallest, right to left), and continue in this back-and-forth pattern.
Keep as many empty squares as you can. With few empty squares, you are more likely to run out of directions to move in after a new tile appears.
Move right only when the bottom row is full and does not move. If the row has an empty square, moving right shifts the largest tile out of the corner to the right.
Move up only when you cannot move down, left, or right. Moving up can lift tiles out of the bottom row and leave an empty square there, where a new 2 or 4 may appear.

An example with the largest tile (1024) in the bottom left corner, the bottom row in descending order from the left, and the row above it in descending order from the right. The arrows trace the tiles from largest to smallest.

However, keeping tiles in a corner is not enough on its own to reach the 2048 tile. The operator played 1,000 games on a 4×4 board with a fixed rule that always moves in the first direction that can move, checking down, left, right, and up in that order (without looking ahead). Only 4.2% of the games reached the 512 tile, and none reached 1024. With a rule that alternates between down and left on every move, 3.2% reached 512. With random moves, no game reached 512.

The hint AI on this page evaluates positions by the number of empty squares, the direction in which the tiles are ordered, and whether the largest tile is in a corner, and it looks ahead to choose a direction. Even with the setting that looks 1–2 moves ahead, it reached the 2048 tile in 48.0% of games (see the next section). Checking the empty squares and the order of the tiles on every move, rather than only lining up tiles toward a corner, greatly raises the share of games that reach it.

Chance of reaching 2048 and AI (operator’s measurements)

The operator played 4×4 games with the engine on this page for each way of choosing moves and counted the share of games that reached each tile (October 2026). Every way of choosing moves was run on the same game numbers, 1 to 1,000, which decide the new tiles. The setting that looks 2–4 moves ahead, the same as the on-screen hint, takes an average of 32 seconds per game, so it was run on the 200 games numbered 1 to 200.

Share of 4×4 games that reached each tile (measured by the operator). The AI rows are the hint AI on this page, and the setting that looks 2–4 moves ahead is the same as the on-screen hint.

With random moves, 6.7% of games reached the 256 tile, and none reached 512. The corner rule reached 256 in 51.8% of games and 512 in 4.2%. With the hint AI, the share of games that reached the 2048 tile was 48.0% with the setting that looks 1–2 moves ahead, 77.7% with 1–3 moves, and 90.0% with 2–4 moves (the same as the on-screen hint), and the shares that reached 4096 were 2.7%, 15.3%, and 25.5%, respectively. The average score was 1,076 points with random moves, 2,562 points with the corner rule, and, for the AI, 22,540, 34,060, and 40,949 points in the same order (1–2, 1–3, and 2–4 moves ahead). No game reached the 8192 tile with any setting.

The hint AI chooses a direction with a method called expectimax. For its own move, it picks the one of the 4 directions with the highest evaluation. For the new tile, it takes the average of the evaluations, assuming that a 2 (90%) or a 4 (10%) appears on one of the empty squares. The evaluation uses the number of empty squares, whether the tiles in each row and column increase in one direction, the differences between the numbers on neighboring tiles, and whether the largest tile is in a corner. How far ahead it looks depends on the number of empty squares: the fewer the empty squares, the further ahead it looks. The hint is calculated without using the next tile decided by the game number.

AIs that look further ahead reach even larger tiles. An expectimax AI released in 2014 (by nneonneo) reached 8192 in all 100 games, 16384 in 94 games, and 32768 in 36 games. In 2025, an AI was reported that reaches 16384 in 99.9% of games, 32768 in 86.1%, and 65536 in 8.4%.^[6][8]

How high the chance of reaching 2048 can go has also been studied. In 2023, it was proved that there is a strategy that reaches the 2048 tile with a probability of at least 99.969%. This is a lower bound (it reaches the tile with at least this probability), not the probability of the best strategy itself. The same study also showed that there is a strategy that always makes the 256 tile.^[4]

Board sizes (3×3 to 8×8) and difficulty

On this page, you can choose a board size of 3×3, 4×4, 5×5, 6×6, or 8×8. The default is 4×4. The larger the board, the more empty squares remain, so you are less likely to run out of moves and the game is easier.

On a 3×3 board, you cannot make the 2048 tile, and the largest tile possible is 1024. On this page, you clear a 3×3 game when you make the 512 tile. Even with the best possible play, the chance of reaching 512 on 3×3 has been calculated at about 74%, and the chance of reaching 1024 at about 1%.^[3]

When the operator played 1,000 games on a 3×3 board on this page with each way of choosing moves, no game with random moves reached the 128 tile, and with the corner rule, just 0.6% reached 128. The AI with the same setting as the on-screen hint reached 256 in 48.4% of games and 512 in 1.5%. This is far below the roughly 74% chance of reaching 512 with the best play, so on 3×3, the direction given by the hint is not always the best move.

The larger the board, the easier it is to reach 2048. With random moves, no game reached the 2048 tile on 4×4, 0.7% did on 5×5, and 97.4% did on 6×6. On 8×8, even with random moves, none of the 1,000 games ended before 100,000 moves (the move limit on this page), and all of them reached the 131,072 tile. The AI with the same setting as the on-screen hint (it looks 1 move less far ahead on 5×5 and 6×6, and only 1 move ahead on 8×8) reached the 8192 tile in 98.1% of games on 5×5, 100% on 6×6, and 100% on 8×8 (the games were stopped once the 8192 tile was made).

For the 4×3 board, which has 1 row fewer than 4×4, the best move has been calculated for every position (2025). When the 2 starting tiles are both 2s, the average score with the best play is about 50,724 points. The largest tile possible on 4×4 is 131,072, and the more squares the board has, the larger the tiles you can make.^[5][8]

The daily challenge and your records

The daily challenge is a game set for each date in Japan time, and everyone who plays that day starts with the same sequence of new tiles. The board is 4×4, and you cannot use “Undo move” or hints. If you move in the same directions in the same order, the same tiles appear in the same places, no matter who plays.

When you finish the daily challenge, the page shows how many people played it that day, what top percentage your score puts you in, and the share of players who reached the 2048 tile.

In random games and in games opened from a link someone sent you, you can use “Undo move” and hints as many times as you like. Each new tile is decided by the game number and by how many tiles have appeared so far, so if you undo a move and move in the same direction again, the same tile appears in the same place.

For each board size, the browser on this device keeps a record of the games played, your best score, your largest tile, and how many times you reached the 2048 tile (512 on 3×3). A game in progress is saved too, so when you reopen the page, you can pick up where you left off. Send the link in the result card, and the person who opens it can play on the same board size with the same sequence of new tiles.

Controls on this page

In the menu, choose “Daily challenge” or “Random game” and a board size, then press “Start”. The daily challenge is played only on a 4×4 board.

To move the tiles, swipe on the board (on desktop, drag with the mouse), or press the arrow keys or the W, A, S, and D keys on the keyboard. The arrow keys move the tiles only while at least half of the board is visible on the screen. While you are reading the text, you can scroll the page with the arrow keys.

You can also move the tiles with the up, down, left, and right buttons in the “Button controls” panel to the right of the 3D view (below it on narrow screens). With these buttons, you can play even on devices that cannot show the 3D view, or with only a keyboard. This panel also shows your score, your largest tile, the number of moves, and the time elapsed.

“Undo move” can take back as many moves as you like (except in the daily challenge). Press “Hint” to show the direction chosen by the hint AI as text below “Hint” and highlight the button for that direction. Even when you can still move, you can end the game by pressing “End here”.

Origin and history of 2048

Gabriele Cirulli of Italy made 2048 over a weekend when he was 19 and released it on March 9, 2014. In less than a week after its release, more than 4 million people played it.^[1][8][9]

Cirulli has said that he based it on the iPhone game “1024!” and on a game based on that one, “2048” by Saming. Both of these games trace back to Threes!, which was released for iOS on February 6, 2014. Threes! is a puzzle in which you combine a 1 and a 2 to make a 3, and after that combine tiles with the same number.^[1][7]

The source code of 2048 was released under the MIT License, so many variants with different board sizes or looks were made. Apps for iOS and Android also came out in May 2014.^[1][8]

The version of 2048 on this page was made anew by the operator with the same rules, and it does not use the published source code.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

Is 2048 free to play?

Yes, it’s free. You don’t need to sign up or install an app. You can play in the 3D view in your browser with the board size of your choice, or play the daily challenge.

What are some strategy tips for 2048?

Pick 1 corner for your largest tile, line up the tiles in the row with that corner from largest to smallest, and keep as many empty squares as you can. Move away from the corner (up, for the bottom left corner) only when you have no other move. In the operator’s measurements, just moving in a fixed order that keeps tiles in a corner reached 512 in 4.2% of games, while the hint AI on this page, which chooses by checking the empty squares and the order of the tiles, reached 2048 in 90.0% of games.

What’s the score for making the 2048 tile?

If you build the 2048 tile only from 2s, it’s 20,480 points. Your score is the total of the numbers on the tiles made by merging, and each new 4 tile you use makes it 4 points lower. In the operator’s measurements, the average score at the point when the 2048 tile was first made was 21,449 points (including points from merges that didn’t go into the 2048 tile).

Can I keep playing after making the 2048 tile?

Yes. You can keep making larger tiles, such as 4096 and 8192, until you can’t move anymore. The largest tile possible on a 4×4 board is 131,072.

Can 2048 always be won?

No, not always. Depending on how the new tiles appear, some games can’t reach the 2048 tile. However, it was proved in 2023 that there is a strategy that reaches the 2048 tile with a probability of at least 99.969%. Making the 2048 tile takes at least 938.8 moves on average.

Does the board size change the difficulty?

Yes. The larger the board, the more empty squares remain, so the game gets easier. In the operator’s measurements, even random moves reached the 2048 tile in 97.4% of games on 6×6. On 3×3, you can’t make the 2048 tile (the largest is 1024), and on this page you clear the game by making the 512 tile. Even with the best play, the chance of reaching 512 on 3×3 is about 74%.

Where are my records saved?

Your records (games played, best score, and largest tile) and any game in progress are saved only in the browser on this device. Your result for the daily challenge is sent to this site’s server to show how many people played it and the spread of scores, but the moves themselves are not recorded. If you turn off “Send game statistics” at the bottom of the page, your result for the daily challenge is not sent either (see the privacy policy for details).

Sending game statistics

Information such as the start and end of each game, whether connections in games with a friend succeeded, and 3D display failures is sent to this site’s servers. It is used to find out which games are played to the end and on which devices display or connection fails, so that bugs can be fixed and the games improved. To stop sending it, turn off the switch below.

What is sent

Game type, mode (vs computer, pass and play on one device, solo, or with a friend), computer level, game settings (the rules for Gomoku and Checkers, the number of players for Ludo, Chinese Checkers, Daifugo, Sevens, Concentration, Old Maid, Bozu Mekuri and Hyakunin Isshu Karuta, the number of rounds for Daifugo, Sevens and Old Maid, the tokens per player and shorter game rules for Ludo, the draw count and the way the deal is chosen for Klondike Solitaire, the way the deal is chosen for FreeCell, the number of suits and the way the deal is chosen for Spider Solitaire, the board size and the way the game is chosen for 2048, the number of months, the Flower Viewing and Moon Viewing setting, and doubling at 7 points for Hanafuda (Koi-Koi), and the ball speed, whether Relaxed is on, and whether a numbered stage or the daily stage was played for Brick Breaker, and the face, blindfold level, number of players, and whether the game was opened from a shared URL for Fukuwarai), result, number of moves, game length range, the screen where a room for a game with a friend was created (the menu, the game result, or “Invite again with a new link”), whether connecting, watching, and taking a seat in games with a friend succeeded and the number of reconnections, 3D display failures and rendering speed range, the time range from opening the page until the 3D display starts (if you leave the page or switch to another tab or app before it starts, that fact and the time range until then), the connection speed range at that time (as estimated by the browser), how much of the page’s program files was loaded from the browser’s cache saved on an earlier visit (all, some, or none), the types of loading failures, device type (whether it is a phone, and memory and CPU core ranges), browser and OS type, and an identifier that is created anew each time you open a page (it is not stored).

What is never sent

Room IDs, seat tokens, moves and board positions (when you clear the daily challenge in Klondike Solitaire, FreeCell, or Spider Solitaire, or finish the daily challenge in 2048, the moves and time are sent to check the result, but they are not recorded after the check), Hit and Blow numbers, GPU model names, and page URLs. IP addresses are only used in memory to limit the number of transmissions, and are not recorded. Data is sent only to this site’s servers and is not given to outside companies. Records are deleted after 30 days (the counts for the daily challenge in Klondike Solitaire, FreeCell, and Spider Solitaire and for the daily challenge in 2048 after 60 days).

How the records are handled, and what ads and analytics send to outside companies, is described in the privacy policy.

2048