How to play Slide & Merge: reaching 2048

Slide & Merge, the 2048 puzzle, feels random at first. It isn’t. One simple strategy, keeping your biggest tile in a corner, takes most players from stuck at 512 to 2048.

The rules

The board is 4×4. Each move slides every tile as far as it can go in one direction. When two tiles with the same number collide, they merge into one tile with their total: two 2s make 4, two 4s make 8, and so on. After every move a new 2 (or sometimes a 4) appears in an empty square. Make a 2048 tile to win. The game ends when the board is full and nothing can merge.

Strategy 1: pick a corner

Choose one corner, usually bottom-left or bottom-right, and keep your biggest tile there all game. A big tile in the middle of the board blocks everything around it.

Strategy 2: use two directions, sometimes three

If your corner is bottom-left, most of your moves should be down and left. Use right when you have to. Avoid up: it pulls your big tile out of the corner and lets a new 2 drop in behind it.

Strategy 3: keep the bottom row full

With a full bottom row, sliding left or right can’t move your corner tile. That’s what keeps it safe, so try never to leave a gap in that row.

Strategy 4: build a chain

Order the bottom row from big to small, like 256, 128, 64, 32. Then a 32 arriving at the end merges into 64, which merges into 128, and so on down the line. When the row is done, continue the chain back along the row above, so it snakes up the board.

Strategy 5: think before merging

Not every merge is a good one. A merge that leaves a small tile stuck in your bottom row can wreck your chain. When in doubt, choose the move that keeps the board tidy.

If something goes wrong

Sometimes you’re forced to slide up. When it happens, slide back down straight away to put your corner tile back. And if you slip, Undo takes back your last move.