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2014 · Gabriele Cirulli · Indie · Puzzle

2048

Nintendo console exclusive

Created by Italian web developer Gabriele Cirulli, 2048 is a single-player sliding tile puzzle video game that challenges players to combine numbered tiles on a 4x4 grid to create a tile with the number 2048. Originally written in JavaScript and CSS over a weekend, it was released in March 2014 as free and open-source software.

Released: 9 March 2014
Platforms: Android Apple TV Browser KaiOS Linux Nintendo 3DS Ouya Windows iOS
Genres: Indie Puzzle Strategy
Developers: Gabriele Cirulli
Publishers: —
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Text
Country: Italy
Age ratings: PEGI 3 ESRB E
Languages: English
Time to beat: 1hmain story6hcompletionist

About

2048 is a single-player sliding tile puzzle video game written by Italian web developer Gabriele Cirulli and published on GitHub. The objective of the game 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. It was originally written in JavaScript and CSS over a weekend, and released on 9 March 2014 as free and open-source software subject to the MIT License. Versions for iOS and Android followed in May 2014.

2048 was intended to be an improved version of two other games, both of which were clones of the iOS game Threes released a month earlier. Cirulli himself described 2048 as being "conceptually similar" to Threes. The release of 2048 resulted in the rapid appearance of many similar games, akin to the flood of Flappy Bird variations from 2013. The game received generally positive reviews from critics, with it being described as "viral" and "addictive".

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

2048 is played on a plain 4×4 grid, with numbered tiles that slide when a player moves them using the four arrow keys. The game begins with two tiles already in the grid, having a value of either 2 or 4, and another such tile appears in a random empty space after each turn. Tiles with a value of 2 appear 90% of the time, and tiles with a value of 4 appear 10% of the time. 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. The resulting tile cannot merge with another tile again in the same move. Higher-scoring tiles emit a soft glow; the largest possible tile is 131,072.

Development

Nineteen-year-old Gabriele Cirulli created the game in a single weekend as a test to see if he could program a game from scratch. "It was a way to pass the time", he said. He described it as being "conceptually similar" to the recently released iOS game Threes, and a clone of another game, 1024. Developed by Veewo Studio, 1024 is itself a clone of Threes, with its App Store description once reading "no need to pay for Threes". Cirulli's README for 2048 cites another 1024 clone as influence: the homonymous but slightly different in terms of mechanics 2048 by Saming.

Cirulli was surprised when his weekend project received over 4 million visitors in less than a week. The game is free to play, Cirulli having said that he was unwilling to make money "from a concept that [he] didn't invent". He released ports for iOS and Android in May 2014.

Reception

The game has been described by The Wall Street Journal as "almost like Candy Crush for math geeks", and Business Insider called it "Threes on steroids". Caitlin Dewey of The Washington Post called it "a nerdy, minimalist, frustrating game", while The Independent called it "addictive". The phenomenon of 2048 has been compared to that of Flappy Bird by several commentators. Both games' success, and their simplicity, led to the rapid creation of many variants, and both games have been described as "viral" and "very addictive".

James Vincent of The Independent labeled 2048 as "a clone of a clone". In April 2014, Pocket Gamer reported that 15 new clones of Threes were released daily in the App Store.