Play 2048 online — the original game ▶ Play now — runs right here in your browser
Guide updated November 2026 · Runs via WebAssembly (native port)
2048 is the sliding-tile puzzle Gabriele Cirulli wrote over a weekend in March 2014 and released as open source. This is the original game, running the author's own code — slide the tiles, merge matching numbers and try to build the 2048 tile.
Controls — what does what
| Action | Keyboard | Mouse / touch |
|---|---|---|
| Slide the tiles | Arrow keys (W A S D also work) | Swipe on a touch screen |
| Start a new game | R | New Game button |
FREE This is the complete game, free. Open source under the MIT licence: the complete original game.
2048 is by Gabriele Cirulli, used under the MIT licence. The files are unmodified; see NOTICE.md.
How to play
Use the arrow keys, or swipe on a touch screen. Every move slides all the tiles as far as they will go in that direction. When two tiles with the same number meet, they merge into one tile with their sum. After each move a new 2 or 4 appears in an empty square. You win when you make a 2048 tile, and you can keep going after that; the game ends when the board is full and no move is possible.
Getting past 512
Pick a corner and keep your largest tile there. Fill that tile's row in descending order, and avoid the one direction that would pull the big tile out of its corner unless you have no other move. Most games are lost by a single careless swipe, not by bad luck.
Why it is free
Cirulli published 2048 under the MIT licence, which allows anyone to copy and host it. The files here are his, unmodified, and the game itself makes no requests to any other site. Your best score is stored in your own browser.
Frequently asked questions
Is this the real 2048?
Yes. It is the original game by Gabriele Cirulli, running his open-source code unmodified, not a clone or a rewrite.
Is 2048 unblocked here?
The game is a few small files served from this site, with nothing to install, and the game itself contacts no other site. Whether a particular school or office network allows this site is up to that network.
Does it save my best score?
Yes. Your best score and the game in progress are kept in your browser's local storage.
Can I play on a phone?
Yes. Swipe in the direction you want the tiles to move.
More you can play in your browser
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Want a game like this on your own site?
2048 isn't ours to give away — we host it, we didn't write it. But eleven of the games here we did write from scratch, and those are free for anyone to put on their own page: one line of HTML, no account, no permission, no attribution beyond a credit line.