How to play Powers of 2
The board is a 4 × 4 grid of numbered tiles. Each move slides every tile as far as it can go in one direction. Two equal tiles that meet merge into one tile worth their sum: two 2s make a 4, two 4s make an 8, and so on up the powers of 2. Reach the 2048 tile to win.
The rules
- Swipe up, down, left or right, or press an arrow key. Every tile slides that way.
- A tile merges once per move. A row of 2, 2, 2, 2 slid left becomes 4, 4, not 8.
- After each move a new small tile appears on an empty square.
- A move that slides nothing does not count.
- When the board is full and no two touching tiles are equal, no move is left and the game ends.
Grades
After each move the computer compares it with the best move on the board and grades it, the way chess moves are marked:
- !! the only good move here: every other way was a mistake.
- ! the best move, clearly ahead of the next one.
- No mark: about as good as the best.
- ? a mistake: it gave up a tenth or more of what the best move was worth.
- ?? a blunder: it gave up a quarter or more.
A move marked ? or ?? comes with the move that was better and why, read from the two boards. Grades can be switched off in Settings.
The way back
When you run out of moves, the computer replays your game with the same tiles and finds the last position it could still have won from. Play on from there to see where the game turned.
Strategy
- Keep the biggest tile in a corner. Pick one corner and steer every move so the biggest tile never has to leave it.
- Keep a whole edge in order. Along the edge that runs out from that corner, keep the tiles falling in size: 256, 128, 64, 32. Each new merge then slides into the line and climbs it.
- Use two directions most of the time. If your corner is bottom left, most moves are down and left. A move up can drag the corner tile out and leave a gap a small tile fills.
- Keep the edge full. With no gap in the corner's edge, nothing can slide out of place along it.
- Leave pairs waiting. Equal tiles side by side are merges ready for the next move, and empty squares are room to breathe.