How to win at 2048

2048, in any of its variations, is a super addictive math game that simply works around the idea of adding matching numbers together to reach that beautiful number: 2048.

While there are a few people who like to simply go up, right, down, left, up, right, down, left...there's actually a bit more skill required if you want to get to the winner's circle.

There's a couple of simple strategies you want to follow.

1. Pick a corner to ''focus'' on. I like the bottom right because that's the way I read, so these instructions will be based on that orientation. If you prefer bottom left, just reverse my directions.

2. Make sure the far right column is always full, meaning there's no empty cells.

3. Stick with the ''direction'' you've chosen. So, because I want to go down to the right, I will use the down and right arrow almost exclusively.

4. I can use the left arrow if I get stuck, but I never use the up arrow, unless it is an absolute emergency.

5. Try to push the larger numbers to the bottom right, so you have numbers increasing from top to bottom on the far right column. If you need to move left to clear a bad tile you can, but try to repair the fourth column as soon as possible. The same goes for the third column.

6. Keep an eye out for tricky situations that you manage to get out of - they will occur regularly in later stages of the game, so remembering clever solutions is a great strategy!

You can download the original version of 2048, by Gabriele Cirulli, on the Play Store.

— modified on May 7, 2014, 2:33:47 PM