Those playing this game for the first time may fint it's so easy to keep hitting random buttons (on the laptop) or swiping in any direction (on a smartphone) just to get to the bigger tiles. The answer here is: don't.

The "2048" game is actually one of strategy rather than luck or even speed. Players want to keep their tiles in the right place from start to end if thye want to survive and win the "2048" tile.

(Credit: YouTube/Shubham Gupta)

Choose a Corner and a Direction

The most common strategy is to put the largest number at the very corner and keep matching numbers going towards that corner, as CityAM depicts it. But this can only be possible if players move vertically in just one direction. This means if they've chosen to put their tile on the bottom corner, never press the up button anytime during the game, as this will ruin the strategy.

Also, once players have already put their largest tile in the corner, try to lock it there by filling that row with four blocks all the time. This way, even though they move left or right, their biggest number will stay in one corner for easy matching.

How the Magic Row Should be Like

When players are building the "magic row", the one containing a player's largest tile and the one that's locked (as much as possible) with four tiles, they should try to ensure each tile increases as they go from left to right (or vice versa, depending on what direction they've chosen to work with). This makes it easier to build small matches and combine them with existing big tiles leading to their corner magic tile.

Players can think of the bottom row as having 16, 32, 64 and 128. Once they've hit another 16 on the second row and right on top of their 16 on the magic row, it's all a matter of moving towards their magic tile at the corner to get to 256. Then they can start the strategy of building bigger tiles towards their magic tile again, while keeping the opposite tile on the same row as the lowest number.

Be Aware of the Next Digit

Strategy aside, "2048" still depends on luck at some point, particularly when players have already filled more than half of their grid with blocks. Most of the time, the tile 2 will appear in the next move, but players should always assume that it can be a 4, as pointed out by Gotta Be Mobile. This can easily turn an easy 4-4 match to Game Over if players fail to consider that option.

What to Do After '2048'

Even though the game's title is "2048," it doesn't end when players reach the coveted tile. Some games allow for players to continue playing—and it's even more fun to try and discover what photos are used for "4096" with the themed variants.

For players who finally get the "2048" tile, don't throw the game by trying to rush through matching up the tiles. Players have to remember they've gone back to square one, so they have to treat their "2048" tile as though it's tile 2 all over again.

Players should also not change the pattern they've stuck with for the entire game (it'll be harder to go keep going upwards if they've done downwards the entire first game) so its best to just keep the beat as it is.

5 Cool Variants

For those who are getting tired of the "2048" template that's most popularly played today—and for those who play on the laptop—here are some really fun and cool variants to try, just to break the monotony of coloured blocks and numbers.

Note this can provide more of a challenge, though also more fun. For one, the numbers are replaced with photos. And not all have numbers on them, so it can be quite the confusing matter to remember which photo is larger than which other photo.

Check out the PlayStation version, which features thumbnails of exclusive PlayStation games. It doesn't have numbers, so players should make sure to remember which is the equivalent of which number.

Another challenging variant is the Justice League edition, which features the heroes from the DC Comics. There are no numbers, but players can think of the heroes' powers as the clue, as they're ordered depending on the power of each hero (in increasing order).

Fans of the Japanese anime "Gintama" can check out this "2048" version, which has a funny surprise at the "2048"—and lets players continue playing for more interesting photos. As a bonus, another popular anime, "Dragon Ball Z," also has its own "2048" version with no numbers.

"Pokemon" won't be left out of the mix. There are a number of variants for this theme alone. Here's one from Allyson Schrader and another one created by The Ricktater.

And finally, a "2048 Game of Thrones edition" is aso available. Players can go with either this one from @tassio, from Andy Ninh or for those playing on an Android smartphone, download this one.

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