Math games: 2048 and more | Tangente

A classic: 2048 -----------------------

The number 2,048 is a power of 2—more precisely, 2¹¹. The first powers of 2, up to 2,048, provide the basis for a game released in 2014 by independent developer Gabriele Cirulli. On a 4 × 4 square grid, players slide randomly appearing "tiles" with a value of 2 or 4. When two tiles of equal value are side by side and one is slid onto the other, they merge into a single tile whose value is doubled. And there you have the powers of 2… The goal? To merge enough tiles to reach the fateful value of 2,048.

The principle of the game is particularly simple—so simple that, in theory, you need not know how to read or even count to play. In practice, the steady arrival of new tiles on the grid makes the game difficult to win.