I got to square 4096. I finally feel ready to describe how I
win 2048.
If you haven't heard of 2048, you can play for free here. Beware! its highly addictive!
Here is a chart to illustrate how I order the values. You
can choose any corner to put your highest value, but I choose the upper right
corner as an anchor.
fourth highest
|
third highest
|
second highest
|
Highest
|
fifth highest (loading
zone)
|
|||
I don’t bother to label the rest of the values because this
is usually the best you can do. In a perfect world, it would look more like
this
fourth highest
|
third highest
|
second highest
|
Highest
|
fifth highest (loading
zone)
|
6th highest
|
7th highest
|
8th highest
|
12th
|
11th
|
10th
|
9th
|
13th
|
14th
|
15th
|
But it never works quite like how we plan.
If your chart is nicely organized, you can build your
numbers on the bottom half of your chart have everything accumulate at the top
half of the chart. Having a gradient like this makes sure there aren’t pockets
of 2’s or other low numbers that you have to work around and block your
combining efforts.
Here are a few tips to help you achieve a tidy playing chart
with an anchor in the top right hand corner.
- Never push down (unless there is no other
option).
-
Only push up and right unless the top most row
is filled
-
Only push left if the top most row is filled.
But, stuff happens. Here are some bailout tips when things
don’t go as planned
The death knell
occurs when you have to push down
2/3rds of the time you can’t get yourself out of that
situation and get the anchor back into the top right hand corner. If you push down and a 2 or a 4 pops up right
above your anchor, push left to get it away from your anchor then push up to
prevent more values from occupying your top row. Then fill up the board pushing
right and left (this will take quite a few moves) so that the column with the
anchor is filled but the right most
column is not. Push right to get the anchor back in the upper top
right. Sometimes this works, sometimes
it doesn’t.
The same advice applies when you have to push left and the
low value pops up to the right of the anchor.
After a successful run, combining all or most of the top row
into your anchor, your organization system will have to be reaffirmed. Push up right away, even if it puts 2s and
4s into your top row. The most important thing in this time of turmult is to
fill up the top row so you can be free to push left again without disrupting
your anchor. This may put some of your highest values in your second row, but
don’t fret. If you kept it tidy, your non-anchor highest numbers will be still
quite low, and will be combined into the anchor shortly.
That’s it!
Please let me know if this has helped you or if anything was
unclear!
Maria