Don't play this game...

[VJ]

A great, but addictive, game:

http://gabrielecirulli.github.io/2048/

[Fat Tone]

Agreed, don't play this game! Not enough hours in the day!!!

[dZeus]

A great, but addictive, game:
http://gabrielecirulli.github.io/2048/

damn you VJ!

I had to finish it... took quite a few hours unfortunately:

finished.png

[Fat Tone]

My family is hooked. 512 only, so far...

[VJ]

I managed to finish it twice, second time I even had a 2048 and a 1024 tile (I was trying to continue).

Once you have a system that works, it gets a bit boring... I think I have a good strategy, but sometimes I mess up in the execution of it. (I'm not posting it, not to spoil it)

[Fat Tone]

It took me about another week to crack it. I think we can talk about strategy now?

[VJ]

Ok!
I only shift right/up, left when I have no other move, and never down.
My strategy was to keep the top row full, and in increasing order (left to right). So the highest value would be in the top-right corner, and the row does not move when you shift left/right. Try to plan the row that the highest tile does not move left if you have to shift left at one point.

I also try to keep the last column in decreasing order (from top to bottom), but not necessarily full. It is possible to be in a situation where the shift left puts a new tile just in the top-right corner, so then the tactic is to keep increasing that one until it merges the one next to it.

Usually, it works, unless I end up doing something stupid...

[dZeus]

It took me about another week to crack it. I think we can talk about strategy now?

like VJ, I eliminate one arbitrary direction. Then I juggle around the other and try to build a 'snake' of tiles with increasing value that are positioned adjacent to each other. Preferably I try to build the snake 'flat' (e.g. first full row with numbers decreasing in one direction, inverse direction for the row directly next to it). Here's a screenshot of the 'snake' in action:
2048_game.png

Sometimes it's more important to consolidate tiles than to keep the 'snake' perfectly aligned, as the game gets very hard if you don't have enough room to juggle around the tiles.

Another thing to always try and avoid is to have a 'full rectangle' on your screen (e.g. 1, 2 or 3 full rows followed by empty ones). This forces you to move into the 'forbidden' direction and badly break up the aligned tiles. Usually I lose quickly after this happens.