2048 variants, official versions and the games it came from
Updated October 22, 2026 · 4 min read
2048 was open source from its first day, and Wikipedia lists spinoffs themed on Doge, Doctor Who, Flappy Bird and Tetris, along with a 3D version and boards of other sizes; Cirulli welcomed them as long as they added something creative. This page sorts the family into the official versions, the games that came before, the different boards and the merge games that took the idea further, each with its price as of October 22, 2026.
The official versions
- Standard at play2048.co: free, and billed as 2048 with powerups, meaning a limited number of undos and a Swap Two Tiles powerup.
- Classic at play2048.co/classic: free, the original rules with no undo.
- 2048 Plus at play2048.co/plus: a free edition made with Amazon Prime Gaming, with a dark board and extra powerups. The site says it is going away in December.
- The 2014 original, still online at classic.play2048.co, free.
- The official apps from Solebon LLC (2048original.com) for iOS, Android and Kindle Fire: Classic play, Time trial and Tile Play, which starts you from higher tiles you have unlocked, plus undo and statistics. Free with ads; removing the ads is $9.99 on iOS.
- 2048 Hack Play, a free sister app from Solebon on iOS that starts the board at higher tiles, as its line 2+2 = 512 suggests.
Where 2048 came from
Threes! reached the iPhone on 6 February 2014. Veewo Studio's 1024! followed on 27 February, and a developer called Saming made a version named 2048, which Cirulli's game was built on; his 2048 came out on 9 March. Cirulli's notes describe his game as a clone of 1024, only indirectly inspired by Threes!. 1024! is still in the App Store but has not been updated since April 2014, and Saming's page is gone, so the ancestor worth playing today is Threes!.
Still on sale, last updated on iOS in June 2025: $5.99 on iOS and Steam, a free Freeplay app with ads, Threes!+ in Apple Arcade and a free web version. Cards move one step per swipe, which makes it the harder game of the two.
Not part of 2048's family tree, but Spry Fox's 2010 town builder was merging matching pieces into a higher tier on a filling board years before 2048. It is $9.99 on Steam and free with a move counter on phones.
Different boards and AI versions
We also looked for a lasting 3D or larger-board 2048 to recommend and found none that is official or clearly maintained. Baiqiang's Hexagonal 2048 from March 2014 is still online, but its page loads its main script over plain http, so browsers block it when the page is opened over https.
- Hex 2048
A 2017 fan version that keeps the rules but uses a hexagonal board, so tiles move in six directions, mapped to Q, W, E, A, S and D. The corner trick works differently with six edges to think about. Its author marks it as no longer maintained, and we could not confirm how well it works on a phone.
- 2048 AI
Not a new board but a handy companion: the original game with a computer player that suggests a move or plays a whole game, built on Cirulli's open-source code in March 2014.
Merge games that took the idea further
Draw lines through matching numbers, diagonals included, instead of sliding. Free with ads, with an Ad Free purchase of $9.99 on iOS.
Fire doubling number blocks into columns and let the merges chain. Free with ads, and $9.99 removes them for good on iOS.
- Drop The Number
A South Korean take on the same drop-and-double idea as X2 Blocks, on iOS since April 2019: tap a column to drop the next number, which the game shows in advance, and equal neighbours merge.
- Merge Hexa
Hexagonal tiles again, but dragged and dropped onto the board instead of slid, from the studio behind 2248 and X2 Blocks.
Fruit instead of numbers, with physics deciding where each piece settles. $2.99 on Switch and iOS, with no free official version.
Dice faces climb instead of powers of two, and combos matter more than one big tile. Free with ads, or $7.99 on iOS to remove them.
- Merge 2048Ours
Our own version keeps 2048's rules and adds a gold ×2 tile every 40 moves and a bonus for each new milestone tile. Free in the browser.
Novelty versions and copies
Wikipedia describes Ketchapp's 2048 app from 2014 as an unofficial copy funded by ads; it reuses the name, so we do not link to it. Of the joke versions, one is still easy to open.
- Flappy 2048
A mash-up that credits both 2048 by Gabriele Cirulli and Flappy Bird by Dong Nguyen. Good for a laugh, but it is not a planning game.
Questions people ask
Is there an official 2048 with a bigger board?
Not that we found. The official modes on play2048.co are Standard, Classic and, until December, 2048 Plus, and the Solebon apps add Time trial and Tile Play; none of them is described as a bigger board. Spinoffs with other grid sizes and a 3D version exist, but none we found is official or clearly maintained.
What is the difference between 2048 and Threes!?
In Threes! a swipe moves cards one space, 1s and 2s combine into 3s, you can see the next card coming and scoring rewards rare high cards. In 2048 tiles slide all the way, any equal pair merges and the target is a single 2048 tile. Threes! came first and is the harder of the two.
More from Games Like 2048
- 14 games like 2048 for players who think in powers of two
Games like 2048: Threes!, 2248, Suika Game, Triple Town and calm block and number puzzles, with the price, the devices and how long a game lasts. - 2048 tips: the rules that matter and the corner strategy
How 2048 really works, from the 90% chance of a 2 to one merge per tile per move, plus the corner and chain strategy and the biggest tile the board can hold.