2048: What it actually is?
Humans have, since inception, developed the best AI tools in the planet, that has made life easier for billions of people across the globe. The search for endless AI still goes on. With this exponential increase in AI, it becomes imperative for humans to undervalue the importance of AI at times, and often beat it.This game, 2048, developed by Gabriele Cirulli, a 19 year old UI designer and developer, has been at the heart of attention of a million people on the internet. Based on 1024 by Veewo Studio and conceptually similar to Threes by Asher Vollmer, 2048 has cause internet rage and frantic among users to get to that magical tile.
The aim of the game is to shuffle tiles on a 4x4 grid, combining tiles of equal value until you reach that 2048 tile. Same numbered tiles, get added up and a random tile (2 or 4) gets generated at one of the empty slots.
It's simple, yet addictive.
In this tutorial, I will be explaining the art of getting to the 2048 tile. It's important to note that you should think strategically, more so, think about the next 4-5 moves you are going to play. It seems kind of strange to say that, given that the new tiles appear at random locations, but you can always predict and guess the outcome of your moves.
Play at the corners
This is the thumb rule you would like to keep in mind, for having a very good success rate of getting high numbered tiles.Once you choose a corner, do not give it away, no matter if you think you have any good moves. Do not compromise on the corner. I usually take up the bottom left corner, as it does not strain my eyes so much so!
Once you have chosen your corner, make sure that the tile that sits at the corner is always the highest numbered. Lock that tile (your king) down by surrounding it with your precious little pawns.
A good method to lock your king is by pressing the down key. This way you can make sure that the bottom row is always packed, and your king won't move to give space to a considerably low tile.
Do not waste time thinking of strategic moves during the early stages of the game. Get to the following scenario as fast as you can by pressing the down, left, right keys. DO NOT use the up arrow keys. You don't want your king to be dethroned.
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| Lock your king |
Once you have locked down your king, stay put. Keep pushing your king to higher tiles and you should reach up to 1024 very quickly.
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| Getting to 1024 |
Continue this strategy and you should be able to lock in the 2048 pretty soon enough, but wait...
What if you don't have any left, right or down moves left?
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| Stuck at the bottom? |
Fear not, although scenarios like these will be a little unsettling, it's your best chance to be successful in your current game. Use the UP arrow, unleash the new tile.
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| Spawn a new tile |
As you see, a new 2 spawned at a pretty decent place, offering me a way out by combining other tiles in the normal way.
From this point on, you should look at combining a series of tiles rather than just 1 per 2 or 3 moves. Try to combine 2 -> 4 -> 8-> 16 ->32 in a series, which will clear out many tiles and keep your king safe.
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| 2048 |
Keep looking at creating a series of tiles that you can match one after another, and that should allow you to reach 2048 in most cases.
If you want another AI to beat this AI, try this bot.
Did this tutorial help? Then don't forget to share this post and also post your scores and strategies in the comments below.
When the AI is against humans, humans should unite.
