Slide numbered tiles, merge equal ones and build a 2048 tile. 4 by 4, 5 by 5 or 6 by 6, a daily board, undo and swipe or keyboard play, saved in your browser.
Number Merge is a sliding puzzle: you push every numbered tile as far as it goes in one direction, equal tiles that meet join into one tile with double the value, and the goal is to make a 2,048 tile. The board starts with two tiles. After every move that changes the board, one new tile appears on a random empty square, a 2 nine times in ten and a 4 one time in ten. A move that changes nothing does not count and adds no tile. Your score goes up by the value of each tile a merge makes, so merging two 8s adds 16. Take the row 2, 2, 4, 4 and slide it left: the 2s join into a 4 and the 4s into an 8, giving 4, 8, and the move scores 4 + 8 = 12. A tile made by a merge does not merge again in the same move, so 2, 2, 2 slid left gives 4, 2 and not a single 8. The pair nearest the wall merges first.
Slide with the arrow keys or W, A, S and D, by swiping on the board, or with the four arrow buttons next to or under it. The keys work while the board is on screen, and leave the arrow keys alone when you have scrolled down to read, or when you are typing in a field. Press U or the Undo button to take back your last move; only one step is kept, and playing the same move again after an undo gives the same new tile, so undo cannot be used to re-roll luck. The board is 4 by 4 by default, with 5 by 5 and 6 by 6 as roomier options. All three sizes use the same 2048 target. When you make it, the game stops and shows a line with Keep going, which lets you play on for a higher score, and New game. The game is over when the board is full and no two neighbouring tiles are equal. To reach 2048 you need more than 500 moves, because each move adds only a 2 or a 4 to the total on the board.
New tiles are not drawn from the browser's random source. Each board has a seed, and the n-th new tile comes from the seed and n alone: one number picks which empty square it takes and another decides between a 2 and a 4. That is why the same moves from the same start always give the same game. The Daily board uses a seed made from your device's date, such as 2026-10-15, so everyone with that date starts with the same two tiles and the same random draws. Two players who make the same moves see the same board. Players who make different moves leave different squares empty, so their boards drift apart; the daily board is a shared starting point, not a shared solution. A random board gets its own number each time you press New game. Your game in progress is saved for each board, and the last 12 boards are kept.
Pick a corner for your biggest tile and keep it there: choose two directions, for example left and down, and use the other two only when you must. Keep the tiles in a row from big to small so that a merge can run along the whole row. Merge small tiles early, because a board full of unrelated small numbers is the usual way to lose. Look at what a slide will do before you make it, since a move that opens a gap on the wrong side can scatter your big tile. The 5 by 5 and 6 by 6 boards give more room and are easier to keep tidy, but they take more moves to reach 2048. Nothing here guarantees a board can be won: a few unlucky 4s in awkward places can end a run.
Number Merge is written for this site: the layout, colours, board sizes, seeded daily board and one-step undo are its own. The best score and the played and won counts for each size and for the daily board are saved in this browser. A game is counted when it ends or when you start another one, and a Daily board is counted when you reach the target, so closing the tab does not lose a game in progress. After a game ends, Undo is switched off, so a finished result stays final. There is no timer, no move limit and no sound, and no way to take back more than one move.
Keep your largest tile in a corner and build a chain beside it from big to small, so each merge runs along a row. You need more than 500 moves, since each move adds a 2 or a 4 and the board must total at least 2048. A 4 by 4 board is the hardest; 5 by 5 and 6 by 6 give more room.
The move would not change the board, so it is ignored: no tile appears, the move counter stays and the score stays. Try another direction. If no direction changes the board, the game is over. The keys also do nothing while the board is scrolled off screen or while you are typing in a field.
Undo takes back your last move, including its score and the new tile. Only one step is kept, so a second press does nothing until you move again. Press U or the Undo button. Playing the same move after an undo gives the same new tile, because new tiles come from the board seed.
The start is: everyone with the same date, such as 2026-10-15, begins with the same two tiles and the same random draws for new tiles. If two people make the same moves, their boards stay identical. Different moves leave different empty squares, so the boards drift apart.
The game pauses and shows a line with your move count and score, with Keep going and New game. Keep going lets you play on for a higher score with the same rules. If the board is also full with no moves left at that moment, the line says so and only New game is offered. The Daily board counts your result as soon as you reach the target.
No. The game runs in your browser and nothing is uploaded. Your board in progress, your options, your best score and your played and won counts are saved in this browser's storage and stay on this device. The page counts visits with Google Analytics, never your tiles or scores.