Number Merge: Tile Puzzle

On this page

• The merge rules, controls and the three ways to play
• Five tips, each backed by how our test bots played
• Bot results on 365 daily puzzles and 1,000 Classic games each
• How the Daily works and what it records
• Answers on the next tile, Undo, the 300-move limit and a good score

How to play Number Merge

The rules

• Start: two tiles, each a 2 (90% odds) or a 4 (10%).
• Slide: a swipe or arrow key moves all tiles as far as they can go toward that edge.
• Merge: two equal tiles that meet become one tile with double the number. A tile made by a merge cannot merge again in the same move, and pairs form from the edge you slide toward.
• Score: each merge adds the new tile’s number. 2 + 2 adds 4.
• New tile: after a move that changes the board, one new tile appears, again a 2 or a 4. A swipe that moves nothing is ignored: no tile, no move used.
• End: the board locks when it is full and no two neighbors match.

Controls on this screen

• Touch and mouse: swipe or drag on the board. The move happens once you have dragged 14 pixels in a clear direction, before you lift. A shorter flick of at least 8 pixels counts when you let go. A second finger cancels the swipe.
• Keyboard: arrow keys or W A S D. Holding a key repeats at most once every 110 milliseconds. If the keys do nothing, click the board first.
• Undo (Classic only): the Undo button, U, or Ctrl + Z (⌘ + Z on a Mac). It goes back up to 50 moves.
• New game and End run: in Free play, New game starts a fresh run. Under 10 moves nothing is recorded. From 10 moves on it asks first and records your score. The Daily has End run instead. Esc closes the question.

Three ways to play

Sprint shows Moves left where Classic shows Top tile. A locked Classic board shows “No moves left.” with Undo and Finish run.

Tips and strategy

Each tip follows from the rules or from how our test bots played (see Our numbers).

1. Choose a home corner. A bot that only follows an order (Down, then Left, Right, Up) lasted a median 217 moves in Classic. A bot swiping at random lasted 114. Favor two directions, build in the corner they push toward, and use the other two only when you must.
2. Judge the board your swipe leaves. Our Greedy bot scores the board after each swipe: 4 points per empty square, 3 if the biggest tile is in a corner, a small reward for points and a small penalty for neighbors far apart in size. It lasted a median 267 moves.
3. Look one move further. Our Planner bot also weighs every square where the next tile could land, as a 2 or a 4. It lasted a median 671 moves. Before you swipe, ask where the next tile could go.
4. Line up pairs early. Swiping left on 4 4 8 gives 8 8, and the next swipe left makes 16.
5. In a Sprint, stay alive. Moves left counts only swipes that move something, and a locked board ends the run. Planner+ locked on none of 365 daily puzzles. Greedy locked on 221.

Our numbers

These numbers come from scripted bots that play the game’s own rules, not from visitors. No bot sees the next tile. The method is on How we test.

Daily Sprint 300. In our test suite, each bot played the 365 daily puzzles starting 1 November 2026. Random, Corner and Greedy were re-run on 29 October 2026 with the same results.

Locking costs points. Greedy’s best-tenth score (4,552) is about Planner+’s worst-tenth score (4,532).

Classic. In our test suite, four bots played 1,000 Classic games each, with no move limit and no Undo.

Only Planner often got past 512. A top tile of 1,024 or higher ended 535 of its 1,000 games, against 18 for Greedy and none for Corner and Random.

Checks behind the Daily. On 29 October 2026 we ran these:

• 10,000 full games (1,190,495 moves). Replaying each from the start gave the same board and score, and the new tiles landed where the rule says, with 0 mismatches.
• Random and Greedy on the same 365 dates saw the same tile lists, with 0 mismatches. The first 400 tiles of 400 daily dates also matched between Node and Chromium.

Daily puzzle and records

The Daily is a Sprint 300. Anyone with the same date on their device gets the same first board and the same list of new tiles. Each new tile comes with its own order of the 16 squares. It lands on the first empty square in that order. A new Daily starts at midnight on your device’s clock, and #1 was 1 November 2026.

• One recorded run a day: your first finished run counts. End run is final, and that score becomes your score for the day. Open Daily again to see it and Replay as practice, which uses the same tiles and changes no records.
• What is recorded: your score, runs played, best Daily score and streak. The result also lists top tile, moves and best move, the most points from one swipe.
• What is saved: a run you leave continues from the same board on this device. Classic, Classic with Undo (Assisted) and Sprint 300 each keep their own Best, and the Daily has its own.
• What is shared: the text and picture show your score, top tile and the shape of your run. They hold no board and no move list.

What the games’ Dailies have in common is on the Daily page.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Daily really the same for everyone?

Everyone with the same date on their device starts from the same board and tile list. Boards drift apart once you swipe differently, so a new tile can land in another square for you.

Does Undo change the next tile?

No. A tile’s number and order are fixed by the puzzle and by how many tiles have been placed, and Undo restores that count. The same swipe brings back the same tile in the same square; in 10,000 trials of that on 29 October 2026, we found 0 mismatches. A different swipe gets the same number from the same order, though it may land elsewhere. Undo can still show you the next tile, so a run that uses it is marked Assisted and keeps its own Best.

Is there a goal tile or a way to win?

No. The game has no goal tile, no win screen and no time limit. A run ends when the board locks, at move 300 in a Sprint, or when you end it. Top tile is a record, not a target.

Why does a Sprint stop at 300 moves?

A fixed length lets Daily scores compare. We also tried 250, 350 and 400 on the same 365 daily puzzles. Greedy reached the limit on 67.95%, 39.45%, 26.03% and 13.97% of days at 250, 300, 350 and 400. At 250, Planner’s median score was only 1.016 times Greedy’s, so a smarter bot barely scored more. At 300 it was 1.38 times. We kept 300.

What is a good Sprint score?

The game has no leaderboard, so the bots are the yardstick: see the Daily table in Our numbers. Planner+ scored 4,532 or more on 90% of the days, so a score around 4,500 matches strong play on a typical day.

Last updated: November 2, 2026.