Free-to-play time-stealing game '2048' gets major update to celebrate its 10th anniversary

'2048' was released as free open source software in 2014 by Italian Gabriele Cirulli, who was 19 years old at the time, and became a hot topic for its highly addictive nature. In October 2024, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the release, a major update in which creator Cirulli quit his job and brushed up '2048' full time was released on Prime Gaming, which Amazon Prime members can play at no additional cost.

2048 by Gabriele Cirulli • Play the Free Online Game

2048 is available in three versions: the Standard version, which has some functions such as UNDO, the Classic version, which is simple and has no functions, and the Plus version, which was released for Prime Gaming. The Standard and Classic versions are free to play for anyone. The Plus version is a special version that includes the functions available in the Standard version as well as the three new features 'TELEPORT', 'ROTATE' and 'BOMB'.

I'll actually play around with each one to see what kind of features they have. Since I had the chance, I clicked on the Plus version.

Click the button in the red frame.

Sign in to Amazon Prime.

Once you sign in, you will automatically be taken to the following screen. Let’s start playing right away.

The operation is simple; just press the up, down, left and right arrow keys. First, try pressing the '←' key.

Then, the two '2' tiles in the center move to the left edge. A new '2' tile is also added below them. In this state, you decide to press the '↓' key again.

Then, the '2' tiles stuck together to become '4'.

The goal of this game is to increase the number by the same process: 4 → 8 → 16 → 32... and finally to 2048.

As you create larger tiles, more functions will be unlocked. For example, try using 'UNDO.'

Then I was able to go back one step.

In addition, there is 'TELEPORT A TILE' which allows you to teleport tiles.

'SWAP TWO TILES' allows you to swap the positions of tiles

'ROTATE THE OUTER RING' allows you to rotate the outer tiles left or right

There are features such as 'BOMB' that can be used when you create 512 tiles. UNDO and other features are available in the standard version, but the Plus version released on Prime Gaming this time has newly unlocked features such as TELEPORT, ROTATE, and BOMB.

'2048 is now my full-time focus, and I'm excited to continue improving the game,' Cirulli wrote on Hacker News, the social news site that was the epicenter of the 2048 hit . 'I wanted to share this update with the community where it all began, for a bit of nostalgia, and to hear your thoughts and feedback.'

Hacker News users also welcomed Chiruli with witty comments such as, ' We should celebrate the 8th or 16th anniversary instead of the 10th ,' and ' 8+16 years from 2024 will be the memorable year 2048. '

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