# 1024

1024 uses Classic 2048 rules with a goal one step lower: the cabin tile at 1024. It suits a shorter break, or a first complete win before attempting the full 2048 trail.

## Play

The board sits at the top of this page. Choose Start your trail, then use the arrow keys, a swipe or the direction buttons. If the board does not appear, [open 1024 on the main board](../index.html?mode=quick#play).

## The rules of 1024

- Board: sixteen cells in four rows and four columns.
- New tiles: 2s (90%) and 4s (10%).
- Merges: equal numbers double, once per tile in a move; two 512s make 1024.
- Goal: reach 1024.
- A blocked move does not add a tile or count as a move.

## Read the winning move

```
Before: 512 512 256 .
After:  1024 256 .  .     +1024 points
```

The 256 slides along behind the new 1024. It does not join anything in this move, because only equal neighbours merge.

## Where the number comes from

The original 2048 repository by Gabriele Cirulli describes 2048 as a small clone of 1024, based on an earlier 2048 by Saming, and notes that it was indirectly inspired by Threes. This page is not a copy of either earlier game: it keeps the shorter 1024 goal with the Woodland rules, controls and artwork. The [2048 repository](https://github.com/gabrielecirulli/2048) records those credits.

## Half the trail

A 1024 tile holds half as much as a 2048 tile, so a winning round needs roughly half the merges. The habits you practise here, a steady corner, a tidy edge and spare cells, carry over unchanged to Classic 2048.

## Controls and saved rounds

Choose Start your trail, then use arrow keys, board swipes or the four direction buttons. Trail tip suggests a legal direction without changing the board. End round records an early stop; after an ending, New trail prepares another attempt. Your unfinished round and this mode's best score stay in this browser when storage is available. Changing a theme does not change a tile.

For the complete controls, read [how to play](../how-to-play.html). Compare [all thirteen games](../variants-guide.html), [browse every game](../games.html), or work through the [practice lab](../practice-lab.html).