Sprint 256

Reach a 256 tile within 180 valid moves. Sprint adds a move budget to the familiar board, with a repeatable starting seed and no countdown clock.

Play

The playable board loads above these notes when JavaScript is enabled. Choose Start your trail, then use the arrow keys, a swipe or the direction buttons.

The rules of Sprint 256

• Board: sixteen cells in four rows and four columns.
• New tiles: 2s (90%) and 4s (10%).
• Merges: Double equal numbers, once per tile per move.
• Goal: reach 256 by valid move 180.
• A blocked move does not add a tile or count as a move.

Read one move

A left move transforms this row as shown, before the next tile appears elsewhere on the board:

Before: 64 64 128 .
After:  128 128 . .

Each tile can merge once per move. A tile just created by a merge cannot immediately join another tile during the same swipe.

A useful first exercise

Only a move that changes the board uses the budget. Blocked directions and Trail tip do not spend a move. Reaching 256 on move 180 wins; reaching the budget without the tile ends the round.

Use the move count to reflect on detours. Compare a round with many pure slides against one that lines up useful pairs. You can pause as long as you like between decisions.

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. Compare all nine variants, choose another game, or work through the practice lab.