Merge Drop rules and chain tips

Pieces made of two number tiles fall one at a time onto a tall 6 by 12 board. You move and rotate each piece. Touching equal numbers merge into one tile, and a tile that lands on an equal number after a merge keeps the chain going.

Numbers double like 2048, but you drop instead of slide. The run ends when the board fills to the top. Making 2048 only shows a reached mark and play continues. For the sliding version, try 2048, one board a day.

Pieces and placing

A piece is two number tiles. Drag across the board to move it, tap to rotate one step, swipe down to drop. Each tile falls to the bottom of its own column, so a sideways piece over uneven columns splits as it lands.

Merging

Equal numbers that touch up, down or sideways merge as one group into one tile. Two tiles double the value. Three or four make it x4. Five to eight make it x8. The new tile stands on the lowest cell of the group, the leftmost one on a tie.

How a run ends

The run ends when a tile reaches the top row or no placement fits. A column without room for a vertical piece cannot take one, even if a cell or two is empty.

Chains and score

After a merge, the tiles above fall, and if they touch an equal number they merge again. Each step is chain 1, chain 2, and so on. The score for a step is the sum of the new tile values times the chain number. A tile made at chain 3 counts three times.

The rising row

Every 8 moves a new row of numbers rises from the bottom. Its numbers are drawn from the seed with the same odds as the pieces. If the rise pushes a tile into the top row, the run ends. The screen shows how many moves are left. A rising row can touch the tiles above it and start a chain.

Numbers and odds

Piece numbers are drawn at 2 at 40%, 4 at 30%, 8 at 20%, 16 at 10%. Every 25 pieces the stage goes up by one, up to stage 3, and each drawn number is multiplied by 2 to the power of the stage. At the top stage numbers run from 16 to 128. The odds stay the same at every stage. Only the size changes.

Seeds and saving

Today's board uses today's date as the seed. A new board takes a seed from the start time. Progress is saved in this browser only. What is saved is the seed and the list of placements, not a picture of the board. Reopen the page and the list is replayed from the start. A broken list is ignored and you start fresh.

Odds and payments

Nothing is won from boxes or draws, and there is no paid currency or payment. Luck covers only the numbers on the pieces, at the odds printed above.

Stack to one side first. Keep big numbers along one edge and small ones on the other, so they rarely touch and block you. Keep the middle columns low. Pieces spawn there and a tall middle narrows your options.

The next piece is on screen. When you place the current one, look at where the next one can land. That is how you set up a double merge one move ahead.

Stair stacking

A chain is just setup: make the tile that falls to equal the one below. Stand 8, 16 and 32 in a staircase. Merge the bottom 8s into a 16, which touches the 16 above, which then touches the 32, and so on.

Score multiplier

The chain number multiplies the score, so one long chain beats several short ones. A chain of three or more also clears many tiles and gives you room. Do not stack high just to build one, because the rising row can end the run.

If one column gets tall, place sideways pieces next to it instead of vertical ones. A column with no room for a vertical piece is off limits, so two empty cells is the real danger line.

Keep the upper rows clear just before a row rises. If you ended the run, retry the same seed to try a different line on the same drop order.