Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Fix the habits that are costing you points.

The most common mistake is mashing all four directions at random and scattering your tiles. Simply picking a corner and building the habit of favoring two directions makes a huge difference in your results.

The second is letting small tiles pile up and clog the board. If you don't merge stray 2s and 4s promptly to keep cells open, you'll quickly run out of room to move.

The third is moving big tiles too often and breaking your chain. Keep your max tile in its corner and avoid disturbing it unless you truly have to. When you're not sure, use undo.