2048

The popular tile-based puzzle game

I kept seeing this on computer screens as I worked in classrooms at the High School. I could tell it was a game of sorts but that was about it. Honestly, I didn't think to much about it until I was watching the filter statistics and saw repeated searches for "2048". I thought to myself, "that is an odd year to search for..." but come to find out it was the game they were searching for!

I did a quick investigation to discover that it is game written by a 19-year old Italian man in his weekend spare time! He drew inspiration from an existing game, 3's which is conceptually the same. After playing for a short time I can see why people enjoy this game. It is like the game Othello; simple and complicated at the same time.

Here are some things I find appealing about all of this:

• A motivated, self taught, young adult created and published this (own your education!)
• It was built upon inspiration drawn from an existing App / Game (tinker!)
• The number of young people I see engaged in a puzzle based elegant game (data analysis!)
• A world-wide audience is connected to a "weekend project"(International potential!)

It is an amazing time to be alive! Next time you see a student playing this game take the opportunity to give it the Paul Harvey treatment and "tell the rest of the story". 

Stay Positive!