Jelly48
Games like 2048
Updated October 2026
2048 is the puzzle that sits on everybody's phone forever. Slide, merge, and promise yourself "one more" until the board locks up. It also has a surprisingly tangled family tree, and a lot of games scratch the same itch. Here are the ones worth your time.
Where 2048 came from
2048 (2014) was a free, open-source web game by Gabriele Cirulli. It was based on 1024, which was itself a clone of Threes!, the game that invented the idea a few weeks earlier. So if you've only played 2048, the first stop is obvious.
The classics
Threes!
The original. Instead of doubling, you build multiples of three, and the characters on the tiles have opinions. It's slower and more thoughtful than 2048, and many people think it's the better game.
2048
Still free to play in a browser, and there's an official app too.
Drop instead of slide
X2 Blocks
Drop numbered blocks into columns; matching neighbors merge and double. It feels like 2048 crossed with Tetris.
Drop & Merge the Numbers
The same drop-and-merge idea in your browser.
Suika Game
Not numbers, but the same instinct: two of a kind make one bigger thing. Fruit falls into a box with real physics. See our list of games like Suika if you get hooked.
With physics
Chain Cube: 2048
Fling 3D numbered cubes into a pile, and matching ones merge on impact.
sobosuba
Fire numbered jellies into a pile. Somewhere between 2048 and Suika, and squishy.
Jelly48 ours
2048 with jelly tiles. You don't slide a grid; you tilt gravity, so the tiles fall, pile up, squash into each other, and merge when they touch. Same strategy instincts, messier and funnier results. It's free, has no ads, and works offline once loaded.
If the squishiness is the draw, we keep a list of soft-body physics games too.
Same itch, different shape
Triple Town
Match three things to grow them into something bigger: grass into a bush, a bush into a tree, all the way up to castles. It's a cozy cousin of 2048.
Float Away ours
Numbered balloons from 0 to 9 that float up and merge when two of the same touch. Two 9s pop.
Questions
What came first, Threes or 2048?
Threes!, in early 2014. 1024 copied it, and 2048 was based on 1024 a few weeks later.
Are there games like 2048 for iPhone?
Yes: Threes!, the official 2048 app, X2 Blocks, Chain Cube, and our own Float Away. Jelly48 also runs in Safari and can be added to your Home Screen.
Are there chill games like 2048 with no ads?
Threes! is a paid game with no ads, and Jelly48 is free with no ads.