Postcard from Bishkek

Spoiler alert: This postcard has (virtually) nothing to do with Kyrgyzstan … but, please, don’t let that stop you reading further.

I am not very keen on games … at least not the sort of computer games that involve in the player “zapping” an opponent.

Although I am happy to try my hand at one that involves eye-hand coordination, requiring quick reactions but I prefer games that involve a little strategy – I say a “little strategy” because I lack the patience to sit and conduct a deep analysis.

A couple of weeks ago I came across a new game which seems to combine both … it’s a sort of puzzle … a single player, on-line game with an element of luck but also requiring skill based on analysis and experience.  In versions that are played on a tablet with a touch screen, it also provides a physical catharsis.

I came across it buy accident … in a Numberfile video on youtube that featured the reaction of several university professors to the game … and, surprisingly, they weren’t all that impressed.  It described the game as a craze that was rapidly taking the world by storm as swept around the globe … although, I have to admit, it doesn’t seem to have made much of an inroad here in Kyrgyzstan … yet!

Anyway, it caught my attention and I went to have a look to see what I could find out about the game … and have a go.

Apparently, 2048 was created just a few months ago – in March 2014 – by nineteen year Italian web designer over the course of a weekend.  It wasn’t exactly an original idea … he admits it was based on another game … and he was using it simply as a programming exercise ….

Once his project went on-line, however, it received over four million visits in just one week!  He then produced an app which was quickly downloaded onto millions of devices … and I downloaded a version which also works in a standalone (off-line) mode for Google Chrome.

In the three months it has existed several other variations have emerged … but the simplicity of the game … and the fact it works on so many level;s – from physical to psychological, logic and emotion … makes it an interesting rival to such classics as Tetris …

 

The idea is very simple … it’s played on a simple 4×4 grid … with tiles appearing one by one, (after each move made by the player) in any of the squares that are not already occupied by a tile.  Each of the new tiles displays either a 2 or a 4 – most of them show a 2 but occasionally a 4 will be thrown into play to make life a lilttle more unpredictable.

A player moves by sweeping all the tiles on the board, left, right, up or down the grid … well, all the tiles that can move.  They can move if the next cell in the direction they are being is free, or has a a tile bearing the same value – in which case the two are merged … a 2 crashing into another 2 becomes a 4, whilst a 4 crashing into another 4 becomes an 8 … and so on.  As the game progresses, and more and more tiles merge like this, the numbers on the tiles follow a sequence … a, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048 … all powers of 2 … and the player wins the game when he/she makes a tile with the value of 2048 appear.

Hence the name of the game!

In my version, you then have a choice … quit, start a new game and see if you can do it again … or just keep going to see how far you can actually get.  A score is kept – showing the value of all the tiles that have been merged together.

The game ends when the player can no longer make a move … all 16 cells in the grid are occupied and no two neighbouring cells can be merged.

 

It is very, very addictive … with early success coming quickly as the tile with the highest value on the grid rapidly changes from 2, to 4, to 8, to 16 … and so on, getting the adrenalin flowing … but by the time you get into three figures, more moves are needed to create the next in the sequence … the grid fills up with lower value tiles … sometimes they are swept in one direction without any of them merging with another and adding to the score … sometimes with just one pair merging, but sometimes with a number of pairs colliding and adding to the score … then a chain of moves can be created that allow a seemingly “hopeless” situation suddenly freeing up half the grid  and opening up the game once more.

When the 2048 tile appears, the sense of achievement flows through the veins creating a “high” that it is hard to imagine … although, I am told, it is akin to the sensation of completing a level in one of those “shoot-em-up” arcade style games.

It’s also free … with versions available for android devices … which is one reason that I am surprised that it hasn’t yet taken off here … tablets and smart phones are increasingly common in Kyrgyzstan and I would have thought that this is the sort of game that really out to be popular here.

 

It’s going to cause me a bit of a problem … apart from the fact that my performance is not exactly consistent (I can often achieve a five figure score … but I only rarely approach my record score of 25644, and I frequently get stuck on a four figure score), and the fact that, because I am using a version on a desktop and not an app on a device with a touch screen so it’s too easy to rapidly hit a sequence of keys without with some unpleasant surprises as a result, (which is my one “complaint” – there’s no option to “take back a move” which means that you can quickly move from a promising position to one where disaster is rapidly approaching).

Perhaps more worrying, however, is the fact that it’s caught the attention of the kids.  They’ve seen me playing the game and for some time just watched … but the other day, Maxim asked me to explain what was going on.  I went through the basic principles … and he then asked if he could have a go.  No problem … he played a game and got to a 512 tile and a score well into four figures … a creditable score.  Then he had another go … and did even better and, although it appeared to be a bit haphazard, he was clearly learning as he went on and was developing his own strategy.

Now, why would that be worrying … because he was playing on my computer … and keeping off it.  I must arrange for him to download a copy of the app onto his i-phone.

The sooner the better!

 

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