MERGE
Puzzle · 100 coins to play · free in your browser
A five-by-five sliding puzzle where one swipe moves every tile at once. Tiles of equal value collide into a single tile worth double, and there is no move limit at all — the run ends when the board jams, so how long you last is a question of how well you play. What separates it from the number puzzle it descends from is the deal: the board hands you one new tile a turn at first, then two, then three, and finally four. That last tier is what eventually buries even a careful player.
Is this your next game?
A directional planning puzzle. Swipes move the whole board, so each move should improve more than the pair you are looking at.
Choose a cabinet in the arcade →How to play
- Swipe anywhere and the whole board moves.
- Two tiles of the same value collide into one worth double, and a tile only merges once per swipe.
- Land several collisions on one swipe for a chain bonus — and watch the deal: one new tile a turn becomes two, then three.
Mouse and keyboard
- Arrow keys, or WASD — one key per direction, the same four the swipe produces.
Controls on a touchscreen
- Swipe anywhere on the board. A swipe has to travel a minimum distance and be clearly horizontal or vertical, so a short or near-diagonal drag is dropped rather than guessed at.
- A swipe into a wall costs nothing — no tile is dealt and no swipe is spent — but the board nudges and buzzes so you know it was heard.
Scoring
- Merging pays the value of the tile you created, so a pair of 8s is worth 16.
- Every collision on the same swipe counts as one chain: two collisions multiply the swipe by 1.3, three by 1.7, and four or more by 2.2.
- Reaching a new highest tile pays a milestone worth three times that tile — 48 for your first 16, 768 for a 256.
Combos and multipliers
The chain is simultaneous rather than consecutive, which makes it the opposite of a streak: nothing carries between swipes, so the multiplier is bought entirely by arranging the board before you commit. Four pairs collapsing on one swipe is worth 2.2 times the same four pairs cashed in one at a time.
How a run ends
When the board fills and no two neighbours match. Nothing else stops you — the deal keeps climbing until even a well-kept board runs out of room, so a stronger player simply lasts longer before that happens.
Worth knowing
- A tile that was just created cannot merge again on the same swipe, so a row of 2, 2, 4 becomes 4, 4 rather than a single 8.
- New tiles are a 2 nine times out of ten and a 4 the rest of the time, and the whole sequence comes from the run seed — on a daily, every player is dealt the same board in the same order.
- The deal ramps at swipe 50, again at 160, and a fourth time at 360. The gauge above the board counts down to the next escalation rather than to an ending, because the escalation is what will actually finish you.
Your first run
- Build a descending chain toward a chosen corner and preserve an empty lane for movement.
- Before swiping away from that corner, check what will slide into the gap. A merge is useful when the resulting tile can join your existing chain.
A mistake to avoid
Alternating directions just to produce any merge. This can scatter large tiles and leave a full board with no matching neighbours.
Worked example
Sliding a row 2, 2, 4 toward the pair produces 4, 4 in that move, not 8: a newly created tile cannot merge again until a later swipe. Plan the follow-up direction before filling the remaining space.
Examples describe in-game points or resources. Wallet rewards are calculated separately after submission.
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Entry, rewards and fair play
Sign in to play. A run costs 100 coins. You need the full fee: with a lower balance, the run does not start and no coins are charged. Claim an available daily bonus before trying again. Your score can earn coins back and is validated by the server before ranking. How the economy and verification work →
MERGE is in the daily rotation: 3 of the 16 games in the rotation pool carry a ranked board and a share of the community prize pool each day, drawn from the calendar date. This pool includes legacy BlockDrop and differs from the public catalog. On its day this cabinet wears a gold star.
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