Groups of students gathered around with laptops and vigorously started mashing their keyboards. Was an English paper due next period? Was the programming assignment that difficult?

No, it was the math puzzle game 2048 that had spread like wildfire across campus.

The addicting game was created by 19-year-old Italian Gabriele Cirulli in March of this year and has attracted over four million users. The idea for Cirulli’s 2048 stemmed from his desire to build his own version of two existing games he’d played: 1024 by Veewo Studio and 2048 by Saming.

“It was just a fun project over the weekend,” Cirulli said in an interview with Harker Aquila. “I really had no idea it’d explode into such a big success.”

The goal of the game is to combine appearing numbers to reach the golden number 2048. Users are allowed to press the arrow keys in an attempt to combine existing numbers on the grid.

After each move, another block with either a two or a four appears on the grid to continue the cycle. The game is over when all the spaces are covered and there are no more possible moves.

Much like Candy Crush and Flappy Bird, the game is straightforward yet instantly enjoyable and has found its way to the computers of many students at the Harker School. The squares are multicolored and surprisingly improve the outlook for the game.

“The game is aesthetically pleasing and when the squares change color, it adds to that effect,” Harry Xu (11) said.

Cirulli’s favorite aspect of the game is also related to appearance: he enjoys the “fluidity of the animations” that lets players “take the game at [their] own pace.”

Others simply marvel at the simplicity of the game.

“It’s easy to play. It’s short. It has an infinite replay value. It’s competitive, and also repetitive.” Dipam Acharyya (11) said.

The welcoming gameplay also helps reel in more players; several have developed strategies in order to successfully beat the game.

Some, like Dipam, explain that the game has no real strategy involved. Others like Lawrence Li (10) say that getting rid of twos helps prevent the player from getting moves restricted.

When asked for tips on how to beat the game, Cirulli mentioned a popular strategy involving only moving tiles in three directions.

“This will put your biggest tile in a corner and will make it easier to rack up combos as you go,” Cirulli said. “I’ve been using this strategy for a while, but I haven’t managed to win the game yet!”

Various versions of 2048 have appeared over the web soon after it saw a spike in its players. Some expand on the concept by offering a bigger grid and forcing the player to reach even larger numbers like 16384.

Some programmers even have created artificial intelligence to tackle the puzzles, and others decide to parody the game by making a Flappy Bird and 2048 crossover.

Similarly to Flappy Bird, which is a variant of an old game known as “Helicopter,” 2048 bears many similarities to “Threes,” which was a similar smartphone game released earlier this year. The game was designed by a three man team composed of Asher Vollmer, Greg Wohlwend, and Jimmy Hindson.

The obvious difference between the two games is that “Threes!” utilizes multiples of three while 2048 is by twos and fours. Despite “Threes!” success in the smartphone market, 2048 was able to gain an audience of computer gamers.

Whatever the reason, 2048 has managed to be a massively popular game and proven once again that a videogame does not necessarily have to be graphically intensive or complicated to be popular.

Other variations of the game include a version with more tiles called 9007199254740992, a smaller version called 4, and, for those looking for a challenge, the infamous “Masochism Version.”