
8402: 2048 from the other side - hexwab
https://sphere.chronosempire.org.uk/~HEx/8402/
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oneeyedpigeon
Great, not only am I really, _really_ bad at hundreds of variants of 2048, now
there's an AI that's much better at it than me, even when I'm doing my best to
stop it. Presumably, someone will write an AI to combat this one, and I've
completely lost the thread of reality to which I have been forlornly clinging.

~~~
zarriak
I had the opposite feeling, I actually felt accomplished after beating it,
even though I have not completed a single 2048 variant.

~~~
tsahyt
Same here, although I somehow wanted it to win, so I could finally at least
see the mythical 2048 tile that everyone seems to be speaking of.

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Svip
I took a screenshot of one for you:
[http://i.imgur.com/929HNgE.png](http://i.imgur.com/929HNgE.png)

I remember watching this AI play and thinking if I could write my own strategy
into an AI. The AI's strategy suffers from the issues that my strategy tries
to combat. Perhaps someone can tell from my screenshot what my strategy is.

~~~
gambiting
To be honest, screenshots of this game are no longer a proof of anything. I am
not calling you dishonest,but just saying that I could run the AI version, and
when it wins change the address at the top,and using any browser's inspect
feature just remove the two buttons above the game field. It's just
ridiculously easy to fake winning screenshots of 2048 now.

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Rangi42
I won! [http://i.imgur.com/VOXJaOo.png](http://i.imgur.com/VOXJaOo.png)

My strategy was to give the AI a single 2 at the beginning, then only 4s. When
the board fills up enough, there will probably be a space where you can put a
second 2 to make it lose before it can combine them.

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jakejake
It's maddening! 2048 seems like it's so ridiculously hard playing the normal
way. Then you play this game an it seems like it should be impossible to lose
2048.

~~~
anon4
Don't feel bad, getting to 512 is child's play (a random algorithm can do it,
in fact). Going the last two steps is where it gets impossible. Up until the
512 it seemed like nothing I did would slow it down, but once it reached that,
the board was finally swamped by 8s and 16s and a few well-placed 2s and 4s in
the worst pattern possible finally stopped it.

Now we need a multiplayer variant a-la puyo-puyo-pop.

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deletes
It is very easy to win. You shouldn't be able to select 2 or 4. The decision
should be random and that would be fair like the original.

The easiest solution is to have just one 2 on the table, then spam 4 in
corners.

Best( lowest ) score: 1684

~~~
DalekBaldwin
I beat it on the first try with nothing but 2's before I read the instructions
and found out I could use 4's.

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_Robbie
I finally beat it. This seems harder than 2048 since with 2048 a simple
strategy can do well, where as with this game I had to search through more
opponent AI moves. Is there a simple strategy for 8402?

~~~
anonymoushn
If you give the computer primarily 4's, you can clog the board by placing 2's
where it cannot merge them. I beat the game on my first attempt this way.

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_Robbie
I did not realize that I could place 4s.

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abdullahkhalids
Now for someone to make a 2 player one where one person is making 2048 and one
person is stopping them.

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Avalaxy
Wow, this despresses me. It pushes my nose unto the fact that I really suck at
2048, because no matter how hard I make it, this AI solves every problem I
throw at it. Yet, I haven't managed to surpass 6568 after days of playing.

~~~
Houshalter
Ya I didn't think it was actually possible to win 2048 except through sheer
luck. And then this AI just mocks me as I futilely try to keep it from
winning.

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Bhel
[http://i.gyazo.com/61d02988bb765bd95e26e48b576e8aaf.png](http://i.gyazo.com/61d02988bb765bd95e26e48b576e8aaf.png)

This is the first 2048 variant that I'm able to beat. yay me... .__.

~~~
kristopolous
the 3d one I found to be the easiest:
[http://joppi.github.io/2048-3D/](http://joppi.github.io/2048-3D/)

but 4d is terribly hard:
[http://huonw.github.io/2048-4D/](http://huonw.github.io/2048-4D/)

edit: I did a 3d victory in the 18 minutes in editing the comment. You can
generally just push higher numbers into a corner, and pick either the left or
the right side to consistently fold to and you'll get it mostly without
thinking.

~~~
ijk
I find 4D much, much easier to control and visualize than 3D. Maybe if 3D was
somehow presented in three dimensions I'd have an easier time of it, but the
4D one was easier to grok.

That probably says something about how humans relate to interfaces that map
higher dimensions to 2D planes, or maybe it's just the way the 4D layout maps
to the screen.

~~~
kristopolous
ignore the "3d" idea. Just look at the rules of the game and play by that.

I'm sure some people can maintain clear mental models of higher order
dimensions and seamlessly translate the grids on the screen in some hyperspace
in the mind.

But I, my friend, have no chance of that. The more I ignore that notion, the
easier it becomes.

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j2kun
As a computer scientist I can't help but now ask: what is the complexity of
this problem? If it's in P then this game is not very interesting (in that I
can't hope to fool the AI).

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jychang
... Much higher than P pretty obviously. 16 possible drop points and 4
possible moves each turn maximum, let's say only half of each is available on
average. That gives ((2)(8))^N for N amount of turns.

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baddox
That's not really how computational complexity works.

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jeorgun
Wow. This one was insanely stressful compared to every other variant I've seen
so far— which is weird, because (unlike the original 2048) I was actually able
to win this one.

Either way, really cool.

~~~
Houshalter
Probably because you are playing against an intelligent opponent actively
trying to keep you from winning, where the first original is just a solitary
game.

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stefan_kendall3
The real challenge of course is to build an AI to beat the AI. Here's a random
clicker:

setInterval(function(){ var cells = document.getElementsByClassName("grid-
cell"); var pos = Math.floor((Math.random()*cells.length)); if(Math.random() <
0.5){cells[pos].click();} else {var ev = document.createEvent('HTMLEvents');
ev.initEvent('contextmenu', true, false); cells[pos].dispatchEvent(ev);}
},100);

~~~
sebastianavina
I'm waiting for a mathematician to show up and prove if in certain cases a
game (no matter how well played) it's unsolvable.

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bertil
The whole wave of 2048 and the related AI problems are fascinating. Has anyone
else started thinking using those at the start of a Computer science class
using those as initial examples to illustrate the power and simplicity of
algorithms, and motivate even non-coding-inspired students to think
systematically?

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shacharz
Cute variation, I wonder if there's a record on games' variations and whether
2048 is the all time winner

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Moto7451
Not sure if left click/right click was the best choice in controls. I keep
refreshing the page. At least on desktop a typing the size of the piece you
want would have been much easier. Two buttons to do the same on mobile would
have likely been a better choice as well.

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stormbrew
This was incredibly satisfying. Just have to do all the things I hate when the
AI in 2048 does to me.

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Aemon
very interesting variation, I like it. Didn't notice the instructions when I
played so I didn't realize I could put 4s so my strategy mainly consisted of
trying to figure out where the worst place to put a 2 would be especially at
the end when it was filling up to get it to catch twos by itself or other
singular numbers. Won in the end so I'm pretty content:
[http://i.imgur.com/7E3WBQk.png](http://i.imgur.com/7E3WBQk.png)

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BhavdeepSethi
This is insane. I can complete 2048 easily, but can't seem to win this
version. For others, it's other way around. How does that work? :/

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Pxtl
Victory at 1124 puppies eaten! Highest tile is 128.

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aquateen
I hate this game for some reason, whereas I really liked 2048. Not sure why.

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hyperion2010
For some reason I find this version to be much easier than the original.

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64mb
Oh, so I'm not meant to get 2048? Damn.

