People love Threes and 2048. These insanely addicting mobile games require players to maneuver a series of tiles around a board to get a high score. They look the same on the surface, but looks can be deceiving.
To play Threes, you must match up as many numbered tiles as possible to get a high score. Connect a 1 and 2 to create a 3. After that, a 3 can only be paired with another 3 to make 6, a 6 can only be paired with another 6 to make 12, and so on. You lose the game when you run out of space.
2048 is similar. Instead of matching of 3, 6, 12, and so on, the goal is to match up as many tiles as possible to reach 2048 before the grid fills up.
At first glance, Threes and 2048 look very much the same. However, the developers behind Threes wrote a lengthy blog post detailing their frustration when Threes gets called a rip-off 2048, not least of which because Threes came first.
And, of course, the Threes team thinks they made a better game than 2048 anyway.
So, which game is better?
Let's take a look:
In Threes you move one square on the grid at a time, whereas in 2048, each swipe sends the tile over to the edge of the grid.
Ryan Bushey/Business Insider
Threes gives hints on what comes next up at the top. In 2048, the next tile is a surprise.
2048 has ads at the bottom. Threes doesn't.
You win 2048 by getting the 2048 tile. If you don't get that tile, you can keep playing until the board fills up. Threes ends the game immediately once the board fills up. The goal in Threes is to get the highest score possible.
Another difference between these two is that Threes is $1.99 and 2048 is free.
So which one is better? I'd have to go with Threes. Despite the cost, it wins in every aspect. It's one of the most well-designed games I've ever seen. Ads at the bottom can be very distracting, so it's worth paying the $2 to make sure you never have to look at them. Plus Threes is equipped with options like toggling music on/off and adjusting how much battery power it takes while playing. 2048 is very simplistic and there's not much there to make this fun and exciting. You can download Threes for iOS and Android.