2048 Cats Edition

This application transforms the classic sliding-block puzzle paradigm into a felid-evolutionary simulation. The core objective is to combine tiles of identical value to create a tile of double the value, following the geometric progression 2ⁿ. In this iteration, numerical abstractions are replaced (or augmented) by a taxonomic hierarchy of felines, culminating in the apex predator.

Unlike stochastic games of chance, 2048 is a deterministic system with a random variable injection (the spawning of new tiles). The primary risk to the player is grid lock - a state where the 4×4 matrix ($M$) is fully populated with no adjacent equal values ($\{ \forall i,j : M_{i,j} \neq M_{i\pm1, j\pm1} \}$). Strategic foresight is required to maintain monotonicity in rows or columns to ensure mergeability.