Students and faculty have recently seen a craze permeate the halls and classrooms of our building with the rise and fall in popularity of a math-based computer game and mobile phone application, 2048. During class periods, heads fell from the Smartboards to the smartphones and fingers swiped vigorously across screens in order to make big numbers into even bigger numbers.
The aim of 2048 is to multiply powers of the number 2 by each other within the confines of a 4×4 board by combining adjacent tiles of the same value. Each time a player swipes the board in any direction, a new tile of value 2 or 4 pops up. When the board becomes filled with tiles with no equal numbers adjacent to each other, the words “Game Over!” pop up, accompanied by a “Try again?” button persuading the gamer to come back for more number-adding fun. The ultimate goal is to combine two 1024 tiles in order to get the 2048 tile and brag to all of your friends via social media. The game is inherently addicting and caught to the fingers of students like wildfire.
“It ruined my life. Sometimes, for a few minutes, I’ll forget about 2048, and life gets back to normal. But then someone near me will take out their phone and bring out the dreaded application. And then the vicious cycle returns,” said senior Becca Schaub.
Originally, it was suspected that the 2048 addiction was a symptom of senioritis, like the addiction to Flappy Bird. However, in some cases, the laziness of senioritis prevails.
“I stopped playing after I got 2048 once. As a senior, I lack the ambition to even try for 4096,” said senior Erica Andrew.
The game does not only attract an audience of senior players. Students of all ages look to the game as a means to push themselves to the limits, dedicating themselves to procrastination of all else.
Fortunately, there is a cure for the 2048 addiction, and that is victory.
There have been many variations made on this game including several that have icons of Doge, college names, and celebrities.
“After already giving in to the pressure of downloading 2048, I wouldn’t allow myself to get an even more addicting version: one where each time I accomplish combining tiles, I get to see an even better picture of Tom Hiddleston’s face,” said senior Julia Zeh.
The school has also taken measures to speed up the rehabilitation of the student body. 2048 is now blocked on the school’s computer network. Coming to terms with 2048 addiction and accepting defeat to the ruthless game has been difficult for Schreiber students to do, but it looks as if we are taking steps in the right direction.