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3.33 years after its release, someone actually beat Threes

3.33 years after its release, someone actually beat Threes

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Exactly three and one-third years after mobile puzzle masterpiece Threes released on the app store, Twitter user @ThreesPorn has done what I (and presumably many others) thought was impossible: beat the game. Yes, there is an actual end to Threes, and it is in fact humanly possible to reach it.

If you’re not familiar with Threes, it is, at its heart, a simple game. Players swipe tiles together, combining a blue “1” and red “2” to create a “3.” Two “3” tiles together to make a “6,” and so on, with the goal to create higher-numbered tiles, each worth more and more points. It may sound similar to the 2048 rip-off that poorly copied Threes and swept the internet shortly after Threes came out — but trust me, 2048 is much easier and lacks both the strategic requirements and personality that Threes possesses.

Each tile in Threes is also a unique character, with designs that get more elaborate as the point values go up. And, as @ThreesPorn discovered, combining two 6,144 Volleo tiles creates a 12,288 in a starburst of light before playing a game-ending animation. If you’re a Threes player chasing a high score, the still un-named 12,288 is worth an eye-popping 1,594,323 points.

It’s unclear if @ThreesPorn’s achievement is the first ever 12,288 ever reached — while Threes developer Asher Vollmer took to Twitter to congratulate @ThreesPorn, he noted that he can’t figure out how many high scores are legitimate versus hacked on the leaderboards. But whether or not it’s the first ever, the achievement is certainly the first acknowledged by Vollmer, which is great since I don’t think I’ll ever be good enough at this game to get there myself.