Your onchain game doesn’t need to be slow

We built Monad2048 - a fully onchain version of 2048 - to show how to build fast and button-mashable gameplay while keeping all game logic on chain

If you're building responsive, high-throughput dapps, this thread is your blueprint 🧵

Monad2048 runs entirely onchain: every move is a transaction and is validated by a smart contract. No servers involved.

Play the game at 2048.monad.xyz and read about the build process at

Monad2048 runs entirely onchain: every move is a transaction and is validated by a smart contract. No servers involved.

Play the game at 2048.monad.xyz and read about the build process at https://blog.monad.xyz/blog/build-2048

We aimed to prevent cheating while keeping moves instant. A deterministic seed generates new tiles, discouraging cheating without slowing gameplay. Here’s how we designed it.

Contracts:

We aimed to prevent cheating while keeping moves instant. A deterministic seed generates new tiles, discouraging cheating without slowing gameplay. Here’s how we designed it.

Contracts: https://github.com/monad-developers/2048-contracts

The Monad2048 contract stores the 4x4 board in one uint256. Each tile’s value is encoded in 8 bits. This function reads a tile’s value:

The frontend uses Privy for creating player wallets, which avoids repeated popup confirmation for each move.

We update the interface instantly after a move, sending transactions in the background. If a transaction fails, we revert to the last valid board.

For rapid transactions, we manage nonce locally and avoid unnecessary RPC calls (e.g. in simulations).

Transactions are signed with viem but sent directly to the RPC. This prevents large delays between client and chain state.

To skip simulations safely, test client transaction inputs beforehand.

Errors are handled by resetting to the last valid board and showing a notification. We store failed boards and pick the lowest-scoring one to resume.

We allow to player to re-sync their board and resume their game by fetching the latest board from the smart contract.

The key takeaway is to explore how you can eliminate latency in your code, wherever possible. Use techniques like optimistic UI updates, re-syncing with chain state, etc.

Monad Testnet blocks are as fast as the blink of an eye; strive to make your app updates at least as fast.

Full blog post here: https://blog.monad.xyz/blog/build-2048

Gameplay works in two steps:

1. startGame: Submit four initial boards to begin, and a seed.
2. play: Submit a move and the resultant board.

The seed is used in a deterministic formula to determine where new tiles spawn upon new moves.