Docker, ShutIt, and The Perfect 2048 Game

I cured my 2048 addiction by (almost) completing it. Obviously I didn’t get this far without cheating, but I did play every move.

I could have hacked the Javascript or the client-side db, but I actually wanted to see if it was possible to complete the game. So I used the old-fashioned “save game” functionality to keep state.

Here’s how it’s done, and it should work on pretty much anything.

1) Get Docker

See above link to: https://www.docker.io/gettingstarted/#1

2) Get ShutIt

$ git clone https://github.com/ianmiell/shutit.git

ShutIt is used to build docker containers in a lego-like fashion. It’s designed to allow you to string together complex builds of containers in a linear way while maintaining control and reproducibility.

We use it here to build a container with a vnc environment.

Documentation here

3) Build win2048 Image

$ cd shutit

$ # Do some bogus password setup
$ cat > library/win2048/configs/$(hostname)_$(whoami).cnf << END
[container]
password:acontainerpassword
[host]
username:ausername
password:apassword
END
$ # secure config files first
$ find . | grep cnf | xargs chmod 0600

$ cd library/win2048

$ python ../../shutit_main.py --shutit_module_path ../vnc

Wait for it to finish:

[...]
Building: shutit.tk.vnc.vnc with run order: 0.322000000000000008437694987151189707219600677490234375
Completed module: shutit.tk.vnc.vnc
Building: shutit.tk.win2048.win2048 with run order: 0.326000000000000011990408665951690636575222015380859375
Completed module: shutit.tk.win2048.win2048
# BUILD REPORT FOR BUILD END lp01728_imiell_1399663295.26
################################################################################

4) Commit and Tag the Container

Pay attention to the bold text – it will need to be changed for your run

$ sudo docker ps -a
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
4335e86a64ca ubuntu:12.04 /bin/bash 9 minutes ago Exit 0 sick_franklin
 
$ sudo docker commit 4335e86a64ca
e3a7a9926654c8c28c1252407a4b7ee272cb7fb6ad5640ad1f54e1cacf402bb2

$ sudo docker tag e3a7a9926654c8c28c1252407a4b7ee272cb7fb6ad5640ad1f54e1cacf402bb2 yourusername/mywin2048

5) Run Up the Container

Pay attention to the bold text – it will need to be changed for your run

$ sudo docker run -t -i -p 5901:5901 -p 6080:6080 yourusername/mywin2048 /bin/bash
$ /root/start_win2048.sh

6) Play

(In another terminal)

$ vncviewer localhost:1

Password:

vncpass

7) Save Game

In another terminal:

sudo docker tag $(sudo docker commit $(sudo docker ps -a | grep -w "-p 5901:5901 -p 6080:6080" | grep -w Up | awk '{print $1}')) username/mywin2048

Can you play through to the end and get the perfect 2048 board?