2020 Connect is a tile-merging block-puzzle game that features hexagons instead of traditional geometric or polyomino shapes. It's most similar to Match-3 and 2048 games. The player creates crooked lines by connecting and merging four or more matching-number hex-shape tiles on a grid made of empty hex cells to create a higher-numbered tile. They receive star points and coins for their efforts in the upper-left and upper-right corners, respectively.
The player rearranges a hex tile on the grid by relocating it via a path through empty gap spaces between two spots. The player can't move it if any non-matching shapes block the path connecting the two locations. The resulting tile shape from a match-and-merge-4 maneuver appears wherever the player directs the fourth hex tile to go to complete a line. The player needs to keep this in mind during play to prevent a newly created tile from blocking another potential four-tile line.
If the player fails to merge at least four tiles, the game adds three or more new ones to the grid. The player can see a preview of those shapes by color and number at the top-center of the screen. If they run out of moves, the game provides them with several powerful boosters, including tools that swap tiles, remove selected tiles, and remove five random tiles at a time. That said, they must have enough coins to pay for these boosters.
2020 Connect rewards the player with coins for every created line. It also provides extra coins via mission achievement earnings and ad-supported gifts.