You can’t fly home again
Flappy Bird set the bar (or rather pipes, placed randomly) for mobile game simplicity. Between that and its bizarrely high level of difficulty, it created a devilish blend of game-playing compulsion I have rarely seen, before or since.
When indie developer Dong Nguyen launched it in 2014, it was almost an instant hit. Everyone was desperately tapping on their iPhones and iPad screens in a vain attempt to keep a tiny animated bird aloft without slamming into a series of bright green pipes. There was almost nothing to the classic side-scrolling game, just the flapping bird and pipes racing toward it with small gaps that the bird would fly through – assuming you could tap just enough to keep Flappy flying but not too high or too low.
Most people failed within the first few pipes. Experts, though, could thread through dozens. I still remember watching my youngest’s laser-like focus as they navigated Flappy through dozens of pipes. The most I ever did was 13, I think.
Despite the game’s extremely high frustration quotient, people played it with the same devotion they now commit to Wordle or Connections. But at least those games are solvable. Flappy Bird really wasn’t.The Flappy craze
As you may recall, the fascination with the game became a phenomenon and eventually, the intense interest and nonstop attention drove Nguyen into hiding.
