![Flappy Bird Flappy Bird](https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/square/000/014/797/imgres.jpg)
Flappy Bird
About
Flappy Bird is a mobile game in which the player controls a flying bird by touching the screen to flap its wings and navigate between a series of pipes without any contact.
Origin
Flappy Bird was created by Vietnamese developer Dong Nguyen[5] and released by dotGears Studios on Apple's iOS app store[1] on May 24th, 2013. In the game, the player assumes the role of a pixelated flying bird and must guide it safely through a series of obstacles while keeping it afloat by pressing on the touch screen.
Spread
On November 17th, 2013, Redditor Bronxsta included Flappy Bird in a list of "masochistic" iOS games submitted to the /r/iosgaming[2] subreddit. On January 17th, 2014, Redditor Transizzleator submitted a post urging viewers to "help Flappy Bird take off" to the /r/gaming[3] subreddit. On January 27th, YouTuber PewDiePie uploaded a video in which he plays Flappy Bird (shown below), which gathered more than 5.4 million views and 45,000 comments in the next week.
On January 30th, the game was released on the Google Play[10] store. By the following day, the game had reached the top downloaded spot on both Google Play and the Apple App Stores.[4] Also on January 31st, the iPhone app company Chocolate Lab Apps[7] published an interview with Nguyen about Flappy Bird's success, who claimed he did not promote the game at all. Meanwhile, the tech blog Bluecloud Solutions[6] published an article speculating that Flappy Bird used bots to artificially augment its App Store rank, pointing out the strange sudden rise in popularity of Nguyen's apps and several similarly-worded reviews left on the Flappy Bird store page (shown below).
![906.jpg The death of me亩 Flappy bird will be death of me. Let me start by saying DO NOT download flappy bird. I started oftf thinking okay, this should be fun, everyone else is playing it. People warned me about it but I didn t care, And so I went to the App Store, and downloaded flappy bird. That was my first mistake. I played it once and sald okay just one more time. That one more time ne er ended. I don't sleep. I don't eat. rm loosing friends all because of flappy bird. I see fiappy bird in my dreams, it's always there. I。.. More Was this review helpful? Yes No | Report a Concem by Walter19230-Jan 30,2014 My life is over Your life is over The world is over. More ▼ review helptul? Yes No Report a Concern Was this my life is over by brennadog14-Jan 29, 2414 has ruined my Ide hate this game so much but i can't stop playing it. f actualy love this game but you feel me.) it makes me feel ske a crackhead. i have withdrawals. last night i fel asleep playing it with my eyes open. you people don't get it. this game steals your soul. and what makes it worse is that a game called flappy bird makes me hate myself, like for gods sake irs called FLAPPY BIRD and it's destroyed me, i have already deleted it but like a drug addict i went right back to i.. More Was this revlew helpful? Yes No | Report a Concem don't do it, don't you do it ★ ★ ★ by luisadriannn-Jan 28, 2014 this game has by far, made me feel more pathetic than anything else ever you're a little freakin one eyed bird that can't fly, and by some mystical power, the tapping of a to come crashing down right away. so the objective is to get in between these god forsaken Super Mario Pipes that on god knows why are in that stupid city, and keep hopping through them. but what nobody tells you about this game is that no matter More ▼ 1 out of 1 customers found this review helptul Was this eew belpful? Yes | No | Report a Concem](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/691/243/906.jpg)
On February 1st, the tech news blog Tech Crunch[8] published an article about Flappy Bird, noting that his other games "Super Ball Juggling" and "Shuriken Block" had reached the App Store's #2 and #6 spots respectively. On February 2nd, Redditor ducksizedhorses submitted a post comparing Flappy Bird to the flash game titled "Helicopter Game" to the /r/gaming[9] subreddit, where it accumulated upwards of 14,600 up votes and 770 comments in the first 24 hours. The same day, Redditor H00PSHER posted a screenshot of a Flappy Bird game with edited Nyan Cat-themed textures to the /r/teenagers[12] subreddit (shown below, left). On February 3rd, Redditor VirtualWhopper posted a Flappy Bird image macro with the caption "You don't win / You just eventually delete the app" to the /r/gaming[13] subreddit (shown below, right).
![9a0.jpg](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/691/259/9a0.jpg)
![01e.jpg YOU DON'T WIN GEE REad TAP YOU JUST EVENTUALLY DELETE THE APP](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/691/258/01e.jpg)
Removal From App Stores
On February 8th, 2014, Nguyen tweeted that although Flappy Bird was a success, he hated the game for ruining his “simple life.” Several hours later, Nguyen posted a follow-up tweet announcing that he would be removing Flappy Bird from app stores in 22 hours, adding that it had “nothing to do with legal issues.”[18] The same day, Redditor iamacowgod submitted a screenshot of the tweet to the /r/gaming[14] subreddit, where it gained over 18,800 up votes and 3,800 comments in the first 48 hours.
I can call 'Flappy Bird' is a success of mine. But it also ruins my simple life. So now I hate it.
— Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) February 8, 2014
I am sorry 'Flappy Bird' users, 22 hours from now, I will take 'Flappy Bird' down. I cannot take this anymore.
— Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) February 8, 2014
On February 9th, the game was taken down from both the iOS app store and Google Play. The same day, Redditor city18 posted a backup copy of the Android version of the game to the /r/AndroidApps[15] subreddit. Also on February 19th, Redditor moonchav posted a link to a text only version[17] of the game to the /r/WebGames[16] subreddit. In the coming days, the app removal was reported on by several news sites, including IBI Times,[19] CNN[20] and CNET.[21]
In a February 2014 interview with Forbes[26], Nguyen explained that he felt compelled to cancel the game due to its addictive nature.
"Flappy Bird was designed to play in a few minutes when you are relaxed. But it happened to become an addictive product. I think it has become a problem. To solve that problem, it's best to take down Flappy Bird. It's gone forever."
Nintendo's Statement
Despite Nguyen's statement, rumors soon began to spread on gaming-related discussion forums that the creator of Flappy Bird decided to remove the app due to legal pressure from the Japanese video game company Nintendo, whose universally popular Super Mario video games has been frequently cited by the critics of Flappy Bird as the source of its inspiration. On February 10th, Nintendo's spokesman officially denied the rumors of legal threats or future plans for such action.
Planned Re-release
However, in March 2014, Nguyen refused to rule out the possibility of a relaunch in an interview with Rolling Stone, followed by an announcement of his plan to eventually re-release the game, and revealed that the game would return in August with multiplayer capability in an interview with CNBC's Kelly Evans.
On May 15th, 2014, Nguyen tweeted[25] a photo which he suggested was part of a new game he is developing.
![Rainbow Parrot THE PARROT RACHIDES DEVIANTARTCOM](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/756/277/7a5.jpg)
Notable Parodies
Shortly after Ngyuen's announcement of the removal of Flappy Bird from app stores, several parody versions of the game for iOS, Android and web browsers began to surface. A text-only version of Flappy bird titled “The Pipes Are My Solitude” was posted on the website Philome,[23] which displays descriptions of a bird flying through pipes each time the player clicks the word “Flap” (shown below).
![496.jpg The Pipes Are My You are a small bird. Behind you is a caustic Solitude lue sky. Below you is green, green grass. Flap a game-poem by James Shasha Restart Bookmark](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/696/286/496.jpg)
A browser game Flappy Doge[22] was created, in which the player clicks the screen to navigate the "Doge" Shibu Inu character in between pipes (shown below, left). The Nicolas Cage-themed Flappy Bird mod was released on iOS, in which the player controls the actor's disembodied head (shown below, right).
A modification featuring a tipping fedora which navigates through cans of mountain dew was made available for both iOS and Android (shown below, left). In addition, a Super Mario Flappy Bird mod was released on iOS, in which the player controls the character Mario to jump in between pipes (shown below, right). The Flash game "Flappy Bird Therapy"[24] is an easy version of the game, which moves the pipe gaps in sync with the bird's height.
Search Interest
External References
[1] iTunes- Flappy Bird
[2] Reddit – Die Succeed Die Again
[3] Reddit – Please help Flappy Bird take off
[4] Venture Beat – Flappy Bird Hits #1
[5] Twitter – @dongatory
[6] Blue Cloud Solutions – Flappy Bird Smoke and Mirrors
[7] Chocolate Lab Apps – How to make Flappy Bird
[8] Tech Crunch – The Developer Behind Flappy Bird
[9] Reddit – We had our own Flappy Bird
[10] Google Play – Flappy Bird
[11] Reddit – Soon enough kids will call this the Flappy Bird pipe
[12] Reddit – I edited the textures for Flappy Bird
[13] Reddit – My feelings so far on Flappy Bird
[14] Reddit – Flappy Bird dev
[15] Reddit – Flappy Bird has been removed from the Play Store
[16] Reddit – Flappy Bird The Text Only Version
[17] Philome – The Pipes are my Solitude
[18] Twitter – @dongatory
[19] IBI Times – Why Flappy Bird Creator Dong Nguyen is Removing Game
[20] CNN – Developer yanks Flappy Bird
[21] CNET – Bye bye Flappy Bird
[22] Dogetek – Flappy Doge
[23] Philome – The Pipes Are My Solitude
[24] Iamohcy – Flappy Bird Therapy
[26] Forbes – Exclusive: Flappy Bird Creator Dong Nguyen Says App 'Gone Forever' Because It Was 'An Addictive Product'
Top Comments
Epic Facepalm Man
Feb 07, 2014 at 12:18AM EST
Me3
Feb 05, 2014 at 12:00PM EST