What You Need to Know About Flappy Bird If You're Clueless But Want to Sound in the Know

What You Need to Know About Flappy Bird If You're Clueless But Want to Sound in the Know
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What do I need to know about Flappy Bird if I am clueless but want to sound smart?

This question originally appeared on Quora.
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Answer by Kartik Ayyar, founder and CTO of a startup that will be launching in 2014, previously the CTO of Cityville at Zynga

  • Flappy Bird is a very basic but an extremely hard game to play.
  • There is only one control -- you tap the screen to make your bird flap.
  • There is only one objective -- keep your bird from hitting obstacles or falling on the floor.
  • There is only one kind of obstacle - green pipes that look like they were stolen from Mario.
  • Despite the simple description above, it is a really, really hard game.
  • It has become hugely popular overnight.
  • It was built by one author, and it's estimated he was pulling in 50K+$ per day through the in game ads.
  • If you get a score in the double digits, you are doing well. Many people can't even score 1.
  • The single best article about it isn't about the game itself, but the story around how such a game could be so successful.
  • It wasn't an elaborate production, and despite its simplicity, it's not really designed for the casual gamer. See: Flappy Bird is proof that no one knows what the audience wants
  • A huge part of why it seems to have become popular is people talking about how hard it is.
  • It was taken down due to mysterious circumstances, potentially due to the author botting for reviews.
  • Some Phones with Flappy Bird are now fetching bids in the 5 digits on Ebay, e.g.: Apple iPhone 5s - 32GB - with Flappy Bird installed
  • More questions on Mobile Games:

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