Flappy Bird is a Disease

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Photo by Katherine Doherty

Junior Max Palmberg concentrates while trying to break his high score of 105.

The Cover art for the famous Flappy Bird app.
The Cover art for the famous Flappy Bird app.

There is something so dangerous and complicated that it could break the souls of every living human in existence: Flappy Bird. For those of you who have not heard of this incredibly frustrating app, it is topping the downloading charts.

The goal of the game is simple: to get a bird who has issues with steering through a gap in two pipes without touching them. The only maneuver we, as players, have to act out is a tap to the screen to keep our flappy bird up and flying. But a nano second too early or late results in the death of this bird, along with head pounding frustration. The game seems so simple yet it is utterly impossible for the average college student.

AHS students have not missed out on this 2014 phenomenon. Kids all over school are disregarding their work to play one more game of flappy bird, convinced that this time, they will finally pass a score of 5…not likely.

“Due to the fact that its so frustrating to progress and do well in Flappy Bird, it’s extremely satisfying to keep improving. It makes you just want to keep feeling that satisfaction, so you keep playing,” junior Flappy Bird fanatic Megan Doherty said.

Things have even gotten so crazy that creator of Flappy Bird, Dong Nguyen, decided to take the app off the app store. It came as quite a surprise to most people and there was really no explanation except a quick tweet about the situation.

“I am sorry ‘Flappy Bird’ users, 22 hours from now, I will take ‘Flappy Bird’ down. I cannot take this anymore,” creator Dong Nguyen said Saturday, February 8th on his Twitter account.

Although the app is currently not on the app store, Flappy Bird addicts can still play the game if it was previously downloaded. The game has had more than 50 million downloads since it was put up, and is making around 50 thousand dollars a day off advertising. These numbers make it seem crazy that Nguyen would take it down, but maybe it is for the good of humanity as a whole.