Scene

“Flappy Bird” to be unavailable to new players

The tiny bird will frustrate game players no more.

After soaring to the top of iPhone and Android app downloads last week on the wings of its addictiveness and absurd level of difficulty, β€œFlappy Bird,” the no-frills smartphone game, was shot out of the sky by its developer Sunday.Β 

β€œI am sorry ‘Flappy Bird’ users, 22 hours from now, I will take ‘Flappy Bird’ down,” wrote developer Dong Nguyen on Twitter Saturday. β€œI cannot take this anymore.”

Nguyen told Forbes on Monday that the game was β€œgone forever” amid concerns that the gameβ€”conceived as a fun way to waste timeβ€”had become addictive to some.

Although the app is no longer downloadable from app stores, some players who already have it on their phones continue to keep on flying.

β€œI hate it, but I can’t stop,” Arts & Sciences junior Michael Pfeifer said.

Pfeifer was tapping his iPhone screen to steer the tiny bird through the difficult obstacle course of metal pipes in the Skutt Student Center Monday, a day after the game flew the coop.

For brothers Tyler and Brandon Gappa, the game has become an outlet for their sibling rivalry.

The brothers have been trading high scores on the game for the past week.

β€œOne waits while the other tries to one-up him,” said Business senior Brandon Gappa.

As of Tuesday, Tyler Gappa, a Business sophomore, was beating his older brother Brandon in high scores, 174 to 154.

Tyler said he’s proud of his high score.

β€œIt took me lots of tries, and I love my high score,” Tyler said.Β 

However, Brandon said he is not defeated; at least he doesn’t plan on deleting the game in the near future.

β€œI won’t delete it unless he does, and I don’t think he plans on it anytime soon,” Brandon said.

Oddly enough, a healthy sibling competition is not the most interesting fallout of the game that drove many to the brink of madness and spawned a number of online rants and hysterical reviews.

The game has also inspired thoughtful essays on society and culture in Forbes and The Atlantic. Β 

Of course, if new players want to see what all the squawk is about, they will have to consider purchasing phones with β€œFlappy Bird” already installed at inflated prices on eBay.

View the Print Edition

May 2, 2025

Stay in the loop