Back in 2014, it felt like Flappy Bird had taken over the planet. People were staring at their phones in an even more zombie-like fashion, rhythmically poking the screen in a steady beat, before ultimately sighing, disappointed, and then continuing the cycle once more.
Doug Nguyen’s creation was a simple one, but the punishing difficulty made it addicting. “Just one more go!” fever set in, and it looked like players physically couldn’t stop playing. I was one of these flapp-aholics, and whenever I had a spare minute, I would spend it flapping away!
It’s now 2017 and the craze has died down. Flappy Bird is still installed on my phone, but I don’t think I’ve played it in over a year. It just sits there, flapping no more.
While my Flappy Bird days are behind me, there are still many others who love playing. Despite the game being pulled from the Play Store and App Store, those who really want to play Flappy Bird, can do so through less official means. APK files are out there, and other backdoor installation methods exist, along with an enormous number of copycat apps.
However, for those who have updated their Apple devices to iOS 11, Flappy Bird is dead. And I mean DEAD dead! Nguyen is not willing to update the app to work with 64-bit operating systems.
Posting on Facebook, he said: “My responsibility of supporting this app was finished since 2014. This is just my announcement for the current event.”
And that is that. We must move on, remembering the good times, but hoping for an even brighter future filled with Jumpy Frogs, Bouncing Hens, and who knows what else!
