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The Flappy Bird Phenomenon is Real: What’s Your High Score?
The indie developer of Flappy Bird has created a smash viral hit that you may have heard about by now.
Nguyen Ha Dong, who developed the game based out of Hanoi, Vietnam, told TechCrunch he’s a one-man show and he just got lucky with this game:
In an interview with TechCrunch via email, Dong says he’s the sole creator at .GEARS. He explains that the programming in Flappy Bird took 2-3 days to complete, and he reused artwork from other titles. “.GEARS is not a company,” he notes. “It is just myself now but I have to use term ‘we’ to prepare for changes in the future. Before ‘Flappy Bird’, none of my games have 1/100th of that popularity.”
Dong says Flappy Birds is getting 2-3 million downloads per day on iOS and Android, with no paid promotion, solely rising on organic growth, currently at the number one spot in the App Store in 96 countries around the world (including Canada) according to App Annie.
We were hesitant to download Flappy Birds but succumbed to the game during a Super Bowl party. After experiencing it first hand, the game seriously has some entertainment value. Let’s just say it was fun watching Denver Broncos fans find themselves immersed into a Flappy Birds competition since the game on the field was such a dud for them.
Flappy Birds is free, simple to play but very hard to get a high score which makes it fun to compete with against friends. The green pipes in the game are literally ripped off from Mario Bros. and for mindless entertainment in short bursts, the game does have some value. As of today, I’m still trying to beat my ‘pathetic’ high score of 12 (hey, I’m in double digits!):
From the developer’s standpoint, the ad banner supporting the game is getting non-stop impressions which surely is helping him make bank.
Some have doubted the success of Flappy Birds since it’s pretty unbelievable for one solo dev to have three games in the Top 10 of the App Store at the same time (Super Ball Juggling is #4 in Canada, while Shuriken Block is #9).
What do you think? Have you started playing Flappy Birds? What’s your high score? Click here to download the game, it’s free.
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Currently sitting at 39. My next goal is 50. It definitely gets easier the more you play and the openings seem bigger but I still have runs of only 2’s or 10’s between the bigger runs. Way too addicting. Constantly hitting play again.
How are you even getting passed 6? 80% of the time i’m finished at 2
You will still get a lot of those low numbers for a while and even in between higher scores, but you eventually get used to a double tap that keeps you right in the middle and the odd low opening helps get you back into the right position so hopefully you have a good run of openings in a row and then a drop and back up again. It really helps. Currently with 69 now.
That’s a crazy score! My current high score is 15 with the odd game being played.
I’d pay $.99 to get rid of the annoying pop-up ads.
Yeah I’d imagine he’s make money with that. But non stop impressions are more lucrative it appears.
Turn off wifi and 3G
Mine is at 21… :'(
SAME! 😀
deleted this game after wanting to throw my phone into oncoming traffic
being said if it can evoke this kind of reaction it must be doing it right
4. My high score is 4, okay?!?!? No, I can’t get 5. I’ve tried. It’s impossible for a mere mortal. Anyone in double digits is my hero!
dont worry man i’m at 3
I got you beat. Mine is a whopping 1! Although I’ve only tried for about five minutes so far.
I just got to 10 today !
12…. HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
If I do say so myself, I think my game “Dream Flight” is a much better approach to this type of gameplay 🙂
i got 65!
71 in 2 hours of play i am now addict !
Good artical man. I Finally hit 119, beating my buddy who scored 111. Crazy addicting
My high score is 168
My highscore is 266
High score of 377 for me
By the way if you don’t upload a screenshot I assume you’re lying through your teeth with these high scores. I just got 9999
177 is my high
My score is 437, eventhough i installed this game yesterday >.< I even didn't feel angry while I was playing this game 😀
Hacked, but good try.
this is screenshot of my best score : 437. no editing except the watermark to prevent others to claim my ss 😀
High score of 1,279. My initials are SC obviously.
170..:)
My high score..179
keep talking……
keep talking……
269