Flappy Bird was a mean game. It was extremely simple and yet punishingly difficult; if you could get 10 points, that meant you were pretty good! For a few weeks, the game became an absolute global phenomenon — and in the process, both made its creator a ton of money and kind of ruined his life. On this episode of Version History, David Pierce, Jake Kastrenakes, and Game File’s Stephen Totilo explain the wild rise of Flappy Bird, the enormous backlash to this very simple game, and how it changed our relationship to games, and game makers, forever.

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