The Jig is Up!

I’m not much of a phone gamer, but when I first tried Angry Birds from RoviMobile, I immediately understood why over 50 million people have become hooked overnight on this super silly pastime.

Angry Birds pits some nasty squawking birds against a pigpen filled with noisy grunting pigs in a multilevel phone game that works both on iPhones as well as most other smartphones. Basically, you use your finger to slingshot multitudes of angry birds at ever-changing pigpen structures in order to explode evil pigs in classic arcade fashion.

The plot of this puzzle game is thus: evil pigs have stolen the bird’s eggs, and now the birds are pissed off and fighting back. But the premise of the game is irrelevant, as this game is just flat out engrossing from the very first finger stroke.

The graphics are appealing for all ages, and the soundtrack just makes you want to LOL from the very first shot fired. There are dozens of levels to unlock, and I gave up after level 15 or so, as the game complexity increases infinitesimally to the point where I suspect only diehard gamers (or dog-determined youngsters) would care to continue.

But what I found really amazing about this simple game is the amount of money made by creative game developer RoviMobile, and the resulting spinoff of attention this game is receiving. Development costs are estimated at just $100,000 USD, and revenues after the initial release range between 40 and 50 million USD.

A special Halloween and a Christmas edition have been produced, and there are rumors of a movie or cartoon TV show in the offing. For diehard fans and infants, there is even a collection of stuffed toys for sale online.

This awfully addictive and silly game works on the iPhone/iPad platform, as well as Android and Nokia phones. For Blackberry users who need to waste some time as well, a version is expected out very soon.

What and where to get:

Angry Birds for the iPhone/iPad
ITunes Store (www.apple.com/itunes/) for Rs.73

Angry Birds for Nokia and Android phones
GetJar Store (www.getjar.com/angry-birds/) for about Rs.115

Angry Birds Plush Toys
RoviMobile Website (angrybirds.myshopify.com/collections/plush-toys) for Rs. 870 + Harilo.com shipping and handling