Unless you’ve been living under a rock, then you’ve certainly noticed the Flappy Bird craze.  The addictive game has a simple objective of keeping a tiny bird afloat across obstacles.  It sounds easy, but those who have played the game know that it’s easier said than done.

Countless casual gamers have downloaded Flappy Bird just so they can test their patience or prove that they can achieve higher scores  than their friends.  Unfortunately, if you’re late to this craze, you can no longer download the app as the creator Dong Nguyen was overwhelmed with the success of the app, and took it down.

As you can imagine, Nguyen’s decision led to widespread frenzy.  There is now a huge demand for app developers that can recreate something like Flappy Bird, as the app is not for sale; clones of Flappy Bird grew in abundance; and there’s an auction for devices on which  Flappy Bird has installed.

‘Flappy Bird’ developers needed!

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Online staffing platform Elance is seeing huge demand for developers who  can recreate the magic of Flappy Bird.  Some postings state that they are looking for someone who can deliver something similar to Flappy Bird while other postings are more blunt and are looking for someone who can copy everything about Flappy Bird, down to ad support.

But why all the fuss? Perhaps it’s because Flappy Bird  raked in about $50,000 a day thanks to its ad strategy.  It’s a free game, it’s pretty simple, and it’s very, very addictive.  So of course everyone wants a piece of the action.  It’s all about the money.

• Flappy Bird clones

Because of the hype and subsequent demise of the app, there are now Flappy Bird clones in both the iOS and Android app stores.  There’s Ironpants, Splashy Fish, Flappy Plane, Flappy Bee, Fly Birdie, to name a few.  Many feature the same game play as Flappy Bird – just tap on the screen and move the character through obstacles, and if you have noticed, some of the games have almost the same title as the recently retired game to better catch the eye of game addicts.

Because of the hype, some are using this opportunity to cash in big time.

• Malware galore

For those who are unaware that the original app has been taken down from Google Play, they can easily mistake counterfeit Flappy Bird apps as legit.  But downloading these counterfeit apps can deliver malware to your Android device, put you at risk with misleading surveys designed to gain your  personal information which can be used to get access to your other accounts, and of course to cost you tons of money.

Security firms warn mobile users to be careful when downloading any app, as it could easily contain malware.  Some have resorted to downloading the Flappy Bird APK files to get their hands on the original game, but this too could render users vulnerable to malware.

Trend Micro describes some of these Flappy Bird clones as Premium Service Abusers.  The clones require the user to divulge more information compared to the original app.  The malware that comes with some game clones will contact a “command and control” server to get instructions, send text messages to premium numbers, masks notifications of “received” text messages, so you won’t know what’s happening until you get your bill, which has skyrocketed.

• Outrageous auctions

When Flappy Bird was taken down, some were quick to put up postings of their devices with the game installed on eBay just to see if anyone would bite.  Because of the craze, two devices with the game installed received bids reaching close to $100,000 a piece.  But eBay has pulled the said devices since you cannot sell a device that has a copyrighted material installed on the service.

eBay stated that mobile devices should be restored to factory settings before they are allowed to be sold on eBay.  Those who posted their devices with the Flappy Bird installed is in violation of eBay’s policies, thus pulled from the site.

Though eBay has put a cork in this absurd bidding, there are still some sites where you can get your hands on a device that has the game installed like Gumtree, which has a posting for a Samsung Galaxy S4 with Flappy bird for £1,000.

photo credit: dagustino via photopin cc

photo credit: Desiree Catani via photopin cc