Flappy Birds creator releases Ninja Spinki Challenges which is just as frustrating

What is the most frustrating game you have played on your mobile phone ?

For me it has to be Flappy Birds.

Back in 2014, the simple game was released which very quickly became a viral hit and topped the app-store charts. The game was so simple and that was both its attraction and its frustration. All you needed to do was tap the screen continuously to keep a bird flying and avoid obstacles (pipes). Hit a pipe and die. Hit the ground and die. Stop flapping the wings and die. Get through a pipe and you get a point. That’s it.

The game became even more of a sensation when the developer Dong Nguyen announced that it was too addictive, he was making too much money (rumor of $50 000 per day from ads) and he was going to take it out of the various app store in 22 hours. [more about that here]

Fast forward to 2017 and the same developer has launched his newest game: Ninja Spinki Challenges!! and I wish I didn’t know about it !

Of course I had to download the game to see what’s it’s all about and now I am addicted and just as irritated as when I played Flappy Birds.

The game follows a ninja who is training to become the uber-ninja.  He needs to complete various tasks to advance his training. Each task is simple and time-based: dodge a bouncing head, jump over some rolling fruit, throw a ninja star at static targets etc. Complete the task until the clock runs out to proceed and all movements are done via small finger movements on the screen. Much like the original Flappy Birds, you die. You die a lot. Here is where you have a choice – start again (where the clock is reset) or watch a brief ad for another game (about 15 seconds) and then continue from where the clock left off.

Smart.

And just like Flappy Birds there is no simple level and it gets harder as you progress. This is just stupidly difficult from level 0 but it seems so stupidly easy from level 0. How hard can it be to press the screen and jump over a rolling banana FFS ? grrrr….turns out VERY !

If you are keen to try it out, search for Ninja Spinki Challenges!! in your app store (Android and iOS). But don’t shoot the messenger when you throw your phone across the room….and then pick it up to try again.