Flappy Bird’s bizarre comeback continued yesterday with the launch of a Telegram-only game that adds F2P mechanics and crypto wallets to the original formula.
As we reported yesterday, the game’s original creator Dong Nguyen has made it clear he is not involved with the new game. Nonetheless, the brand’s new owner released a teaser video last week and yesterday launched a Telegram-only Flappy Bird game.
It is described as “The Flap-a-Ton” event, a “limited-time flap-to-earn event”. The blurb continues: “Don’t miss your chance to mine points before the full rehatched Flappy Bird launches in Web 2 and Web 3”.
The ‘Ton’ part is a reference to the Ton blockchain, a network developed by the Telegram team that has now been open-sourced. Ton also has a native cryptocurrency, Toncoin.
The ‘Flap-a-Ton’ Telegram game describes itself as “a sneak peek of the full game launching later this year,” and it invites players to “Join a team, crack open daily eggs, and earn points”. The top performing teams, or Flocks, are promised prizes every week.
The game itself is much easier than the original title and swiftly pushes the player into joining a ‘flock’ to compete on the game’s leaderboards. Once you do, you see the ghosts of other players attempting each level alongside you, and the familiar green pipes are swapped out for wooden crate-like obstacles.
There also seems to be a nod to Fortnite in the opening moments of each run as you and your flock jump from a flying bus. Each run appears to be capped at 50 obstacles before you reach the finish line.
Tapping around the menus at the bottom also reveals the ability to connect a crypto wallet to the game in exchange for in-game currency. You can also earn in-game currency through collectibles in the game itself, incentivised ads between rounds and an ongoing idle game mechanic.
There are also standard free to play mechanics like daily rewards and extra currency for following the game on its social channels. At the time of publication the in-game shop was not live, however.
The return of 2014 viral sensation Flappy Bird was announced last week, but as various internet sleuths have noted, the rights to the Flappy Bird name have been dormant for so long that a company called Gametech Holdings LLC appears to have grabbed them from under the nose of original creator Dong Nguyen.
In his first post on X since 2017, Nguyen said of the new game: “No, I have no related with their game. I did not sell anything. I also don’t support crypto.”
