279) Addicting and Angry

Let's talk Angry Birds.

The game has become nothing short of a cultural phenomenon. The addicting game that has millions of iOS and Android users hooked has invaded our desktops, and will soon make their way onto our game consoles. Mattel is developing an analog experience with an Angry Birds board game (see also, plush toys).

And the ultimate conquest? An animated series, which is currently in development.

Now, I'm not an Angry Birds player, so I might be the wrong person to brainstorm exactly why Angry Birds is so popular (or maybe some objectiveness is good). What is it that makes it so engaging? It's certainly not the first game where you launch something to break something else. I ask not from a challenging standpoint, but in an effort to understand the ingredients of an addicting game.

It's like the Pac-man of this generation.



Here's a partial list of attributes of an addicting game, as observed in both games:

- Intuitive - it's easy to see what the objective of the game is.
- Graphically simple.
- An "enemy" - the pigs or the ghosts.
- A "tactile" reward - the knocking down of houses or the eating of dots.

Anything else?