Deceptively easy at first glance, developer Dong Nguyen’s Flappy Bird is not your typical viral mobile game. No, Flappy Bird is not a game.

       Similar in graphics to the well known Mario Bros video games, yet lacking plot, logic, the feeling of satisfaction after game-play, as well as all the other perquisites of a good game, Flappy Bird involves trying to navigate a creature mistakenly called a bird – perhaps more so a disgustingly disproportioned and simple-winged bee or fly  – in between pairs of never ending green pipes.

       Steerage of the bird consists of, in essence, taps of the finger, through which the bird seems to jump in mid-air with an obnoxious ‘swooshing’ noise, before falling from flight to the ground below until another tap saves it.

       When the bird travels successfully in between a pair of pipes, players hear a high pitched ‘ding’. When a tap fails and the bird hits a pipe and falls – as the bird will inevitably do in the severe world of Nguyen – the player throws their device across the room.

       In addition to needing perfect hand-eye coordination, precise and accurate timing, as well as an ability to predict the unpredictable, Flappy Bird is extremely difficult to win because players cannot win. There is no end to the ‘game’ and each successful pass through a pair of pipes only brings players closer to the end, that is, failure.

        So why is Flappy Bird so popular? Do people really wish to feel the nagging sense of regret that comes with loss of time, money, and confidence?

        The truth is, in the recesses of the human mind is the wish to beat the unbeatable, to conquer what is impossible to tame. People want to believe that with time and effort, anything is possible. Thus, Flappy bird is able to hold dreamers in suspense with the hope that one day it will all end.

       Despite death threats from crazed fans and making 50k a day, Nguyen officially took Flappy Bird off the online stores on Feb. 10, 2014. His twitter feed exemplifies his feelings of guilt for the lives he has ruined. Nguyen tweeted, “I can call ‘Flappy Bird’ is a success of mine. But it also ruins my simple life. So now I hate it.”

       Nevermind, it seems that the only life Flappy Bird has ruined is Nguyen’s.

       Albeit Americans have been overcoming challenges since 1776, Flappy Bird is one mountain that even Miley Cyrus could not have and will never climb.