Aloha Candy Gamers,

This week we thought we’d explore the global phenomenon that is Angry Birds. If you’ve never heard of it, then you’ve probably been living under a rock since 2009, but don’t worry, as the underlord of all things candy I feel it is my civic duty to fill you in.

Created by the entertainment company Rovio in 2009, Angry Birds was originally designed as a simple puzzle game for touchscreen smartphones. Little did the genius minds behind this simple game realise that less than a year later it would shoot up the charts to global success.

Now said to be just as popular as our little Italian friend Mario, 200 million copies of Angry Birds have been downloaded since May 2011. To put it in perspective, that’s nearly two and half times the population of the UK! I found this beautiful infographic, created by IGN, to give you a flavour of the Angry Birds humongous popularity.

So what’s it all about and why is it so damn addictive?

Essentially the Angry Birds concept is simple. There are no words in the game, so no need for language, and therefore it can be played by anyone in the world. All you have to do is control a slingshot, and fire cute fat birds across the screen to knock down poorly built structures to destroy pigs and retake the bird eggs. You just need to set the correct angle to enable your bird to hit the structures in the optimum position.

Simple right? Yes, all too simple. So simple in fact that the competitive human brain can’t help but think we can beat the game, and so we keep playing… and keep playing. Have we learned nothing from Pacman, Tetris and Space Invaders?

Sure, there may be no real skill involved, but therein lies the problem. We can play at any time, to kill a few spare moments, but our brains will not allow us to put down our touchscreen phones because there is always one more level… one more highest score to beat. There is also the rising insatiable thirst to prove to your friends that you are the Angry Birds champion of the world! Mwahahaha.

There are millions of people across the world that are addicted to this game, and  there have even been support groups set up to help combat the addiction. Really, it’s true! In fact, in my attempt to get to grips with the global Angry Birds phenomenon, I came across this brilliant YouTube clip of one such group. If you’re an Angry Birds addict and you do nothing else today, then watch this; you’ll be glad you did!

Oh, just one more thing before you go – in case I haven’t mentioned it yet, officially licensed Angry Birds candy is now available at local Cybercandy store, and also in our online shop. Now you can eat and play with these cute little critters, all at the same time!

’til next week, keep being sweet!