Angry Birds, Candy Crush, Clash of Clans, Plants vs. Zombies, Doodle Jump, Draw Something and Fruit Ninja have all been in the spotlight among cellular mainstream mobile mania. The newest player to the game used to come in the form of a pixelated duck whose life mission is to bob up and down between pipes that resemble those of Nintendo’s Mario Universe. Like most addictions, it starts with curiosity.

“I turned to flapping because I thought it’d help me escape my problems.” said Jessica Brockway, senior.

The stages for the “flappy addiction” have been documented in the following from various Cam High students as follows:

1.) Curiosity: The app that appeared at the top of the game charts.
2.) Endearment: The little duck is pretty darn cute.
3.) Nostalgia: From the Mario theme and the coin chime; warm fuzzy feelings when they are reminded of playing Mario.
4.) Vindictiveness: Hey, they just ripped off the Mario theme! Bogus.
5.) Confusion: What the heck? I missed that pipe by a mile! There is no way I hit that!
6.) The false prophecy: OMG, you’re about to get your new best score…April Fools! Joke’s on you.
7.) Rage: Insert your choice profanity here.
8.) Frustration: Ugh, I suck at this game!
9.) Denial: This game is impossible. It’s too hard. They need to make it easier. This game sucks.
10.)Acceptance/Phone throwing: Go home and rethink your life.

The Android version has been downloaded over 50 million times and attracted more than half a million reviews. Unlike other successful game makers such as Rovio Entertainment, which produced the hugely popular Angry Birds game and has hundreds of programmers, Flappy Bird was made by a single creator in a few nights. The game, said to be inspired by Nintendo’s Mario Bros., has earned (on average) $50,000 a day from advertising.

However, as of Feb. 9, Flappy can flap no more. The day before it was removed, Dong Nguyen, the game’s creator announced on Twitter that the game was to be taken down from both Apple’s App Store and Google Play, writing, “I am sorry Flappy Bird users, 22 hours from now, I will take Flappy Bird down. I cannot take this anymore.” He went on to say that taking down the game “had nothing to do with legal issues” (which many have speculated). Instead, Nguyen said that he was “freeing people from an addiction.”

Nguyen denied the lawsuit rumors. Following the removal, media outlets reported that several merchants on eBay that were offering phones which had the app pre-installed for $1499 or more, with some receiving bids as high as $90,000. These listings were removed for violating eBay’s rule stating smartphones must be restored to factory settings before being sold.