Why do I Play Angry Birds?

I can help you with using your iPad or iPhone. I can look for apps, or tell you about apps that I use.

One that I have used a lot in the last few weeks is Angry Birds. I had heard about it from lots of different people and I thought I had better try it. I am not much of a game player. I like Tetris and Bedazzled. Games where you shoot or kill things seem wrong to me. However, for some reason Angry Birds got me!

Just in case you have never heard of Angry Birds, it is a game where you use a huge rubber band to catapult different birds into a stack of stuff and try to knock things down and get points. The birds are angry for various reasons and are willing to vanish in order to avenge or to free someone. In the original Angry Birds they were getting back at Pigs who had stolen their eggs.

Angry Birds Rio is the one I played this summer. It begins with allowing you to "free" birds that have been captured.  That was OK because I was not trying to "get rid" of anyone. Unfortunately, in time I was actually trying to get rid of irritating monkeys and actually that was pretty fun. I was traveling internationally at the time and so I had hours to fill where I could not easily move or do much else. It felt so good to win each level and even to go back to ones I had passed and try to increase my score.

My theory is that it is the strategy that drew me in. Each of the birds does different things and you can learn by experimenting about their strengths and weaknesses. The stack of stuff changes from level to level so that it interacts differently with the birds. Each level you need to figure out a strategy so that you can win the level (by freeing birds or getting rid of monkeys). If you are really into it and want to connect with others just do a Google Search and you will find TONS of advice. You can connect with other players or even play an online version.

I think I am going to try to use it instead of watching brain-numbing television in the evening when it is too early to go to bed and too late to do thinking work. It costs $4.99 from the iTunes store. I chose the Rio one because I read online that it did not have advertising

Please comment and let me know if you want more information about how to find your own apps on iTunes. 

p.s. I do not consider myself to be an expert on any of these things and love to learn from you also, so please comment if you see things that need to be added to.