'Flappy Bird' Game High Score & Cheats: How Did the App Become an Overnight Success?

One lovely May day in 2013, Dong Nguyen, an indie developer based in Vietnam, launched the product of three days' work - Flappy Bird.

His app was pretty much unnoticed for the rest of last year, until early December in the UK App Store, The Telegraph said.

"However it wasn't until early January when downloads really began to pick up, leaping from number 1454 in the GB Family chart on January 1 to number one in the GB Games, Overall and Family charts by January 27, where it has remained ever since," the British publication revealed.

According to Distimo, the first downloads happened in Russia. As such, the game's first taste of success involved Russian gamers, getting top rankings in June of the same year. In July and August, Venturebeat noted, the app ranked in Australia. However, things stalled in September and October, when the game underwent a revision.

In November, Nguyen's product gained its "first significant downloads" in the U.S. and a couple in Belgium. Flappy Bird downloads picked up in December, rising 25 times the volume recorded in November. There also were downloads by users from South Korea, the Philippines, Belgium, South Africa, Peru, and Finland.

Then in January 2014, the volume doubled and pushed the game to viral hitdom. Later that month, the app rose to No. 1 on both Google Play and Apple app stores.

So, what is it about Nguyen's creation that made it an overnight sensation?

"The popularity could be my luck," he recently told Chocolate Lab Apps. "I didn't use any promotion methods. All accounts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram about Flappy Bird are not mine."

It could also because the game is simple and easy to play.

"The appeal of Flappy Bird is in its simplicity and its difficulty to master. Anybody can play it, since all you do is tap a touchscreen to make a bird flap its wings. You have to get your bird through narrow gaps in pipes. If you hit them, you die. You do this over and over and try to beat your friend's scores," Venturebeat said.

Nguyen has since declined interview offers pretty much after his app went viral. In a recent tweet, he indicated being overwhelmed by its critical success and has asked to just let him do what he loves to do without the fuss.

"Press people are overrating the success of my games. It is something I never want. Please give me peace," his Twitter post read.

When asked by a user to "hang out" and chill, the game developer responded that "things are out of my control."

"Press people are looking for me right here in my country too!" he tweeted. He also mentioned taking a break after all the hoopla.

Are you a fan of Flappy Bird, too?