I'm Addicted

To ANGRY BIRDS! It's not easy for me to admit. I'm not a gamer. I never liked games and I'd downloaded some free ones on the iPhone and I never got hooked. I didn't think Angry Birds interested me … but I wanted to see what all the hype was about so I downloaded it. BIG MISTAKE. HUGE. OF ASTRONOMICAL PROPORTIONS. Once I started playing, I couldn't stop.

What's the point of the game? In a nutshell – the pigs stole the birds' eggs and made omelets out of them and the birds are pissed. They want revenge and so they are dive bombing the pigs to destroy them. Seriously. This is important stuff. Well, it became hugely important to me. So the birds go in the slingshot one at a time, and I send them to dive-bomb the pigs. And some of those pigs wear helmets and are very well fortified which annoys the crap out of me to be honest! Excuse my language, but that's what happens when I play Angry Birds. Anyway.

Two things I immediately noticed – the game was about understanding things that are usually beyond me – things like aerodynamics (how to position the birds to get them to hit the target) and a form of architectural and structural understanding (what are the weak spots in the structure, where to hit them, and with which bird – because not each bird does well on certain objects.) The yellow bird is great with wood not concrete, for example. And how long did it take me to figure out that the blue bird split into three if you tap the screen? Don't ask. It's embarrassing. But soon I became determined to pass each little screen within each level. OK that's fine, and I'd pass and move to the next one, and eventually I unlocked the Torpedo bird (not sure if that's the name) but for a measly $1 paid once, you can use this massive bird once an hour to demolish an entire screen – the bird follows a piece of meat you toss. If you toss the meat to the right place, you demolish even more and your score is higher. Now that was all well and good – exciting even – and then I finished a whole level – and discovered that Angry Birds suggested I go back and master that level by getting three stars on every screen. That was a little demoralizing because I hadn't realized that was the goal (see, I told you I'm not too swift). So where I had been happy to pass a level, I now wanted to get three stars – and that meant no Torpedo Bird use. I had to go with good old fashioned brain power (those who know me well, STOP LAUGHING!)

I've done very well for myself as I go up and up levels – there are some I just can't manage to get 3 stars on no matter how hard I try. And there are some that when I conquer a level, I'm just so danged proud! (Seriously stop laughing!) But then I came to something that literally fried my brain – the BOOMERANG birds. They're scary. You use the slingshot and send them past where the pigs are hiding – then you hit the screen and bam, the birds go chomping back towards the pigs. I can't quite figure them out. They scare me. So I'm back to focusing on what I do understand, getting three stars on the other screens. Eventually I'll face those Boomerang birds that I lovingly call DoDo Birds. Not.

I saw that during the Super Bowl, Rovio the makers will have a commercial for a new game that will unlock an all new super secret level of Angry Birds. EXCITING!

So here we are. Me, my iPhone and the Angry Birds.

As an aside, those of you who are wondering and I know there are many, NO I AM NOT GIVING UP THE BLACKBERRY FOR THE VERIZON IPHONE. Nor am I giving up the AT&T iPhone for the Verizon iPhone. Why not?

1. I need BBM for my friends and family. Must keep Blackberry.

2. I don't use the iPhone for calls because I don't get decent AT&T service in my area – BUT AT&T IS 4G and I can do more things at once; Verizon is still 3G.

4. It's not worth what it will cost me to break my AT&T service contract.

5. If I get any new iPhone that costs me money, I'll wait for the iPhone 5 to come out.

Whew.

So back to the point – anyone else addicted to Angry Birds? And if so, let's dish! If not, share your dirty little addiction secret? Scramble? What's your addiction? You know you have one!