The unique creator of the short-lived cellular recreation Flappy Chook has distanced himself from a gaggle that claims it’s bringing the sport again after a decade hiatus — and a few on-line clues recommend it might have crypto ties.
Dong Nguyen made his first submit on X since 2017 on Sept. 15, calling out the corporate that plans to re-release his 2013 recreation after buying the trademark earlier this yr.
On Sept. 13, a gaggle calling itself The Flappy Chook Basis stated it was re-releasing Flappy Chook, claiming in an X submit that it took “buying authorized rights and even working with my predecessor” to launch the sport.
“I didn’t promote something,” Nguyen wrote, including he has no relation to the sport. “I additionally don’t assist crypto.”
Supply: Dong Nguyen
The Flappy Chook Basis stated it acquired rights to Flappy Chook from Gametech Holdings LLC.
Gametech filed an opposition to Nguyen’s Flappy Chook trademark final yr and gained the rights to it in January after the US Patent and Trademark Workplace (USPTO) decided Nguyen deserted it and terminated his declare.
Flappy Chook, launched in Might 2013, is a side-scrolling cellular recreation during which gamers faucet their cellphone display to information a chicken by means of gaps in inexperienced pipes. The rating is set by what number of they efficiently navigate.
By early 2014, it turned a viral hit and was probably the most downloaded recreation on Apple’s App Retailer, with Nguyen claiming it was making $50,000 a day.
In 2014, Nguyen instantly pulled the sport — 9 months after its launch and on the peak of its reputation — posting on X that he “can’t take this anymore.” He later advised Forbes he took it down as a result of it turned “an addictive product.”
“Flap-to-earn” crypto fingerprints on new recreation
Hidden web site pages for the Flappy Chook Basis’s revived recreation point out that crypto might play a task when it launches — with hints at a token, a launch on Solana and a play-to-earn recreation mannequin.
In a Sept. 12 weblog submit, researcher Varun Biniwale discovered one of many website’s pages — which has now been pulled offline — stated Flappy Chook “will fly larger than ever on Solana because it soars into Net 3.0.”
The web page provides will probably be a “Net 3 recreation,” with “play and earn” and likewise mentions “stake to personal” and “free airdrops.”
A now-deleted web page signifies the brand new Flappy Chook might have hyperlinks to crypto. Supply: Varun Biniwale
A loading display for a prototype of the sport additionally talked about a “$FLAP token” on the Telegram-linked The Open Community (TON) blockchain, Biniwale reported.
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One other prototype recreation invited gamers to attach a TON pockets for rewards, and a separate popup detailed a Telegram-exclusive “flap-to-earn occasion” — a advertising and marketing spin on the tap-to-earn video games which have exploded in reputation on the messaging app.
A popup exhibiting Flappy Chook might have components of a Telegram crypto tapper recreation. Supply: Varun Biniwale
Biniwale pointed to the particular person behind the sport — Michael Roberts, the pinnacle of studio at crypto recreation developer 1208 Manufacturing, who wrote on his LinkedIn that he “spearheaded the return of Flappy Chook.”
Roberts advised Cointelegraph that “extra data needs to be unfolding right here shortly” in response to questions on the internet pages and the sport’s attainable crypto tie-ins.
“Is that this a considerably shady undertaking with the objective of capitalizing off the nostalgic enchantment of a beloved recreation whereas quietly aiming to become profitable from cryptocurrency and Web3 integration?” Biniwale wrote. “It certain looks like it.”
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Replace (Sept. 16, 6:15 am UTC): This text has been up to date so as to add Michael Roberts’ response.