Tap, tap, tap, tap. A teenager is up at 3 in the morning, obsessively tapping a bird through green pipes. He can’t take his eyes off of the game — he is addicted to the bird. In a way, he’s become the bird.

“When playing Flappy Bird, I feel like I’m in control of the bird. It gives me power over it and excitement every time I get through the pipes,” freshman Luis Walker said.

Flappy Bird was created by Dong Nguyen on May 24, 2013. However, it did not receive many downloads until early 2014. Since it was released, it has had more than 50 million downloads, but early Feb. 10, Nguyen, tweeted that he “couldn’t take it anymore” and completely removed the game from the App Store.

“When it got deleted it really had no effect on me. I had found out a way to duplicate my Flappy Bird so that there are two apps with it so I never lose it. I still play the game for hours a day,” Walker said. “I play Flappy Bird at any moment I can throughout school, the bus, home and even on the toilet. I have gotten my phone taken up nine times already while playing when I wasn’t supposed to.”

Flappy Bird creates stress and anger for those who choose to play it.

“I usually become very upset if I can’t beat my high score or I’m happy if I do beat mine or my friend’s high score. But a lot of the times I get very angry and take it out on my phone or my family,” Walker said. “I’ve thrown my phone multiple times because of this game.”

To many people, Flappy Bird looks pointless and a waste of time, but not to others.

“I play Flappy Bird because I love it, and it’s one of my joys and prized possessions of my life that I have ever had. I will always love Flappy Bird and Flappy Bird will always love me as well,” Walker said.

Like all games, Flappy Bird has different strategies the player can do to make it somewhat easier.

“I play Flappy Bird the most at my house. I will stay up for hours playing the game trying to beat my score going higher and higher. I lay in my bed and try to beat my score. 211 is my best score. I put a piece of paper or post it notes to cover up my score when I play. When I don’t look at my score so I don’t feel as pressured,” Walker said.

Before Nguyen removed the game, there was one last final update.

“The updated Flappy Bird is a lot better, I prefer it. With all of the new colors for the birds being able to play as and new backgrounds, it’s almost like an Android phone,” Walker said. “But any Flappy Bird is a good Flappy Bird for me.”