“The slightest difference in swing gets magnified. “It’s not that different from golf,” said professor Frank Lantz, director of NYU’s Game Center, which is starting a master’s program in gaming in the fall. Rankings are constantly in flux, as new levels are released - so to be on top, the game needs to be a constant life priority.

The company behind the game, Rovio, keeps that a secret. No one knows what the maximum score attainable is. “A lot of it has to do with depth perception and an understanding of basic physics,” explained Aaron Gluck, a graphic designer from Minnesota who creates “walk-through” videos on the site .ĭespite its simplicity, the game, which surpassed a staggering 600 million downloads since it was released in December 2009, lends itself to obsession because scores are set by users, not by game creators, making it more of a competitive sport rather than a traditional video game. But there are big differences in how many points you score in the process - by hitting pieces of wood, glass and stone, or special objects. Eliminating all the pigs advances you to the next level. The rules are straightforward: With a slingshot, you throw multicolored birds at green pigs who have stolen their eggs. (There are three types of “Angry Birds” games: “Classic,” “Rio” and “Seasons.” Each game has several episodes and levels, and users are ranked according to the device used.) His highest rank has been fifth out of 1.7 million iPad users in the “Angry Birds” game “Seasons”. He plays 30 to 40 hours per week and painstakingly tracks his scores with Excel spreadsheets that would shame most accountants. “I’ve dabbled in many things, trying to play guitar, do photography, and I don’t know for whatever reason I happen to be very good at ‘Angry Birds.’ ”ĭonnan, 33, who works in financial operations at Hewlett-Packard near his home in Nashua, NH, calls himself a “score hunter” - who plays not to win but to obtain the most points.

“This is going to sound lame, but you feel like it’s so hard to be significant in anything in the world, really,” said “Angry Birds” addict Brian Donnan. All in the quest to be the best bird hurler in the world. They play 40-plus hours a week, create spreadsheets with their scores, forgo sleep. While you might play “Angry Birds” - the most popular game for the iPhone and iPad - on the morning subway commute, or a lazy Sunday afternoon, these diehards are “slaughtering more pigs” than a St. They’re frequent fliers - and only in it for the points.

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