Angry Birds themed section opens at Sarkanniemi Amusement Park in Finland

I don't get the huge Angry Birds popularity. I mean, it's a fun enough game (that isn't especially novel) but I don't have t-shirts or lunch boxes for games I think are 100x better. What's the deal?

I don't get it either. I plopped down the 99 cents, played a few dozen levels, and got bored with it. No interest in the sequels.

Whaaaa???? How could someone NOT get addicted to Angry Birds? I absolutely love it. I have an Angry Birds t-shirt too. lol

I got my iPod last December, and already I beat the original Angry Birds, Angry Birds Space (which was very short), And I am in the middle of Angry Birds Seasons. When I am finished with that, I'll get Angry Birds Rio. I can't get enough.

However, why in the world has a Nintendo themed section been built anywhere yet? I'd much rather see that than an Angry Birds themed area.

I completed the original game and played a bit with a couple of the sequels, but haven't touched it in a long time. That said, I get the hype; the T-shirts and crap I would never own (I rarely wear any sort of advertising), but my son has a whole wardrobe of Mario stuff, and he also loves playing Angry Birds. I get it.

And frankly, I like this; the Angry Birds theme seems to work better in a park than some themes we've seen (primarily at the former Paramount parks) like Wayne's World and Days of Thunder. I can see the Angry Birds fad sticking around quite a bit longer.

Edit: Tonight I got home from work to find my son decked out in Angry Birds pajamas that I didn't even know he had.

I played it in the apple store when it was new and was unimpressed. People call it the new Super Mario. Not by a loooooooong shot.

Here's why I think Angry Birds a great game: (Mind you this is just an opinion...)

1) It's easy to learn, simple to play and sequential. (You can't play level 4-3 until you beat 4-2) People get satisfaction about moving ahead.

2) You can play it for 20 minutes or for 5 minutes without a huge set up or load time. And even though there are broken sections of wood, stone and glass - there is no clean-up.

3) The characters are "cute" and they use cute animated voices.

4) People like to "destroy" things...and the game allows virtual destruction without blood and gore.

5) It appeals to older and younger people.

6) I think it only cost a buck - though there were free versions albeit with ads.

7) There is some (though limited) strategy.

8) There is justification for the destruction. While the birds are vengeful - their anger is rightous. In other words...If the pigs didn't take their eggs, none of this would have happened and we wouldn't have a game.

In a nutshell...Angry Birds was one of the best bucks I ever spent. It kept preflux happy all the way to Virginia.

The only crack-like game I've played lately is Wordament. Yeah, on Windows Phone. Go ahead and hate... because you don't have it on your iPhone. :)

Great post, Richie.

I will disagree with you about there not being strategy in Angry Birds though. The game is all about strategy, imho.

Vater, I only wear advertisements of things I like, that define me. Angry Birds, South Park, Korn, Superman, Batman, are a few of the T-shirts I wear. I love to find rare licensed Ts of things that I might be interested in.

No new coaster shirts for the last 11 years though. I just can't find one that rocks!