Can you survive 'Foldy Bird'? A clever challenge for foldable phone users

What you need to know

• Foldy Bird is a Flappy Bird clone that uses a folding phone's hinge as a mobile game controller.
• The game requires you to fold your phone to start, play, and retry.
• Each fold keeps your Foldy Bird flying, adding a new twist to an iconic and addictive mobile game.

Foldable phones provide greater utility than a traditional slab phone, because when you open them up, you're greeted with a display that's double the size. But what if the hinge mechanism itself became a feature?

With a new web game developed by user Rebane on X (formerly Twitter), it is one. "Foldy Bird," a Flappy Bird clone, uses the hinge on your foldable phone as a mobile game controller. You keep folding your phone to fly the Foldy Bird, avoiding the green pipes to earn a high score. It takes a game concept that was already addictive and obsessive and makes it even more so — rather than tapping the screen, players need to physically fold their display to keep their bird alive.

The game is a clever project, and it's one Rebane says was built in an hour without using AI. You can see the game's full source code here, and play it for yourself here. However, it requires a foldable phone to play, and only works in the Chrome browser for Android. The game doesn't require any tapping — users need to fold their device to start, play, and retry.

The game's instructions warn to "play this game at your own risk and only on your own devices." That's because, as fun as this creation is, it probably puts you on a fast track to breaking your phone. Foldables are rated to survive a few hundred thousand folds, but they're not designed for forceful and quick folds in rapid succession. If your foldable doesn't break from playing the game, it might break from rage when you inevitably crash your bird into a pipe.

If you have a foldable, Foldy Bird is certainly worth trying. It's hard to think of a more clever use of a folding display mechanism than as a mobile game controller.