Just in time for March Madness, Facebook Messenger’s latest app update includes a hidden basketball minigame that is sure to absolutely destroy your productivity for the day. Fair warning: If you want to get anything meaningful done today, you should probably stop reading right now.
Mike Wehner
For those of you still here, this is how the game is accessed:
- First, make sure your Facebook Messenger app is updated to the latest version
- Send a basketball emoji to the person you want to challenge.
- Once they receive it, tap the basketball on your screen.
- If you beat a high score, click the “Back” button to post it to your chat window. This will automatically update the high score on your opponent’s screen as well.
The gameplay is fairly straightforward but also extremely challenging. A basketball will appear on the bottom of the screen, and it’s your job to flick it into the hoop. The ball will reposition itself after each successful basket, so you’ll have to adjust your shots accordingly. Oh, and once you successfully score 10 consecutive buckets—no easy task—the basket itself begins moving back and forth across the screen, making things exponentially more difficult.
Mike Wehner
Seeing your opponent gradually increasing their high score, and the subsequent urge to prove that you can do the same, is surprisingly addicting for such a simple game. Perhaps Facebook should spend more time on things like this and less time trying to duplicate everyone else’s ideas.
H/T Android Central | Screengrab via Mike Wehner
