What Really Happened to Flappy Bird?

If the rise and fall of Flappy Bird, a simple game for touchscreen devices that was downloaded about 50 million times before its developer took it down, weren't a true story, some novelist should have invented it. It's your full guide to the app economy's promise and pitfalls.

Flappy Bird appeared in Apple's iOS store on May 24, 2013, and briefly made the top 1,000 in one of the categories, Family. It then sank into obscurity until late last year, when it re-emerged and, by Jan. 17, reached No. 1 in the U.S. iOS store. On Feb. 8, the game's Vietnamese developer, Dong Nguyen, notified users he was taking it down. "I cannot take this anymore," he tweeted. Flappy Bird disappeared the following day. Enterprising users are now selling their old devices with the game installed on eBay. Believe it nor not, there are actual bids in some of the auctions, although one where bidding almost reached $100,000 turned out to be a dud.