The infamous mobile game Flappy Bird has been recreated in many forms over the years. Now, there’s a version of it that runs inside the icon of a web browser tab.
FlappyFavi is a new twist on Flappy Bird, created by software developer Mewtru. Just like the original game, it’s a 2D platformer where you are a bird that must flap its wings at precise times to avoid pipes above and below you. However, in this version, the playable area is limited to the web page icon in the browser, also known as the Favicon.
The page for the game explains, “A tiny Flappy Bird clone that lives in your favicon. Wonder why I made this? Don’t overthink it. Also you probably can figure it out but this doesn’t work on mobile. I also only tested it on chrome lol.”
The game also appears to work fine in desktop Firefox, but it’s unplayable in desktop Safari on a Mac. Apple’s browser doesn’t even show the page icon unless you have multiple tabs opened, and even then, the icon doesn’t seem to dynamically update in Safari like it does in other browsers. Most mobile browsers also don’t show or dynamically update page icons.
We’ve seen a few similar projects over the years, like Mashpoe’s favicon recreation of the Chrome Dino game, and a favicon clone of the Defender arcade game. Most of them work in the same way: they either have a collection of icons or dynamically draw icons, and the page’s icon is updated rapidly based on user input. Most web browsers support dynamic page icons for notification indicators and other similar use cases—this is just pushing those abilities to the extreme.
FlappyFavi and other similar Favicon-based games aren’t all that playable, but they are fun technical demonstrations of what you can do with modern web browsers. Try to beat my high score of eight points.
Source: Mewtru (Twitter/X)
