Angry Birds Day 2010 - Celebrating one year of madness

AppFreak joined the ranks of Angry Birds fans in London yesterday to celebrate the first anniversary of this global gaming phenomenon. Developer Rovio called for meetups around the world and we followed with 784 celebrations and more than 2,300 people involved. The London event, kindly organised by Julien Fourgeaud from #LeStudio52 and a group of volunteers, took place in the central Covent Garden, near the newly opened Apple Store. 

I met the organisers at a "secret" nearby location and collected my goodies to participate in the Flash Mob. This would take place at 14:00 near the Christmas tree in front of the tourist and shoppers that flock the area on a shopping Saturday. I felt a bit ridiculous carrying a placard asking to "Stop the madness," specially after the student protests last Thursday, but I was soon joined by other protesters and random people that would follow us playing Angry Birds on their phones and iPads. 

 

The real shock moment came when we all froze in front of a massive crowd that would take pictures and film us. I couldn't help to laugh seeing the funny positions of my fellow protesters, but I managed to remain still for the required two minutes. Picture of embarrassment courtesy of jonchoo below (which is already a hit with friends on my Facebook wall…)

My favourite part was marching through some of London's most iconic locations, where we could introduce to each other, chat and take fun pictures. The parade continued on The Strand, Trafalgar Square to 10 Downing Street and had a great afternoon at 8 Northumberland where the fun continued with games, Angry Birds on a projector and more competitions.  

All the participants and many curious people that met us in the streets received a limited edition plush toy: unlike the ones that Rovio has on sale, these have rubber bands to be used as a slingshot and they also make Angry Birds' sounds. Aaaaah he ah ha! I'm really happy I took part in this initiative and have to thank all the people involved with the organisation and Rovio for providing these amazing gifts. It was great to meet other people as passionate as me about mobile gaming and realise that we were quite a mixed bunch, with families and children, nerds and geeks and even a couple playing Angry Birds with their iPads during the whole parade. I'm definitely up for the next one! Will you join us?