Very few mobile phone games have been able to captivate my attention like Angry Birds. I’ve spent countless hours flinging countless birds across my screen in the hopes of crushing buildings to squash green pigs and get the birds’ beloved egg back. The game’s destructive physics helps make this a very entertaining puzzle game, and the great level variety seals the deal.

Released in 2009, Angry Birds is a puzzle game that uses multi-colored birds that take on the properties of bombs and other abilities when pushed to the limits by greedy green pigs. You follow the birds on their adventure to get their egg back, even if it means knocking buildings over.

To play, you simply load up a bird in your slingshot, pull back while setting your angle and power, then let go to start the destruction. Angry Birds’ gameplay is very easy to understand, and the payoff for blowing stuff up is ultimately satisfying. You can demolish anything from stone castles to glass houses as you punish the egg-stealing pigs. There are a whole host of birds you use to attack with, such as the basic red cannon baller, a yellow dive-bomber, and little blue birds that split into three when you tap them mid-flight. Deploying the right bird at the right time is the key to finishing stages with a perfect score.

You always receive the birds in a particular order, which reduces some of the strategy. Even though some birds can be used to set up chain reactions, like using a burrowing hen to soften up a building’s stone exterior and then following up with a ticking explosive bird to blast out the walls–you don’t always get to do this if you don’t get the birds in this particular order.

Although you might fling your birds in the same spot each time, the game’s sensitive physics system usually gives different results. It’s nearly impossible to recreate specific trajectories and reactions, so there’s some luck involved when obtaining a high score. There aren’t really any tangible benefits to completing every mission with a three-star score, besides bragging about your score on the online leaderboards and to your friends.Angry Birds is an all-time classic phone game for me. I love spending time trying to squish pigs and make full use of my bird arsenal. The game’s weapons, physics, and varied levels are really what makes this game fun, addicting, and a favorite for me.