App stores inundated with 'Flappy Bird'

App stores are rejecting the term "flappy" in new game titles as the market is flooded with new games to replace viral hit "Flappy Birds," game designers said. The addictive yet simple "Flappy Birds" game, in which players touch their phone screen repeatedly to make a graphically simple bird flap its wings and maneuver through a series of pipes, was pulled from app stores Feb. 9. The game had been available for sale for just a handful of weeks before the game designer said he tired of all the hype and attention. Other game designers are looking into cashing in on the void left by the game, but Apple and Google app stores are reportedly rejecting any games that have the word "flappy" in the title, TechCrunch.com reported. Game designer Ken Carpenter of Mind Juice Media said Apple rejected his "Flappy Dragon" game with the message, "we found your app name attempts to leverage a popular app." There are games available in these app stores that clearly leverage the type of game "Flappy Bird" was but don't use a similar name, like "Splashy Fish" and "Ironpants," both No. 1 and No. 2 in the Apple App Store's top charts, TechCrunch reported. There are also other games that do use "flappy" in the title, like "Flappy Plane" and "Flappy Bird Flyer," Carpenter said.