Instagram has quietly added a secret emoji game that you can access in your DMs. The goal of the game is simple: use your finger to move the paddle at the bottom of your screen to keep your emoji afloat and continuously bouncing. Drop your emoji, and it’s game over. The game is reminiscent of the old-school games that would come pre-installed on your phone back in the day, like Breakout or Pong.
To access the hidden game, all you have to do is open up a DM chat, send an emoji, and then click on it. After that, you will be transported to a yellow screen with a paddle and emoji of your choosing. The emoji will move faster as the game progresses and the background color will get darker.
Image Credits: TechCrunch/Screenshot
From my testing, I found that you can use any emoji you want, but you can only access the game by sending a single emoji. The game saves your high score, so you can come back to it at any time to try to beat your previous high score. Your high score is saved across your DMs, so you don’t have to go back to the first emoji that you sent when activating the game. You can also activate the game by clicking on an emoji that someone else sent in a DM.
It’s worth mentioning that the other person in the chat won’t know what you’re doing, so you may want to fill them in on why you’re sending them a random emoji.
Although the game works on both iOS and Android, unfortunately, not everyone has access to it. In tests, some users at TechCrunch had access to the game, but others did not.
An Instagram spokesperson told TechCrunch in an email that the company is always working on new ways to make “Instagram feel more fun,” which is why it rolled out the game. However, the company didn’t share any details about its availability.
