In 2009, Barack Obama was sworn in to the Oval Office, Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards and Angry Birds made its debut in Apple’s newly developed iPhone app store.

At the time, it seemed like everyone had the game on their phones, using their fingers to fling the colorful birds at different obstacles and rack up points to advance to new levels. But what was once a fun way to kill time in a waiting room has turned into an empire over the past 10-plus years. Ahead is your all-encompassing guide to everything that Angry Birds is and has catapulted into since.

The Game

As the story goes, Rovio, a small Finish gaming company run by cousins Mikael and Niklas Hed, was on the verge of bankruptcy in 2009. The Heds had developed 51 gaming titles before landing on their 52nd, and subsequently, the one that would change their lives: Angry Birds. After eight months of developing the game, Niklas watched his mother burn a turkey during one of their holiday celebrations because she was too distracted playing Angry Birds to watch it roast in the oven. “She doesn’t play any games,” Niklas told Wired in 2011. “I realised: this is it.”

Rovio

Since the creation of the original game, the team has developed many more offshoots. Among them are: Angry Birds Blast!, a balloon-bursting puzzle game; Angry Birds AR: Isle of Pigs, an augmented-reality adventure; and Angry Birds Match, a cute matching game. And as of 2019, Angry Birds games have been downloaded more than 4.5 billion times. Definitely not something to be angry about.

The Characters 

At the center of Angry Birds is the angriest of them all, Red. This bright-red avian protagonist is anything but cheery. 

What Chuck, one of Red’s best friends, lacks in anger, he makes up for it in humor. This zany yellow bird is full of energy and bad ideas, which always keeps things interesting for his friends. 

While his name would suggest otherwise, Bomb is one of the chillest birds in the game. Though his presence might be larger-than-life, he has an even bigger heart. But there’s a limit to his kindness: If he gets worked up, he explodes. Bomb especially cares for the hatchlings, the smallest, youngest birds who look up to the bigger birds. 

All of these birds absolutely hate the green pigs, who are menacing and great at building things. It’s also important to note that unlike birds in real life, the Angry Birds cannot fly, which is where slingshots come into play. 

The Movies

Two major animated films have expanded on the Angry Birds universe. The Angry Birds Movie, which was released in 2016, focuses on Red (Jason Sudeikis), who lives as an outcast on Bird Island because of his short temper. At an anger management class, he meets Chuck (Josh Gad) and Bomb (Danny McBride), who become his allies after menacing green pigs (led by Bill Hader) invade the island. (Although they don't speak in the games, they do in the screen adaptations.)

Everett Collection

In The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019), the rivalry between the birds and pigs is taken to another level when a new force threatens both Piggy and Bird islands. This forces Red and his friends to team up with the pigs to save their islands, which turns out to be harder than they expected. There are rumors that there could be a third movie coming out sometime in the near future, but nothing has been confirmed just yet.

The Shows

In addition to movies, there are quite a few TV shows under the Angry Birds banner that expand on the universe established in the game.

Angry Birds Toons was the first series to come from the game, debuting in 2013 and documenting Red, Chuck and Bomb as they go on adventures while guarding their eggs from the pesky pigs for the course of seven seasons. Since then, a number of spin-off series have appeared, like Angry Birds Stella, which focuses on the bright pink bird and her gaggle of girlfriends as they clash with Stella’s former best friend, Gale, who’s earned the nickname “Bad Princess.” And then there’s Angry Birds Blues, a show about the hatchlings and all of their wild hijinks, and Angry Birds on the Run, which follows the birds once they get transported into the human world. 

Angry Birds Summer Madness is the most recent series of the franchise. This 2022 prequel, made up of 11-minute episodes, follows Red, Chuck, Bomb and Stella — Red’s childhood friend with enough snark to rival his own — as teenagers spending their summers at Camp Splinterwood, where they work to fight the establishment while still having fun. 

For those who like to keep up with the villainous pigs, there’s Piggy Tales, the animated series that centers on the minion pigs as they solve their problems with very limited wisdom and resources. But if you want more of a behind-the-scenes look at how the birds stage all of their adventures, then you’ll love Angry Birds MakerSpace, which follows the birds in their warehouse, where they use tech to overcome obstacles. You can get another look into the flock’s escapades in Angry Birds Bubble Trouble, which shows them at play in their bubble garden, pretending to be superheroes and getting in all kinds of, well, trouble. 

With so many series to watch, it’s safe to say that you’ll be occupied with watching for a very long time. 

The Merchandise

If you want to wear your Angry Birds fandom on your sleeve, there’s merch for that.