Facebook’s latest attack on worker productivity is here: a basketball mini-game hidden inside the Messenger app. Now you can celebrate NCAA March Madness and miss deadlines all at once!
To play, make sure you’re running the latest version of the Messenger app. Then use it to send a friend a message containing the basketball emoji.
Once the message is sent, tap the emoji and up pops simplicity itself – a white screen, a basketball and a hoop.
Use your finger to flick the basketball toward – and ideally into – the hoop. Successful shots are rewarded with a thumbs-up, flexed bicep, clapping hands and such. Misses get a frowny face. Sink 10 in a row and the challenge increases – the backboard begins slowly moving back-and-forth across the screen as if possessed by the demon of air balls past.
We never got past 10, but we were on deadline. Yeah, that’s it …
The game is highly addictive. Proceed only if you have great amounts of either self-control or time on your hands.
