The iOS game Flappy Bird was an unexpected success. Released in March of 2013, it was downloaded a few times between then and the end of the year. But all of the sudden it exploded.

The simple tap and fly game with retro graphics was downloaded more than 50 million times in a couple of months. Its creator was supposedly making around $50,000 in advertising revenue a day, but at the peak of its success he took it down.

Will Oremus of Slate.com joins the show to talk about the rise and fall of Flappy Bird.