Instagram users are only just realizing that there is a hidden game on the app

Instagram users have slowly discovered that Meta programmers have slipped a hidden game into their DMs.

Inspired by Atari’s 1970s classic Pong, the secret game blasts any emoji you choose at increasingly breakneck speeds as long as you’re able to volley back.

“This is actually amazing,” said one podcaster who posted a clip documenting the moment he first learned about the game from his childhood best friend.

‘Everyone has probably already clicked out of this video because they want to try it.’

To access the game, simply open your DMs and send a friend an emoji message. It can be anything: a ghost, a baby, a doughnut, a cheeseburger, or one of the countless other little cartoon unicode symbols on your phone.

The gameplay of the secret emoji game is simple and intuitive.

You slide a paddle along the bottom of the screen to keep your emoji bouncing upwards. Each time it bounces back, it gets faster until it finally gets past your paddle. Then it’s ‘Game Over’.

As the game progresses, its welcoming pastel yellow screen darkens, changing to more intense orange and red colors as the game heats up.

TechCrunchone of the first sites to identify the hidden game, described it as ‘reminiscent of old-school games that would come pre-installed on your phone back then, like Breakout or Pong.’

An Instagram spokesperson told the site that they created and saved the game because the company is always looking for new ways to make ‘Instagram feel more fun’.

Childhood best friends Brian Conz and Zach Misischia, hosts The provisional project podcast and YouTube channel, went crazy trying out the game on their show.

“Isn’t that crazy,” Misischia asked Conz after surprising him with the game in the air.

“I’m terrified of this game,” declared Conz after fumbling a salute of his favorite emoji, the ‘greeting’ face. “My thumb is too big.”

Right now, the hidden game works on both Apple iOS and Android phones.

But despite this. not everyone actually has access to the game yet, based on TechCrunch’s tests.

It could be that the game is in beta mode, or some other form of software testing, or simply has a delayed rollout.

As Instagram power users might tell you, however, the app has long had its share of useful, game-changing secrets.

Users interested in knowing what analytics Meta’s social media platforms use to serve them ads and tailor their feed’s algorithm will want to visit the app’s ‘Ad Topics’, embedded deep within ‘Settings and Activity’.

To get there from the main menu, click on Accounts Center, where you can view your profiles on both Facebook and Instagram.

Then click on Ad Preferences, and from there Ad Topics, where you’ll see the short list of topics that Meta has slowly come to learn you might be interested in based on your user activity.

You can opt out of the topics about which you may see too many inappropriate or distracting ads.

Like the new emoji game, it’s a great way to help make Instagram ‘more fun’ – a light diversion rather than an annoying distraction.