Canabalt

"Tap, Tap, Flap, Flap." Ludic Seriality, Digitality, and the Finger

Till Heilmann's 2014 essay in Eludamos uses the mobile hit Flappy Bird, whose entire gameplay consists of one repeated tap, to argue that seriality is fundamental to videogames and that the digital itself originates in the human finger.

• Heilmann's essay argues that seriality, the structure of repeated, countable actions, is the fundamental organizing principle of play in videogames, using Flappy Bird (2013–2014) as its paradigmatic case.
• The author distinguishes 'strongly serialized' games such as Flappy Bird and Tetris, built on sustained repetition, from 'weakly serialized' games such as Heavy Rain and Flight Simulator X.
• The essay concludes that arcade-era design established serial play as the dominant model of the videogame medium.