How To Play Facebook Messenger’s Hidden Basketball Game

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Facebook rolled out a new update to Messenger that allows users to play a basketball mini-game with his/her friends directly from the conversation window. The social media giant probably has caught March Madness fever. On Thursday, the social networking giant made a small update to the Messenger app that enables a secret mini-game between you and your friends if you type in the basketball emoji.

How to play the basketball game

To start the game, you should update your Messenger app and then begin a chat. After this, all you have to do is locate the basketball emoji in your growing emoji list. Send the emoji to your friend and tap on the emoji to load the basketball game, says a report from The Next Web.

You’ll get a basketball located at different positions at the bottom of the screen, and all you have to do is to swipe up to put the ball into the hoop. Also you will get cheered if you score. The goal is to challenge your friend to see who can score more points.

The basketball game gets harder though. The backboard starts moving after you hit 10 points, and after you hit 20, the backboard starts moving even faster, making it harder to score baskets. Each players’ score will be shown in the chat, and Facebook keeps track of who the current high scorer is.

Not the first mini game by Facebook on Messenger

Although this is not the first time the social media giant has released a native mini-game on Messenger, it is easier compared to the last mini-game released on the Messenger app. Last year, Facebook added a chess function to let you and a friend battle your logic skills out.

Facebook’s chess game entailed a rather cumbersome game play process and can be accessed by entering @FBChess in the conversation window. On the other hand, the basketball game does not need any mental skills and hence is easier to play with friends.

Let others know if you are breaking the record for Facebook Basketball champ/Ultimate time waster as the game gets more and more difficult the farther you go. Adding a new game can be seen as one more step by Facebook to transform its Messenger from much more than a simple messaging service. The chat app has already been fitted with maps, support for Uber rides, video calls and a virtual assistant.

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