China, home to more than 500 million gamers, is now seriously hooked on a simple platform-jumping mobile game on Tencent Holdings’ popular WeChat service.

The game called Tiao yi tiao, which roughly translates to “Jump Jump”, has recorded 100 million daily active users since it was introduced in late December last year through the mini-game application on WeChat, marketed on the mainland as Weixin.

The game, which users can access without downloading or installing additional apps, has its most fervent players resorting to plug-in software, or bots, to help them boost their scores that are shared over WeChat.

Tiao yi tiao players move a hopping black block from one platform to another by tapping the smartphone screen. A point is scored for each successful jump.

Players need to the tap the screen longer when the jumping distance between platforms is greater.

The game provides notification of player rankings, including the top players among a user’s WeChat friends.

The game’s success at swiftly becoming viral owes a lot to the reach of WeChat, which had 980 million monthly active users in the quarter ended September 30.

WeChat, which was initially rolled out by Shenzhen-based Tencent as a mobile messaging service in 2011, has evolved into the country’s largest social network, as well as a popular online platform for payments and money transfers.

Allen Zhang Xiaolong, the creator of WeChat and a senior executive vice-president at Tencent, said his highest score at playing Tiao yi tiao was 6,000 points. Continue Reading