This is why the internet is great, people. You hop online one morning to find that Instagram has secretly added a mini game to DMs. No advertisements, no tutorials, no way to actively access it without hearing about it through word of mouth. You're so welcome.

Before I hype the game up too much, know it's very simple: You control a paddle at the bottom of the screen, and your objective is to make sure that a ricocheting emoji doesnt fall beneath your paddle. But every time it reflects off your paddle and bounces off the other edges of the screen, it moves a little faster, which makes it more and more difficult to keep the emoji from falling.

As for the emoji youre reflecting, well, thats entirely up to you. You can use any emoji on your phone for this game, since the emoji is the key to unlocking the game in the first place. All you have to do is open up any random DM on Instagram, send an emoji, then tap on it. This action will instantly launch the game. You can play with a smiley face, a dog, a heart, or even a middle finger if youre feeling bold.

This works with any single emoji sent previously in the chat, too, so you don't have to send an emoji each and every time you want to play. That said, it's a single player experience, and Instagram won't tell the other people in your chat that you're playing, so it might be best not to send a random middle finger with zero context just to play the game. Might I suggest using one of Instagram's AI chats to send your emoji, so you don't need to explain yourself every time you want to play.

At least those AI chat can be put to some use.