Angry Birds migrates off phones, onto real life

Since its release in 2009, Angry Birds has developed a huge and loyal fan base across the globe with over 50 million downloads. The game is now looking to migrate from the phone onto beds, schools, clothes and gaming rooms.

(Angry Birds is a puzzle video game for the iPhone and Android smart phones in which players use a slingshot to launch wingless birds at fortresses with the goal of destroying the pigs that inhabit them.)

The 2011 New York Toy fair featured countless booths with Angry Birds merchandise -- from giant birds, T-shirts and stickers to flip-flops, plush toys and games.

Mattel has gone as far as creating a real-life version of the game called Angry Birds: Knock On Wood. The set comes with three birds -- red, yellow and black -- four pigs, fake wooden blocks, a star, a tree and the slingshot. Players choose cards that tell them which fortress setup to knock down plus which birds they’re allowed to use. Each fortress holds a different point value, and the first player to reach 1,000 points wins.

Time will tell whether the virtual can translate into the real world. But we’ll know soon enough as Angry Birds: Knock On Wood will be out sometime this spring for $14.99.

For those content with having their very own Angry Bird to cuddle, Commonwealth Toys will also have the full set of birds and pigs available in plush-toy form from $5.99 to $14.99. They will be available later this month in Toys R Us as well as specialty, comic book stores and Internet retailers.