Angry Birds developer Rovio has announced that everyone's favourite pig-flinging game has been downloaded one billion times, less than three years since it debuted on Apple's App Store.

Angry Birds

The Finnish developer announced on 10 May that the game had passed the billion milestone as the latest installment, Angry Birds Space, recorded more than 50 million downloads in its first 35 days on the market.

Rovio said on its website: "Whoa -- 1 BILLION downloads! Angry Birds was just a small hatchling a couple of years back and now we have one of the largest, most dedicated fan bases in the world."

To thank its customers for showing their dedication, Rovio has announced a competition, which can be entered by posting a message on Twitter using the hashtag #oneofthebillion. One winner picked at random will get a "super limited and exclusive Mighty Eagle ring".

Angry Birds ring

Fans have until 12pm GMT on 14 May to tweet the message.

Angry Birds was first available on iOS in December 2009 and has since expanded to Android, Windows Phone, Mac, Google Chrome and more. The original has spawned not just new games in the form of Angry Birds Seasons, Rio and Space, but also a whole range of real-world products, too.

Rovio has slapped the famous birds and pigs on everything from lunch boxes and clothes to plush toys and board games; there's even a range of Angry Birds-themed adventure playgrounds under construction right now.

Twitter Android