It all started in 2018 with a simple joke shared among friends during a game jam in San Francisco. Jessica Chen, then a game developer at a major studio, scribbled "Why did the chicken cross the road?" on a whiteboard as the team brainstormed ideas for mobile games. What began as an inside joke quickly evolved into a passionate side project for Jessica and three other developers: Marcus Williams, Sophia Rodriguez, and David Park.
Working nights and weekends from Jessica's apartment, the small team built the first prototype of Chicken Road in just three weeks. The original version featured a single chicken character navigating across a busy two-lane road. Despite its simplicity, the game's addictive "just one more try" gameplay caught the attention of early testers.
After six months of development, the team took a leap of faith, quit their jobs, and founded Chicken Road Studios. With a small investment from friends and family, they released the first public version of the game in early 2019. The response was beyond their wildest expectations – within three months, Chicken Road had over one million downloads and was featured on both major app stores.
Today, Chicken Road has evolved into a cultural phenomenon with over 100 million downloads worldwide, a dedicated team of 35 developers, and a passionate community of players spanning 157 countries. What started as a joke has become one of the most successful indie mobile games of the decade – proving that sometimes the simplest ideas hatch the biggest successes.
