Ever spent some time talking to your friends on Facebook Messenger about basketball and looked at that nice orange emoji and wished you could just swipe it across the screen and into the hoop? Ever yearned for a little bit of friendly competition between you and your friends inside a chat to pass those boring classes or long waits? Facebook Messenger has just the answer for your woes.

Inside the latest Messenger update is a new mini game of basketball. You can trigger it by sending the basketball emoji and then tapping it to launch into the game. It's as simple as mini games go: swipe the ball across the screen to try to get it into the hoop. It starts simple with the ball in the middle of the screen, but soon you have to shoot it from the sides too. After you score 10 consecutive points, the hoop and board start moving left to right and you have to time your throw to get the ball inside. The game counts how many consecutive points you've scored and adds this to your Messenger chat.

WHAT'S NEW

Shoot Some Hoops: Want to see what's hiding behind the basketball emoji in Messenger? Just send one and tap to find out!

All you need is the latest Messenger from the Play Store to get started. Oh and some friends who enjoy friendly competition and a little bit of basketball.