Facebook has a secret basketball game hidden in its Messenger

New York: Facebook has introduced a secret basketball mini-game into its Messenger service, a media report said on Saturday.

The hoop shooting game can be unlocked by sending a basketball emoji to a friend or group in the latest version of the Messenger app and then simply clicking on it, Tech Crunch reported.

To shoot, you need to slide your finger or thumb on the screen. A point is scored for every consecutive basket that you net and the scores are shared in your chat with a friend or group.

The target begins to move after a score of 10. It moves faster after 20 and keeps you hooked on the game for a considerable time.

This is not the first time the social networking site has dropped games into its Messenger service. But this time around it seems more compelling than the chess game that arrived last month.