It's not just the E-Trade baby who's mastered these apps (Photo: blogcdn.com)

Gather round kids, and set down your game of Tiny Wings for just a minute, because we have some mind-blowing news to tell you. A survey commissioned by Popcap Games and released today reveals that people are addicted to mobile gaming. Yes, that’s right, the Angry Birds Flu has officially infected a majority of the U.S. and U.K. populations.

The survey, conducted by Information Solutions Group, asked participants where and on what device they prefer to play mobile games. Nearly 70 percent of the 2,031 respondents chose to do so while sitting on the couch, and another 40 percent enjoy these complex, intellectually stimulating apps while watching television. Apparently, Mad Men isn’t really doing it for people anymore.

No, you can’t go back to your game yet, because it gets better. One out of every 10 respondents sneaks in a little Fruit Ninja while worshipping, driving a car or watching a movie. We’re not sure who should find this more concerning: God, Steven Spielberg or the person you just T-boned.

Even more worrisome is the fact that 10 percent of those surveyed have missed an appointment, class, ride or flight because they were caught up in a mobile game. Of course, according to the survey, many of these religiously apathetic, Spielberg-haters are young men with enough expendable cash to spend over $50 annually on mobile games. We're looking at you, Harry and Peter Brant.

Let's not fault the eight percent of people who need a little gaming break at school, or the nine percent who use Angry Birds to stay awake during their kid’s Little League game. But to those four percent playing games in the gym, don’t you think you should take a little break to work off those potato chips you consumed while watching Girls and playing Words With Friends?

Giordano Contestabile, the senior director of mobile product and business strategy at PopCap Games, told USA Today that he found these results surprising, likely because he still engages in such outdated activities as reading and face-to-face socializing.

But don’t worry. He will soon be sucked in, as will the rest of the planet.

“We believe mobile gaming is invading the last bastion of video game consoles and personal computers: the home,” said Dennis Ryan, the vice president of Wordwide Publishing at PopCap in a statement.

Looks like Mark Zuckerberg has some competition for world domination.

Kathleen Henkel attempts to play Solitaire Blitz for 30 hours straight with only a ten-minute break per hour. (Photo: Jess Schiewe)

It was lunch hour on the corner of Lexington Avenue and 47th and the intersection was teeming with people. A Prêt-A-Manger employee proffered brownie samples to passersby on a silver tray. A family of five, laden with backpacks and rolling suitcases, searched for a cab. A man in a suit peeled a banana. A panhandler begged for money. A knock-off purse salesman set up shop. And Kathleen Henkel, a 68-year-old retiree from Oakland, New Jersey, played another round of solitaire.

“This game is great,” said Ms. Henkel, a sprightly red-head wearing a patterned shirt and skirt outfit that she bought in West Africa and a beaded ankle bracelet. “It’s addicting.”

She was sitting in front of laptop computer in a white corner room penned in by two walls of floor-to-ceiling windows facing out to the street. Cameramen and videographers crowded around her, snapping pictures and rolling film. Curious pedestrians, passing by, paused to peer in. Models—Dan Metz, Brandon Collins, Jay Parks, and Georgie Badel— and minor celebrities—Kenley Collins, Chelsea Krost, and Lady Jenn Bocian—ostensibly there for the publicity—“What is this for again?” said Ms. Collins—preened in the background.

Ms. Henkel hardly noticed them. Her eyes, hidden behind red-wire glasses, were glued to the screen in front of her. She’d played solitaire before, but today was different. Today she is attempting to break the world record for the longest videogame marathon playing a card game. She’s not alone: 31-year-old mother of three, Laura Rich, from South Wales, is attempting to do the same on the other side of the pond.

A few months ago, both women were contacted by PopCap Games, a video game developer based in Seattle, best known for their 2000 gem-swapping game, Bejeweled. The idea, they were told, was two-pronged: create publicity for their new social media game, Solitaire Blitz, and raise money for charity.

“We wanted to do something unique,” said Laura Jackson, a public relations representative for PopCap Games who produced the New York event, “and we knew this would be the way to do that.” Solitaire Blitz is an animated, nautical-themed online card game that can be played for free on Facebook. Since its release in March, over two billion hands of the game have been played, the company said, with an average of 1.6 million sessions played per day.

To find players who were up for the challenge, PopCap Games looked at a list of the most frequent Solitaire Blitz players. The results were surprisingly unvaried, said Ms. Jackson who was part of the selection, and consisted mostly of women over the age of 35. But finding a player was difficult. “I was reaching out to players and I wasn’t the getting the sense that any of them were right,” said Ms. Jackson. “I had to be able to pick someone who would be able to go the 30 hours and I wasn’t getting that sense that any of them were very motivated.”

Ms. Rich, the London player, was selected from the list of avid players, but this was not the case with Ms. Henkel. In fact, prior to finding out about the event, she had never even played Solitaire Blitz. “But it’s not like I hadn’t seen the game before,” Ms. Henkel said. “I am on Facebook.”

So how did Ms. Jackson choose Ms. Henkel to be the New York Solitaire Blitz player? “I remember distinctly it was 5 a.m. and I woke up and I thought, ‘Kathleen Henkel,’” Ms. Jackson said.  “She’d be our player.” The women had met three years earlier while taking an African drumming seminar in Guinea, West Africa, but had lost touch once they returned to the States. “But I knew she was the one,” Ms. Jackson said. And it turned out she was right. Ms. Henkel, a life-long solitaire player, was interested in the challenge, and she was also a fan of the organization that it would be raising funds for, charity: water. The donated funds are used to bring clean and safe drinking water to people in developing countries through the construction of wells and education about hygiene and sanitation.

Her role in the solitaire challenge was meant to be, she told Betabeat. She's been playing solitaire since she was young, and she retired from her job as a substance abuse counselor for criminal offenders to pursue projects providing access to water after a visit to West Africa.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records rules, she is allowed a ten-minute break every hour, which she plans to spend doing Qigong stretches, visiting the bathroom, or eating a snack.

“Right now I’m doing okay," she said, after almost five hours of playing. She spent the last few weeks training by playing the game for a few hours each day, and had a bran muffin and Greek yogurt for breakfast. But there’s another thing she attributes her strength to: her amber necklace. “I’m a crystal fanatic,” Ms. Henkel said. “I was going to wear a Labradorite necklace but when I looked up the properties of this one, I just had to wear it today.” It is believed that amber brings good luck and protection.

If all goes to plan, Ms. Henkel will be playing Solitaire Blitz in the corner space of the Roger Smith Hotel on Lexington Avenue until 3 p.m. Wednesday, June 27th. "Fresh juice would be nice," she said, glancing up briefly from the computer screen to muse about lunch. "I heard they have a place around here."