YYAAH! Shout That At Your iPhone and Watch What Happens

aNewDomain — Apple’s Siri and most other voice-controlled apps demand you to be more articulate than your mother ever demanded. But there’s a new game out for Apple iOS and Windows phone that just asks that you scream and shout.

Listen, it’s harder than it sounds.

Free to download but requiring 99 cents to unlock higher levels, YYAAH! is German appmaker Shape‘s first game. And Shape, best known for its IM+ messaging app for Apple iOS, has created what I believe is the first game ever that makes you shout loudly and often just to stay alive. Here’s my review.

How To Play YYAAH!

The goal of the game is to fly a little plane and not get shot down or run into anything as you fly higher and higher. And there’s only one way to accomplish this. After a three count, you have to start yelling “Yyaah!” and do it loudly and often. Pause the shouting to take a breath or run out of air and you’ll watch your plane plummet or run into various other skyborne objects.

Now, if an American company had created this, it probably would just let you yell, “Yeah.” But here you have to get in touch with your inner German and yell “Ja,” rendered as “YYAAH” in the game. The more German I made it sound, the better I did. I noticed my plane gets better lift when I yelled or sang “yyaah” in a higher pitch, too. I never got very high though, despite the fact that I shelled out for the upgrade.

Come to think of it, it’s surprising that’I’m not better at this game. All my life people have told me I’m too loud. But maybe I just shout the wrong things. Can you play YYAAH better than me?

Check out this video I shot while repeatedly shouting, “Yyaah!” during this game review. Notice that some people get the wrong idea when they heard me shouting at my phone. I even got my friend Takayo to play — in an unbilled appearance. At first her musical theatre background help her get the plane to fly — but then she, too, ran out of breath.

Terry Gardner Yells YYAAH! Credit: Terry Gardner for aNewDomain

The cool thing about YYAAH!

How many games free you from a joystick and put your vocal chords in charge? This game is a must for actors and opera singers that want to strengthen their diaphragms and develop proper breathing techniques to project their voices without depending on a microphone.

But there’s the catch.

Due to how loud you need to shout just to fly the plane in the game, I found it hard to find anywhere to play it, day or night. And the last place I’d recommend playing this flying game would be an airport or an airplane. I’m not sure authorities would believe you when you explained why you were shouting like a nut.

You’d think that home would be the best setting, but not for me. Every time I played YYAAH! in my apartment, I was afraid my neighbor (who already hates me) would call the cops. Playing it near our pool was also a no-go. I share the complex’s swimming pool with the hotel next door.

Even when I was recording that video of my shouting to control the game, a hotel guest came out on her balcony and begged me to stop. It was just 9 p.m. She told me she had just gotten her toddler to sleep.

YYAAH! and I were also unwelcome at 8000 Sunset in West Hollywood. Before I could even demonstrate the game, five gay men turned me down flat in turn.

One said: “It’s Valentine’s Day, honey, and we are already alone. That would not help.”

I’m not sure if that quote is verbatim because I was too embarrassed to ask him to repeat himself.

I did ask the five gay men what I asked what they thought about my odds of getting anyone else to do it. They didn’t think any self-respecting homosexual would be game for this game, ever.

And when I demonstrated YYAAH! to two women outside of Starbucks, I got a chilly reception and some very dirty looks. The refused to play on or off camera. One promised to ask her kid to play. Then she disappeared forever.

And finally, a “Fifty Shades of Grey” style confession …

My opinion on YYAAH went back and forth more often than Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey did in “Fifty Shades of Grey.” Similar to Anastasia’s back and forth reaction to Christian’s playroom, my response kept going from “Yyaah!” to “Naah” and back again. The below clip from “Fifty Shades of Grey” explains exactly what I mean.

Credit: Universal Pictures Australia YouTube channel

But maybe I’m too dour about YYAAH!’s chances in the real world. Maybe people in LA are … different. If you think you are you a natural born pilot — or you just have faith in your own loudness — let me know if you enjoyed your shot at shouting your way to higher ground. Would you give YYAAH! Two Wings Up — or would you ground it? Like Glozell, it’s cuz I want to know!

If you find a great place to play YYAAH! — or any place at all — let us know that, too. If you send us a link to a video of yourself playing YYAHH, aNewDomain founder Gina Smith or I would like to personally take you out to dinner. Only catch: You have to play YYAHH with us! Drop us a line in the comments below.

If you want to see more, watch the video trailer German game developer Shape posted on YouTube for YYAAH!