Gardening Game Created by Teen Is Breaking Records

Whether it serves as a chill escape from the onslaught of the real world or simply a way to beat vacation doldrums, a viral Roblox game about gardening has become the surprise hit of the summer. Grow a Garden, created by a 16-year-old in a few days, has shattered records for the most concurrent players of any game in history, beating out video games that take years and millions of dollars to develop. And there's no one to shoot, fight, or race. If your last attempt at cultivating vegetables was FarmVille in 2010, don't worry—your tomatoes will grow even if you never water them.

• Grow a Garden is as simple as its name suggests—players can fill a plot of land with plants and animals, harvest and sell, trade, or steal each others' bounty, the AP reports. The game is low stress, with an aesthetic reminiscent of Minecraft and a soundtrack of soothing classical tunes such as Mozart's Rondo Alla Turca playing in the background.

• Its popularity has further cemented Roblox's place not just in the gaming world but in popular culture—for better or for worse, it's where the kids hang out. "There's a huge percentage of gamers that play Roblox and the actual industry just views it as like this esoterically immature platform of weird gameplay habits," says Janzen Madsen, CEO and founder of Splitting Point studios, which acquired the game from its teenage creator. "Well, I actually think in five years this is what player expectation is gonna be. And because you guys haven't embraced it, like you're not gonna know how to make games."
• Coincidence or not, Grow a Garden soared to popularity around the same time that Take-Two Interactive announced it would delay the launch of its wildly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6 until next year. In late June, the gardening game logged 21.6 million concurrent players, surpassing Fortnite's previous record of 15.2 million, according to Roblox.

• To start growing your garden, you'll need a Roblox account. The game will start you out with an empty plot and some money—sheckles—and a starter seed. From there, you can plant seeds, harvest and sell your crops and buy more seeds, animals, or tools for your garden. While it is possible to play the game without spending real-world money, it will take longer. Once you sell enough crops, you earn money to buy more expensive seeds beyond basic carrots and blueberries. Some of the rarest items, like the Candy Blossom Tree or Titanic Dragonflies, have fetched more than $100 on eBay, the New York Times reports.
• Roblox says around 35% of players since the game was created in March have been 13 or younger. BBC gardening presenter Thordis Fridriksson hopes it will inspire some interest in real gardening. "Obviously the whole process is pretty different to real life, but it taps into the same thing which makes gardening so addictive, and that's planting seeds and watching your garden grow," she says. "Fingers crossed some of the people who love the game will try growing something at home."