Interest in trading card games, or TCG, like Magic the Gathering, Pokemon, and Yu-Gi-Oh, spiked during the pandemic, research finds.

In an article that discusses which countries are most addicted to Magic the Gathering by Zavvi.com, research has found which countries search for Magic the Gathering the most. In the article, Zavvi concluded that the United States is the country that is “most addicted” to the card game, followed by Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Denmark, Australia, Italy, Singapore, Germany, and Austria. That's not surprising, considering how the United States is where Magic originated from. Japan's place as third most addicted shows why it makes sense for Wizards of the Coast to produce Japanese-exclusive cards.

The study uses Google Trends data to see search interest for the hobby, and found that the United States searches for the card game far more than other countries. In the same study, it found the ten countries “least addicted” to MtG: Malaysia, Russia, Peru, Colombia, Taiwan, Ukraine, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and India. One thing of note here is how MtG is very popular in Singapore, a very close neighbor of Malaysia that shares a lot of cultural ties, while the card game has little to no following in Malaysia.

Another thing that the study found is that interest in TCGs in general, not only MtG but also Pokemon TCG and Yu-Gi-Oh, has increased by 82% worldwide over the past few years during the pandemic. However, it's worth noting that the study's findings rely heavily on Google Trends data, which might have been skewed since Google has become a more popular search tool for TCG enthusiasts over the past two years when going to stores looking for cards has become less convenient.

In any case, TCGs continue to rise in popularity, no small thanks to popular celebrities showing off their most precious finds, just like Logan Paul showing off his Charizard during WrestleMania 38.