NPD - Insight

Fun and Games

NPD’s Moneeba Baloch examines whether the recent exceptional growth seen in the Games & Puzzles category can continue this Q4.

Games & Puzzles was a lockdown consumer favourite last year, as people stayed at home looking for ways to keep busy and have fun. The supercategory finished 2020 up +19% vs. 2019, generating a value of £265m. As restrictions have been lifted and experiences such as socialising, travelling and dining out have become available once more, the trend has slowed slightly, -1% YTD. However, when measured against 2019, the supercategory has still grown by a huge +38%.

Games continues to grow so far this year, +6% with a value of over £75m. There are three main subclasses that are driving the growth. Strategic Trading Card Games, driven by Pokémon cards; Travel Games and Brainteasers. With more travel options open again, travel games have sold nearly a third more than in 2019, while Rubiks Cube is driving the Brainteasers subclass. Outside these three subclasses, there are some hero items which have continued to perform well. Monopoly Deal has grown by +16% YTD with a value of £445k and Uno Flip has generated £361k, growing by +56%.

Whilst puzzles is showing a small decline so far this year, when it is compared to 2019 the segment is in a very healthy position, up +41%. Adults, Children’s and 3D Puzzles are all showing double digit growth against 2019. Adult puzzles is worth £8.4m so far this year, having sold over 720k units. New puzzles coming into the market are embracing the mindfulness trend. As the importance of mental health has been highlighted during the pandemic, we've seen items such as Spin Master’s Calm Mindful Puzzle Assortment climb the ranks in the Adult Puzzles subclass.

Both the Games and Puzzles categories attracted new consumers during the pandemic. With Q4 fast approaching, it is safe to assume that some of those new consumers will be retained during the Christmas selling season. Both categories are always popular over the festive period, so we hope to see the success continue for the rest of the year.