What You Need to Know About Roblox--and Why Kids Are Obsessed

My house is packed with video game consoles, phones, and computers hosting a world of shiny AAA games and quirky indies, yet my 8-year-old daughter spends the bulk of her time in a free-to-play game called Roblox on whatever screen is in front of her. She even spends a chunk of her allowance on a Roblox Premium subscription. Roblox is the most popular game with 5- to 12-year-olds in the US, according to Rooster Money, and it topped the pocket money spending charts in the UK in 2020 ahead of Fortnite. The company recently began trading on the New York Stock Exchange and was valued at a staggering $45 billion. You can play it virtually anywhere, from an Xbox to a phone, laptop, or PC, and it boasts more than 165 million monthly active users and 7 million active creators.