Hemel is quashing boredom with board games

New research reveals that online searches for board games doubled over the first weekend of lockdown, taking the search volume to pre-Christmas levels – and Hemel Hempstead has ranks as the town with the fourth highest concentration of search traffic.

The top five locations were Milton, Beeston, Weston, Hemel Hempstead and Bristol.

The Paddy Power Games study also found that time-consuming games such as Scrabble and Monopoly are top of most people's lists.

The top five games searched for were: Scrabble, Monopoly, Pictionary, Cluedo, Uno.

The study analysed Google search data for 'board games' over the first weekend in full lockdown (28 and 29 March) and found that search volumes doubled over a 10 day period, taking them seven percent higher than during the first week of December 2019 – the prime time for Christmas shopping.

A Paddy Power Games spokesperson said: “With the country in lockdown, we wanted to have a little dig into what people are doing to keep themselves entertained.

“The sudden jump in searches for these games shows that we only needed one week at home to realise that we can’t put up with our family members! Hopefully, games, whether online or tabletop, will provide some release for the nation during this difficult time.”