Millions are flocking to grow virtual gardens in viral Roblox game created by teenager
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 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' place not just in the gaming world but in popular culture — for better or for worse, it's where the kids hang out.
'The word I keep hearing used over and over to describe this particular game is that it's chill, which is just such a nice alternative. I get a lot of sort of that Animal Crossing vibe from it. You know, like you can check in, you can check your gardens, you can get some new seeds, you can plant them,' said Becky Bozdech, editorial director at the nonprofit Common Sense Media. 'I have an 11-year-old son who (plays it) and he says to him the big difference is that a lot of games have a big giant objective that you have to do, but in Grow a Garden, you can just kind of hang out and do what you want.'
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. Analysts who follow Roblox's stock say Grow a Garden is helping boost the company's revenue and will push the company's quarterly earnings numbers above Wall Street's expectations.
While it's not clear if the GTA audience flocked to this simple gardening game to pass the time until then, the timing reignited the age-old debate about who gamers are and what titles are taken seriously by the video game establishment. It happened with Candy Crush, with puzzle games, with Animal Crossing. Are people who play cozy games true gamers? Or is the title reserved for the folks who shoot enemies in Call of Duty or drive around creating mayhem in GTA?
'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,' said Janzen Madsen, the New Zealand-based 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.'
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.
'For me, I just, I really want to get all the rarest stuff. I'm a completionist, so I want everything and that's what's fun for me,' said Leah Ashe, a YouTuber who plays Grow a Garden and other popular games to an audience of 5.3 million. 'It's really cool because you can come together because the seed shop is global, so everybody's shop is the exact same. So you can work with other people and be like, 'Oh my gosh, the sugar apple is in stock. Get online!' The seed shop updates every five minutes, so there's always something pulling you back into the game.'
For Roblox, which has faced a backlash for not doing enough to protect kids on its gaming service, Grow a Garden has served as something of a reprieve — along with new safety measures such as chat restrictions and privacy tools.
New players get help from more established peers who send them gifts and let them know when rare seeds become available in the seed shop.
'Something like Grow a Garden, particularly, is a nice opportunity maybe for parents and kids to play together,' she said.
And perhaps the slow cultivating of a magical garden can benefit parents too.
'It's hitting a nerve, you know?' Bozdech said. "People need an escape from the world, I think we all do.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scientific American
5 hours ago
- Scientific American
Teens Are Flocking to AI Chatbots. Is this Healthy?
Relationships are messy, whether you are an adult with lots of experience or a kid navigating tough times with a best friend, boyfriend or girlfriend. You can't predict moods, interests or desires. For teens l earning the ins and outs of relationships for the first time, disagreements, fights and breakups can be crushing. But what if your teen's best friend wasn't actually human? It may seem far-fetched, but it's not. A new report from Common Sense Media says that 72 percent of teens surveyed have used AI companions, and 33 percent have relationships or friendships with these chatbots. The language that AI companions use, the responses they make, and the empathy they exude can make a user feel as though they truly understand and sympathize. These chatbots can make someone feel liked or even loved. They are programmed to help users feel like they've made a real connection. And as adolescents have a naturally developing fascination with romance and sexuality, if you feel ignored by the girls in your high school, well, now, on the nearest screen is a hot girlfriend who is constantly fascinated by you and your video games, or a super cute boyfriend whom you never had to engage in small talk with to form a bond. On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. This may be perplexing to some parents, but if your child is navigating the complex worlds of technology, social media and artificial intelligence, the likelihood they will be curious about an AI companion is pretty high. Here's what you need to know to help them. Chatbots have been around for a long time. In 1966 an MIT professor named Joseph Weizenbaum created the first chatbot, named ELIZA. Today AI and natural language processing have sprinted far past ELIZA. You probably have heard of ChatGPT. But some of the common companion AI platforms are ones you might not be familiar with: Replika, and My AI are just a few. In 2024 Mozilla counted more than 100 million downloads of a group of chatbot apps. Some apps set 18 as a minimum age requirement, but it's easy for a younger teen to get around that. You might think your kid won't get attached, that they will know this chatbot is an algorithm designed to give responses based on the text inputs they receive; that it's not 'real.' But a fascinating Stanford University study of students who use the app Replika found that 81 percent considered their AI companion to have 'intelligence,' and 90 percent thought it 'human-like.' On the plus side, these companions are sometimes touted for their supportiveness and promotion of mental health; the Stanford study even found that 3 percent of users felt their Replika had directly helped them avoid suicide. If you're a teenager who is marginalized, isolated or struggling to make friends, an AI companion can provide much-needed companionship. They may offer practice when it comes to building conversational and social skills. Chatbots can offer helpful information and tips. But are they safe? A Florida mother has sued the company that owns alleging the chatbot formed an obsessive relationship with her 14-year-old son, Sewell Setzer III, and ultimately encouraged him to attempt suicide (which he tragically completed). Another suit filed in 2024 alleges that the same chatbot encourages self-harm in teens and violence towards parents who try to set limits on how often kids use the app. Then there's privacy: Wired, drawing on Mozilla's research, labeled AI companions a ' privacy nightmare,' many crawling with data trackers that might manipulate users into thinking a chatbot is their soulmate, encouraging negative or harmful behaviors. Given what we know about teens, screens and mental health, online influences are sometimes powerful, largely unavoidable, and potentially life-changing for children and families. So what do you do? Remind kids that human friends offer so much that AI companions don't. IRL friendships are challenging, and this is a good thing. Remind them that in their younger years, play is how they learned new skills; if they didn't know how to put LEGOs together, they learned with a new friend. If they struggled with collaboration and cooperation, play taught them how to take turns, and how to adjust based on their playmates' responses. Friends give children practice with the ins and outs of relationships. A friend can be tired, crabby or overexcited. They might be lots of fun, but also easily frustrated; or maybe they're sometimes boring, but very loyal. Growing up, a child has to learn how to take into account their friend's personality and quirks, and they have to learn how to keep the friendship going. Maybe most poignantly, they learn how incredibly valuable friends are when things get tough. In cases of social stress, like bullying, the support of a friend who sticks by you is priceless. In my study of more than 1,000 teenagers in 2020, keeping close to a friend was by far the most helpful strategy for kids who said they were the targets of bullies. Another study of more than 1,000 teens found that IRL friends can lessen the effects of problematic social media use. If they are curious about AI companions, educate them. This can increase their skepticism and awareness about these programs and why they exist (and why they're often free). It's important to acknowledge the pluses as well as the minuses of digital companionship. AI companions can be very supportive; they're never fuming on the school bus because their mother made them wear a sweater on a cold morning, they're never jealous when you have a new girlfriend, and they never accuse you of ignoring their needs. But they won't teach you how to handle things when they drop you for a new best friend, or when they develop an interest that you just can't share. Discussing profit motives, personal security risks and social or emotional risks doesn't guarantee that a teenager won't go online and get an AI girlfriend; but it will at least plant the seeds of a healthy doubt. It may be important to identify high-risk kids who already struggle with social skills or making friends, and who may be particularly vulnerable to toxic AI companions. In a world populated by children with generally depleted social skills, eliminating the complex, sometimes awkward, human factor can feel like a great advantage, at least in the short term. In a preliminary analysis of 1,983 teens in three states, I found that of the kids who made romantic connections online, 50 percent said they liked that approach because it eliminated the need for meeting, talking and all the other awkward 'stuff' you have to do in person with someone. That said, most teens don't report having any serious problems or outcomes from their online activities. In a preliminary analysis of a 2022 study that I recently presented at a conference, only 3 percent of 642 older teens from Colorado, Massachusetts, and Virginia reported that they had ever had a significant (i.e., non-minor) online problem. We hear about online problems so frequently that we tend to assume they're common; but that doesn't appear to be the case. I don't think it's inevitable that human friendships will be uniformly abandoned for AI ones, resulting in catastrophic loneliness and loss of online privacy. Finally, keep the conversations going, and don't feel like you need to know everything. In a 2015 study, I found that fully two thirds of the teenagers whose parents discussed digital behaviors reported that their parents' opinions and thoughts were quite helpful. If your child knows something about AI companions that you don't, let them enjoy educating you. AI companions may become a transformative social and technological development, raising questions about trust, ethics marketing, and relationships, and we need to help youth prepare as best we can. Research has long established that it's developmentally appropriate for children and teenagers to crave the attention and approval of their peers. It's going to be easy for some to choose virtual friends over real ones. Stay engaged, learn about the platforms they are using, and remind them of the value of struggle and conflict. They likely will be all right.
USA Today
2 days ago
- USA Today
Grow a Garden cooking recipes after event for Roblox game drops
Grow a Garden has become one of Roblox's most popular games, with gamers having the ability to buy seeds, plant them and then grow all of kinds plants from carrots to beanstalks. And on Saturday, August 2, 2025, there was a Trading and Cooking Event Update that introduced a new way to use those plants that you grow: You can cook with them, which brings a whole new meaning to "let him cook." The idea here is if you cook up recipes, you get rewards. You simply have to use your plants and fruits and such, cook them in a pot and feed them to Chris P. Bacon (that's his name. Seriously!). Want to know how to cook everything? We've got you covered, with a hat tip to Beebom and Economic Times. Let's dive in: Grow a Garden soup recipe Ingredients: You can use any fruits or vegetables that aren't for particular recipes Cook time: 5 minutes Pot color: Any color Grow a Garden pie recipe Ingredients: 1 pumpkin, 1 apple OR 1 corn, 1 coconut OR 1 corn, 3 coconut, 1 mango Cook time: 7 minutes 52 seconds Pot color: Green Grow a Garden sandwich recipe Ingredients: 2 tomato, 1 corn Cook time: 7 minutes 6 seconds Pot color: Orange Grow a Garden cake recipe Ingredients: Like we said, depending on the ingredients, it could get you more rewards. So: 1 pumpkin, 1 pinecone, 1 corn, 1 apple OR 2 corn, 2 watermelon OR 2 blueberry, 1 corn,1 tomato OR 2 corn, 2 strawberry OR 1 blueberry, 1 grape, 1 apple 1 corn OR 2 banana, 2 strawberry, 1 pumpkin or 1 ember lily, 2 peach OR 2 kiwi, 2 banana OR 2 sugar apple, 2 corn OR 1 banana, 1 kiwi, 3 bone blossom OR 4 sugar apple, 1 corn OR 4 elder strawberry, 1 corn OR 3 bone blossom, 1 sugar apple, 1 banana Cook time: 5 minutes 55 seconds Pot color: Lemon Yellow or Teal Grow a garden burger recipe Ingredients: 1 pepper, 1 corn, 1 tomato OR 1 pepper, 1 corn, 1 tomato, 1 bone blossom, 1 beanstalk OR 3 bone blossom, 1 corn, 1 tomato Cook time: 10 minutes 32 seconds Pot color: Red Grow a Garden hot dog recipe Ingredients: 1 pepper, 1 corn OR 1 corn, 1 ember lilly OR 4 ember lilly, 1 corn OR 4 bone blossom, 1 corn Cook time: 6 minutes 46 seconds Pot color: Tan Grow a Garden Waffle recipe Ingredients: 1 sugar apple, 1 coconut OR 1 tranquil bloom, 1 starfruit, 1 coconut OR 1 pumpkin, 1 watermelon OR 1 pumpkin, 1 sugar apple OR 1 sugar apple, 1 watermelon Cook time: 6 minutes 15 seconds Pot color: We're still waiting on this one Grow a garden salad recipe Ingredients: 4 bone blossom, 1 tomato OR 2 tomato OR 1 giant pinecone, 1 tomato Cook time: 5 minutes 18 seconds Pot color: Red Grow a Garden sushi recipe Ingredients: 4 bamboo, 1 corn Cook time: 7 minutes 21 seconds Pot color: Turquoise Grow a Garden ice cream recipe Ingredients: 2 banana OR 1 pineapple, 1 corn OR 1 banana, 1 sugar apple OR 1 blueberry, 1 corn Cook time: 5 minutes 48 seconds Pot color: Yellow Grow a Garden Donut recipe Ingredients: 1 corn, 1 blueberry, 1 strawberry OR 1 strawberry, 1 tomato, 1 apple OR 1 corn, 1 watermelon Cook time: 9 minutes 37 seconds Pot color: We're still waiting on this one Grow a Garden pizza recipe Ingredients: 1 banana, 1 tomato OR 2 corn, 2 apple, 1 cactus, 1 corn, 1 coconut OR 2 corn, 2 apple, 1 pepper OR 1 giant pinecone, 1 corn, 1 apple, 1 mushroom, 1 pepper OR 1 tomato, 1 corn, 2 pepper, 2 sugar apple OR 1 sugar apple, 1 bone blossom, 1 corn Cook time: 7 minutes 36 seconds Pot color: Red Maroon
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Roblox CEO talks earnings, AI, & 'Grow a Garden' boost
Roblox (RBLX) shares surged 10% on Thursday after posting better-than-expected Q2 revenue, bookings, and daily active users and issuing a more robust full-year bookings outlook than had been anticipated. Roblox CEO Dave Baszucki tells Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi about the big quarter, the viral success of "Grow a Garden," and how AI may impact his company and the gaming industry. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Opening Bid. Question to you is this. How diversified is your revenue stream? Is it just being driven by by the likes of Grow a Garden? Hey, thanks for having me on the program. You know, our vision of having over 10% of the gaming content market globally running on the platform. We saw saw additional signs of that. There's amazing opportunity for technical innovation on our platform and as you highlighted, this quarter we had a breakout hit with Grow a Garden that took um Roblox and really the platform to new world records. We had over 30 million people on Roblox at the same time a few weeks ago and Grow Garden uh said its place in the Guinness Book of World Records with having over 20 million people on the platform at the same time. That said, there's a lot of content diversity on the platform. There's five experiences on the platform right now with over 10 million daily active users. So there's a deep content stack and when we look at the quarter, even without Grow a Garden, our growth weight would have been significantly above the 20 to 25% we've hinted at to the street. Dave, um, to get numbers like this at the at the bare minimum, you have to be taking eyeballs or time away for other things. When you sit around the table with your management team, like where do you think you're you're gaining people's time from? Where where are they coming from? We have a vision that really the way games are created and consumed right now leaves a lot of room for technical innovation when when creators on Roblox make experiences, they run on every device, phone, tablets, computers, consoles. Uh, many of the games of those top five I made four of those top five were made in the last year which shows a lot of bubbling up and great new content. And within that really big gaming market which we've said we believe 10% can run on the platform, we're just nudging up against that 3%. So there's an enormous market of people who play games and we think opportunity to reinvent how they're created and how people interact with them. How does a how does a viral hit come about? We we about a year and a half ago, there's a fun metaphor. I love it that in my family, we have several gardeners actually, real physical gardeners and this breakout hit grow a garden is is trending on our platform. Metaphorically for for since we've been created, we've been trying to grow gardens on Roblox by offering great economics, great technology, and great search and discover. So when a creator makes a hit like grow a garden, people can find it. It can run everywhere around the world. It can be auto translated. In the case of grow a garden, we've been talking for a year and a half about making search and discovery more transparent, having developers see how those algorithms work. So when something really retains and it's new and unique, people can find it and play it. Dave, these these viral games, uh, no pun intended, they sprout out of nowhere in some respects, uh, and they drive big results for your business. As you look out, I guess as you look into the platform today, are there some new names outside of these top five that you could point to that might be driving bigger numbers a year from now? Yeah, we want to highlight uh experiences that would be ranked by either bookings or time number 11 through 100 are growing very rapidly as well. There's there's a very, very deep content bench beyond these experiences and also there's a lot of really open space on the platform in RPGs and sports and racing relative to the overall market as a whole. We're seeing more experiences in these categories. We we believe there's a lot of room amongst all ages and around the world to keep this growth going. For example, our over 13 growth in Q2 was 64% for DAUs. So there's a lot of areas for new experiences and for new people to play them. Dave, uh I got a uh the Bank of America America team sent me a note uh just now and they said uh quote, your guidance is too conservative for this year. A high class problem to have, of course. Um, what are you seeing what did you see in July? Uh, we we shared that July July is trending in a positive direction. I want to highlight we upped our guidance for Q3 based on what we've seen in Q2 and really shared a bigger year than we thought at the start of the year. So we're sticking with that guidance. There's um obviously been some viral hits in Q2, but long term, we're very bullish on this opportunity to reinvent the way gaming is created and consumed. Dave, I think you're well versed to uh talk about this and we've talked about it uh in the past. Uh this is jobs day in America. We had a disappointing jobs, only 73,000 jobs created. Part of that, of course, is because of of tariffs and economic uncertainty, but AI is really starting to take take jobs, uh change how jobs are done. How do you think AI is going to impact the the role or how content is created? Well, we're starting to share the economic report of the jobs being created by the ecosystem and there are thousands and thousands and thousands of jobs in the United States, game creation, production, art, design that are being created on the platform. So Roblox is really a net global job creator. These jobs are not in traditional places like Silicon Valley. They're in, you know, farming counties in Idaho and in all different parts of the country. So we are creating jobs and what we see on the platform right now is AI both accelerating um the types of games on our platform. We introduced generative 3D in the platform. We are leaders in using AI for safety and civility. Our voice model is being picked up by a lot of companies to help them keep voice safe on their platforms and generally we see AI as accelerating human capability of our creators rather than replacing them. So you know, it will AI though, at some point do you think it takes the role or some of the coding roles out there? I think it accelerates. I think we're going to see more diversity, more broad creations. When we think of AI on our platform, we think of it almost like moving from oil painting to digital um, you know, image tools and I think the same thing's going to happen with 3D creation. We're going to see higher res places, more interesting places, um and in Roblox games where we run generative AI, you and I are going to be able to create clothing or cars or houses just by talking about them. So we're also accelerating the creativity not just amongst the people who make games on Roblox, but for all of us.
