Games & Gaming — How Many?
From the 54 blocks in a Jenga set to the 200+ games in Mario's back catalogue — gaming is full of numbers most people have never stopped to count. Here are all of them — plus two games you can play right now.
Two games, one loop
Design a creature in the Monster Maker, then race that exact creature down a collapsing tower in Shaft Drop. A monster's stats become its abilities in the shaft — and reaching the bunker feeds it back home. Build → race → feed → build a better one.
1. Build a monster
Paint and customise your own creature — over 1.5 trillion possible. Each one has SPD, HP, DEF and ATK stats.
Open the Monster Maker2. Race it in Shaft Drop
SPD becomes speed, HP size, DEF a shield, ATK its furniture-shoving strength. 100 floors, a daily challenge, a bunker that feeds your squad.
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Monster Maker — Design Your Own
1.5 trillion creatures from one creator — build, paint, then race them in Shaft Drop.
Shaft Drop — Race to the Bunker
100 collapsing floors, a squad of three, a daily challenge — playable with your own monsters.
Penalty Shootout — Score Five, Save Five
Aim past a pacing defender, beat the keeper, then dive to save — best-of-five with sudden death and fullscreen.
How Many Pokemon Are There
1,028 species — but the real number depends on what you count.
How Many Characters in Smash Bros Ultimate
The biggest roster in the series by far.
How Many Legend of Zelda Games
Link has been on a lot of adventures.
How Many Final Fantasy Games
The series that refuses to be final.
How Many Call of Duty Games
More than most people realise.
How Many GTA Games Are There
From top-down to open world.
How Many League of Legends Characters
The roster that never stops growing.
How Many Halo Games Are There
Master Chief has had a busy career.
How Many Sims Games Are There
More expansions than you remember.
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How Many People Play Minecraft
The best-selling game of all time.
How Many Copies Has Tetris Sold
The number will surprise you.
Games That Sold Over 100 Million Copies
A very exclusive club.
How Many Games on Steam
The number keeps climbing.
How Many Fortnite Seasons
Each one a new chapter.
How Many Wordle Answers
The list is finite — and surprisingly short.
How Many Mario Games Are There
Over 200 — and counting.
How Many FIFA Games Are There
EA walked away after 30 editions.
How Many Resident Evil Games
The franchise that invented survival horror.
How Many GTA V Copies Sold
One of the best-selling games ever made.
How Many People Play Video Games Worldwide
2.7 billion gamers and growing.
Gaming Consoles Ever Released
From Atari to PlayStation 5.
How Many Cards in a Standard Deck
52 cards — plus the jokers everyone forgets.
How Many Squares on a Chessboard
Not 64. The real answer is 204.
How Many Chess Pieces in a Set
32 pieces — 16 per player.
How Many Tiles in a Scrabble Set
100 tiles including the blanks.
How Many Cards in a UNO Deck
More than a standard deck.
How Many Spaces on a Monopoly Board
40 spaces — and most players never finish a game.
How Many Tiles in a Mahjong Set
144 tiles in the standard set.
How Many Cards in a Tarot Deck
78 cards across two arcana.
How Many Dominoes in a Standard Set
28 tiles — but sets go much higher.
How Many Dice in Yahtzee
Five dice — and one very stressful last roll.
Cards in a Magic the Gathering Deck
60 cards minimum — the formats vary wildly.
How Many Cards in a Pokemon Booster Pack
The pull rates that fuel a billion-dollar hobby.
How Many Pokemon Card Sets Are There
126 mainline English sets — but the fault line that matters is 2003.
How Many Pokemon Types Are There
18 since 2013 — three only exist because the chart was broken.
How Many Generations of Pokemon
9 since 1996 plus Gen 10 starting — each one fixed the last.
How Many Pokemon Games Are There
130+ games, 39 mainline, only 7 distinct hobbies under the brand.
How Many Tiles in Bananagrams
144 tiles in the banana pouch.
How Many Pieces in Chinese Checkers
60 pieces — 10 per player across 6 colours.
How Many Cards in a Cluedo Set
21 cards — and one sealed envelope.
How Many Players in Dungeons & Dragons
There is no fixed answer — and that is the point.
How Many Pieces in a Jenga Set
54 blocks — arranged in 18 levels of 3.
How Many Questions in Trivial Pursuit
6,000 in the original — arguments in every household.
Players on a Football Team
11 on the pitch — 26 in the squad.
Players on an American Football Team
11 on the field — 53 on the roster.
Players on a Basketball Team
5 on court — 15 on the roster.
Players on a Cricket Team
11 players — and very long days.
Players on a Rugby Union Team
15 players — each with a very specific job.
Players on a Baseball Team
9 on the field — 26 on the roster.
Players on a Volleyball Team
6 on court — with rotation rules that confuse everyone.
Points to Win a Game of Tennis
Love, 15, 30, 40 — and the maths behind it.
Games in a Tennis Set
At least 6 — with a tiebreak twist.
Rounds in a Professional Boxing Match
12 rounds — not always all of them.
Holes in a Standard Golf Course
18 holes — and the fascinating reason why.
Points to Win in Badminton
21 points — but you must win by 2.
How Many Pins in Bowling
10 pins — and a perfect game needs 12 strikes.
Numbers on a Roulette Wheel
37 or 38 — and the house always wins.
How Many Poker Hands Are There
Over 2.5 million possible 5-card hands.
Numbers in the Powerball Lottery
The odds are worse than you think.
Ways to Win at Bingo
More than just a line.
Cards Dealt in Blackjack
Two to start — and then decisions.
Points in a Blackjack Hand
The card values explained clearly.
Numbers in the UK National Lottery
59 balls — and 1-in-45-million odds.
Lottery Combinations Possible
The maths behind the jackpot.
Squares in a Sudoku Puzzle
81 squares — 9 boxes of 9.
Pieces in a 1000-Piece Jigsaw
Not always exactly 1,000.
Clues in the NYT Crossword
Varies by day — Mondays are easiest.
Letters in a Boggle Grid
16 in the standard 4×4 grid.
Professional Esports Players
A career path that barely existed 10 years ago.
Esports Tournaments Per Year
Thousands globally — and growing fast.
Guinness Gaming World Records
More categories than you would expect.
1Quick Fire Quiz
1 OF 5How many squares are really on a chessboard?
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The Numbers Behind the Games We Love
The numbers most people get wrong
When you play a game, you are navigating a world constructed entirely of mathematics. Often, the basic numbers we assume to be true are completely wrong. Ask anyone how many squares are on a chessboard, and they will confidently tell you 64. But mathematically, if you count every possible square of every size formed by the grid, the real answer is 204.
Even simple games hide complex numerical realities. The physics of Jenga dictate exactly why 54 blocks is the perfect number. The viral sensation Wordle relies on a highly curated list of exactly 2,309 five-letter words to prevent the game from becoming frustratingly obscure. And Mario, gaming's biggest icon, has starred in over 200 distinct games—meaning you could play a different Mario title every single week for almost four years without repeating one.
The scale of modern gaming
The industry has ballooned into something virtually unrecognizable from the arcade days of the 1980s. There are now over 2.7 billion active gamers worldwide. That means roughly 1 in every 3 humans on the planet regularly plays video games. The Pokémon franchise alone perfectly illustrates this explosion—what started as 151 creatures has grown into a $100 billion empire with 1,028 distinct species, 126 English TCG sets, and over 130 video games.
This scale translates to absurd sales figures. Tetris has sold over 520 million copies across its various iterations. Minecraft sits comfortably at over 300 million copies sold. Meanwhile, competitive gaming has transformed from local arcades to massive global arenas, with thousands of professional esports players competing in tournaments that offer multi-million dollar prize pools.
Did You Know?
There are more possible games of chess than atoms in the observable universe. The Shannon number — 10120 — is the mathematically estimated count of unique chess games. The observable universe holds roughly 1080 atoms. Chess wins by a factor of 1040, which is itself a number with no common name.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many video games exist in total?
Estimates suggest over 5 million distinct video games have been created across all platforms since the 1970s. Getting an exact count is nearly impossible due to independent titles, mobile apps, and lost media from early computing eras, but platforms like Steam alone host over 150,000 games.
What is the best-selling commercial board game of all time?
While traditional games like Chess and Go are the most played historically, Monopoly holds the record for the best-selling patented commercial board game, with an estimated 300 million copies sold worldwide since 1935.
How many professional esports players exist globally?
There are roughly 14,000 recognized professional esports players worldwide. These professionals earn substantial income through team salaries, sponsorships, and prize money from top-tier tournaments in games like League of Legends and Dota 2.
What is the longest-running video game franchise?
The Oregon Trail holds the record as the longest continuously running video game franchise. Originally debuting as a text-based educational game in 1971, it predates even arcade classics like Pong and Space Invaders.