The States Most Obsessed With Video Games

Video games have become one of America’s favorite pastimes, right up there with apple pie and baseball. Their allure has far from slowed down, and the temptation to play is only increasing for many Americans, with only a small minority of adults who do not game at all. With many highly anticipated video games releasing this fall, millions of gamers across the U.S. are about to log some serious hours in their virtual escapades.

To find out more about how widespread gaming has become and who the most dedicated gamers are, Solitaire Bliss surveyed over 2,000 Americans to tell us about their video game habits on their phones, gaming consoles, and computers. Does your dedication to gaming blow the competition away, or are you missing out on America’s ever-growing and vibrant gaming culture? Read on to see if your gaming habits align with those in your state!

Key Takeaways

• Gamers in Nevada, Arkansas, and Illinois play the most each week.
• Nearly half (48%) of gamers play on their phones every day.
• Nearly half (48%) of gamers have played games during work.
• The average American gamer plays 11.89 hours of video games per week.

The States That Play the Most Video Games

Our survey reveals that gamers in Nevada, Arkansas, and Illinois log the most hours playing video games each week. These states find time to game for 16 and 15 hours per week, respectively. While this is a solid chunk of game time, it’s not that much more than the average nationwide, which sits at 12 hours per week. The devices that dominate the gaming landscape are computers and mobile phones. Americans average around 4 hours per week on each of these devices.

The top five most gaming-obsessed states in the country are:

1. Nevada: 15.81 hours per week
2. Arkansas: 14.96 hours per week
3. Illinois: 14.01 hours per week
4. Iowa: 13.61 hours per week
5. Texas: 13.51 hours per week

How and Where Americans Game Most Often

Although video games weren’t born on mobile phones, the easy accessibility of gaming apps has made these devices a dominant platform of choice for many gamers. There are fewer barriers to start playing games on phones than on consoles or computers, which often require extra purchases.

Our survey found that nearly half (48%) of Americans play video games on their phones every day. Only about half as many (25%) play video games on their computers every day, and an even smaller percentage (18%) play on their video game consoles daily.

Many more people have phones, and many of the games available to download do not require extra processing power. Combined with the free-to-play nature of many mobile games, these factors likely make mobile gaming appealing to more Americans, especially to casual gamers who might not otherwise invest in a high-end computer or gaming console.

However, daily gaming by device is not uniform throughout the country. While nearly half the country plays on their phones daily, some states have far more daily phone gamers. Leading the nation in mobile gaming is West Virginia (61%), Washington (61%), Iowa (60%), Mississippi (58%), and Illinois (57%) — all these states have well over half their residents engaging in daily mobile gaming escapades.

Other states break the national mold for computer and console gaming. While the national average is only 1 in 4 daily computer gamers, over 1 in 3 residents in Kentucky (38%), Louisiana (35%), Arkansas (34%), Nebraska (34%), and Connecticut (33%) play computer games daily.

The top states that play console games daily also have more daily gamers than the national average of 18%. The top five states who game on their consoles daily are Nevada (30%), Arkansas (28%), Connecticut (27%), Ohio (26%), and Maine (23%).

In addition to device preference by state, we found notable differences in preferences by gender. Men are most likely to play games weekly on their consoles (61%), and women are most likely to play games weekly on their phones (78%).

Who Has the Biggest Video Game Obsession?

Now that we know who in the country spends the most time playing video games, the question is, how are so many Americans finding the time to play so much? It turns out that many American gamers are willing to make significant sacrifices to get in as much gaming time as possible.

More Americans sacrifice sleep than anything else to stay up getting in their gaming hours. Nearly 3 in 4 (74%) of Americans admit to skipping sleep to ensure they get their video game time in.

The five states most likely to sacrifice sleep to game are:

1. California: 83%
2. Oregon: 81%
3. Alabama: 81%
4. Ohio: 80%
5. Arkansas: 80%

Americans aren’t known for skipping meals, so the next figure is a bit more shocking. A full 44% of Americans say they skip meals to find some extra time in the day to game. Some states are particularly guilty of nutrition deprivation in favor of gaming.

The top five states most likely to swap meals for games are:

1. Washington: 61%
2. Arkansas: 58%
3. California: 54%
4. Texas: 54%
5. Virginia: 54%

Skipping sleep and meals only really affects the dedicated gamers themselves, but the next sacrifice has a spillover effect. Almost 2 in 5 (38%) admit they will cancel plans already made to keep gaming a bit longer.

The five states most likely to cancel plans to keep gaming on are:

1. Minnesota: 57%
2. Nebraska: 56%
3. Oregon: 48%
4. Washington: 47%
5. Oklahoma: 47%

Perhaps the most shocking sacrifice is work — nearly half (48%) of the country admits to playing video games during work hours. While a few minutes every once in a while might be understandable, 19% admit to playing video games at work every single day! Gamers in Colorado are most guilty of this nefarious habit, with 63% of Coloradans admitting to gaming on the job.

Lying about how much time one spends gaming is in tandem with sneaking in gaming time during working hours. Nearly 1 in 3 (32%) Americans lie about how long they’ve spent gaming on a given day. Those in Nebraska are the most deceitful about this, with 46% saying they lie about how much they game.

The demographic makeup of the Americans who are most likely to make all these sacrifices falls primarily to men. Men are more likely than women to skimp on sleep, skip a meal, cancel plans, play games at work, and lie about gaming time.

1. Sacrifice sleep: 80% men vs. 68% women
2. Skip meals: 53% men vs. 38% women
3. Cancel plans: 46% men vs. 33% women
4. Gamed at work: 51% men vs. 45% women
5. Lie about game time: 40% men vs. 25% women

The Most Popular Video Games in America

When it comes to the types of games that capture the most daily and weekly American gamers, puzzle games like Candy Crush or digital card games like Solitaire lead the way. Nearly two-thirds of the country (65%) say they play puzzle video games, and almost half (47%) say they enjoy digital card games the most.

These findings coincide with the high percentage of daily mobile phone gamers. Puzzle and digital card games mostly fall into the casual gaming category, and mobile phones are the most easily accessible platform for casual gamers. Many puzzle and card games are available on phones, offering instant, quick play for millions of casual gamers.

According to our study, the five most popular game types in the country are:

1. Puzzle (like Candy Crush): 65%
2. Digital card (like Solitaire): 47%
3. Role-playing (like Final Fantasy): 46%
4. Action (like Call of Duty): 45%
5. Arcade (like Subway Surfers): 32%

Join the Millions of Americans Gaming Every Day

For millions of Americans, gaming has become an intrinsic part of daily life. Puzzle and digital card games are especially popular, with nearly two-thirds of Americans partaking in puzzle games and almost half engaging in digital card games.

If you’re ready to join the majority of Americans or take your gaming obsession to the next level, Solitaire Bliss is your one-stop shop for the ultimate collection of digital card classics. From mastering Canfield Solitaire, refining your FreeCell strategy, or immersing yourself in a timeless game of Spider Solitaire, we have a wide range of online games at your fingertips, perfect for the casual and most addictive gamers out there!

Methodology

We surveyed 2,016 Americans from September 18 to 19, 2024. We analyzed responses from 40 of 50 states; 10 states were excluded from the state-by-state analysis due to low sample size. 42% of respondents identified as male, 56% female, and 2% nonbinary/prefer not to say.