Younger adults are now more likely than their elders to play chess, according to recent YouGov data.

Why it matters: The centuries-old game is becoming a Gen Z phenomenon.

What they're saying: "It was not the coolest thing in the world to be a chess player" when I was growing up, 30-year-old chess master and educator Levy Rozman tells Axios.

• "Nowadays, kids come up to me who love chess and they look like they would've bullied me in school," he says.

The big picture: Chess play spiked in 2020, with online gaming and the Netflix series "The Queen's Gambit." Momentum continued with news of a major cheating scandal, the arrival of a chess bot called Mittens, and an infamous table slam, Rozman says.

• Now, there are popular chess livestreamers (like Rozman, aka GothamChess), chess dating clubs, chess nights at bars and even chess romance scenes on TV.

By the numbers: As of June 1, there were 6.4 million active U.S. Chess.com players, up from 4 million on the same date the year prior, according to data shared with Axios.

• And there was nearly a 10% increase in chess experiences on Eventbrite nationally from 2024 to 2025, the ticketing platform tells Axios.

Women challengers are boosting the game's popularity, too.

• Rozman says women grew from roughly 1% of his YouTube audience in 2020 to more than 10% today. They now make up about 25% of viewers of his "How to Play Chess" video.

What we're watching: As chess grandmasters keep getting younger, we have to wonder if Generation Alpha will keep the game's popularity in play.

Chess isn't the only game capturing young people's attention.

Zoom in: Compared to their elders, those under 45 are much more likely to have tried newer games like Bananagrams, Catan and Wingspan, according to YouGov data.

• And adults under 30 are more likely to care about winning, per the data.

Zoom out: Many Gen Zers are turning to analog activities to reclaim time spent on screens.

The intrigue: Mahjong is nearly as popular among those under 45 and those older, per the survey.

🌊 The state of Oklahoma and Northwest Arkansas poultry companies asked a federal appeals court to set aside a judge's Illinois River cleanup order and approve their nearly $44 million settlement, arguing the deal cannot coexist with 30 years of court-supervised oversight. (Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

🎓 University of Arkansas researchers will conduct a three-year, Walton family-backed study comparing academic outcomes for students using Arkansas' school voucher program with similar public school students. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

🛒 Walmart U.S. chief operating officer Kieran Shanahan is leaving after 29 years with the company, becoming the third senior executive to depart in two months, while Kyle Kinnard takes over the role. (Northwest Arkansas Business Journal)

Call it the "Mahjong Belt" — a swath of mostly Southern cities leads the country in online mahjong player density and growth, new data shows.

State of play: Lafayette, Louisiana, is the U.S. "mahjong capital," according to an analysis of user data by the online platform Mahjong 4 Friends.

• Player density is highest in Charleston, South Carolina, Atlanta, and Orlando, Florida, with over 50 active players per 1,000 residents in the past year.

What they're saying: "The South has a strong table-game and hospitality culture, so we suspect mahjong is folding easily into a social fabric that was already there," Neal Taparia, co-founder of Mahjong 4 Friends, tells Axios.

• Yes, but: The South's glitzy take on IRL mahjong has its critics.

The big picture: The centuries-old Chinese tile game is sweeping the country as younger generations and Southern transplants fuel new growth.

• A staple among Asian families and later beloved by Jewish communities, mahjong has more than 40 global variations — including an American one that started on the East Coast before spreading in recent years to the South, Midwest and beyond.

Reality check: Online play may be surging, per Mahjong 4 Friends, which counted nearly 1.8 million U.S. players in the past year. But not everyone plays virtually.

• For many players, gathering around a real table is part of the appeal.

What we're watching: Where the "Mahjong Belt" stretches next. Omaha, Nebraska, Louisville, Kentucky, and St. Louis are the fastest-growing mahjong cities on the platform.

Every day brings new developments across your community. Our goal is to help you make sense of them with reporting that's clear, trustworthy and easy to read.

Become a member today. You'll help support independent local journalism and keep our newsroom focused on serving your community.

Thank you for being part of our newsroom.

👋 Sami here. This summer, my friends and I took our weekly mahjong game to the next level — the pool.

Why it matters: We're far from the first to bring our tiles into the water.

• A black-and-white photo of four women playing mahjong in a pool recently crossed my Instagram feed.
• It was taken in 1924, right around when the game was introduced in the U.S.

Zoom in: My own floating set looks a bit different. It's bigger and made of hot pink foam.

• But a century later, pool mahjong is still just as fun. And now I have waterproof tiles.