Boy Math and Grandpa Gamers
"nothing beats a jet2 holiday!"
My entire feed is lusting after Superman star David Corenswet; Justin Bieber's first SKYLRK collection sold out instantly; Gabby Windey is hosting Alex Cooper’s Love Overboard reality dating series; and for the Gen Alpha final bosses, a Crocs x Touchland collaboration.
WHY DOES NOTHING BEAT A JET2 HOLIDAY?, vulture
A two-year-old UK budget airline ad for Jet2 has become the meme anthem of summer 2025, thanks to TikTokers using the audio — Jess Glynne’s 2015 hit “Hold My Hand” paired with a peppy voiceover declaring “Nothing beats a Jet2 holiday!” — to ironically soundtrack disastrous vacations. Instead of aspirational travel content (which feels increasingly out of step amid the Wage Gap Summer, as I mentioned yesterday), the meme features truly cursed candid clips that resonate with Gen Z’s absurdist humor.
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YOUTH SPORTS ARE A $40 BILLION BUSINESS. PRIVATE EQUITY IS TAKING NOTICE., nyt
The youth sports industry is now worth $40 billion, and private equity firms are buying up camps, leagues, and training facilities to cash in. Families spent an average of $1,016 per child in 2024, up 46% since 2019, according to the Aspen Institute. (I wonder how much of that $1,016 is going towards that status mitt trend.) About 20% of parents believe their kid could play Division I sports, and 10% think their kid might go pro. Elite programs like IMG Academy, which costs $85,000 a year, are becoming more common as families invest heavily in sports as a path to college or a career.
GEN Z MEN ARE STILL OBSESSED WITH POKÉMON CARDS, fortune
Pokémon and sports trading cards are booming among young adult men, with Pokémon cards alone increasing in value by 3,261% over the past 20 years, far outpacing the S&P 500’s 421%. eBay logged 14,000 Pokémon searches per hour in 2024, and collectibles accounted for 29% of GameStop’s Q1 2025 sales. Gen Z buyers are fueling the surge, driven by nostalgia and what Fortune calls “boy math,” viewing collectibles as alt-assets. (Girl math, meanwhile, has Gen Z women clamoring for Birkin bags, which have appreciated 24% more than the S&P over the past five years — not quite as impressive as Pokémon cards, but much, much chicer.)
ROBLOX GAME-BUYING FRENZY IS TURNING TEENS INTO MILLIONAIRES, bloomberg
A booming secondary market for Roblox games is turning teen developers into millionaires. One 19-year-old creator made Blue Lock: Rivals in just three months, generating $5 million per month before selling the game for more than $3 million. In June alone, seven of the platform’s 15 highest-earning games were acquired. Roblox’s top developers now earn an average of $36 million annually, and the company is expected to pay out over $1 billion to creators in 2025. Much of this dealmaking happens on Discord, with many developers — often teenagers — remaining anonymous.
THE MINECRAFT GENERATION IS CASHING IN, businessinsider
Gen Zers who grew up on Minecraft are turning their childhood hobby into real careers, launching software companies, YouTube empires, and profitable servers without traditional degrees. The game’s open-ended, collaborative nature has become a training ground for coding and entrepreneurship: “Almost every single person who's ended up being a really good hire has been someone who was a kid playing Minecraft and wanted to teach themself how to program,” says one 25-year-old entrepreneur.
GAMING IN THEIR GOLDEN YEARS: WHY MILLIONS OF SENIORS ARE PLAYING VIDEO GAMES, theguardian
Older adults now make up nearly a third of all U.S. gamers, with 57 million Americans over 50 playing regularly. Half of those in their 60s and 70s game weekly, and 36% of those in their 80s do too, per ESA data. (It’s worth noting that this trend has been building for a while; The Guardian ran a similar article about gamer grandparents four years ago.) Senior streamers — like 72-year-old “GrndpaGaming,” who has 1.4 million YouTube subscribers — are engaging in multiplayer games like Call of Duty and learning slang like “skibidi” from their younger viewers. “I’ve learned some things I don’t want to learn,” said 60-year-old “TacticalGramma.”
One last thought 🫶:
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As a millennial who still collects Pokémon cards, I hate seeing the prices get driven up, but I can’t say I’m surprised. We walked so Gen Z could run (to eBay and overpay for PSA-graded singles)
I've insisted my Gen Z kids keep all concert tees (because I gave away all of mine after college when I thought I had to 'grow up'), their Pokemon cards and my daughter's American Girl dolls/clothes/furniture. Even if they don't make money, their kids might want it. Yes, I still have my Growing Up Skipper and vintage Barbie case at my parent's home, why do you ask?