Why is Clash Popular Among Students?
Grandview student Bruno Lount plays Clash Royale during his free time (Source: Martin Cervantes Pacheco).
Originally released on March 2nd, 2016, Clash Royale is a strategy based mobile game made by Supercell. The gameplay focuses on using characters and managing your elixir, the game's form of energy, in order to destroy enemy towers. Clash Royale is rather popular and played by many, including students. But what is the reason behind its popularity? When taking into account its age, the recent rise in players is rather curious.
Clash has seen a massive spike in popularity, almost doubling in player count in 6 months, going from around 4 million to 8 million players from December 2024 to June 2025. This comes as a surprise considering the rather bland gameplay it has. In Clash, you build an eight card deck with each card having different properties such as health or elixir needed. These cards cycle so you have four cards in your hands. You need to use these cards in order to destroy enemy towers, which both players have three of. Players earn elixir needed to use cards every five seconds for two minutes. If the match lasts more than two minutes, it goes into overtime and elixir is doubled for this final minute.
In order to win, a player must destroy a player's “king tower” or have destroyed the most towers by the end of the game. The map is divided into halves by a river in the middle, with two bridges on each side. This setup requires players to strategize in order to destroy enemy towers and win.
Clash features many gamemodes, such as single (left) an two (right) player modes.
While the game hosts ranks and encourages competitiveness, it seems a bit hard to imagine spending hours on this game endlessly, which is why we asked students how they feel about Clash. Students believe that clash is a great game and enjoy the game play, while others feel peer pressured.
Students stated many positive things about Clash when asked why they enjoyed it. They mentioned that it was the “greatest game of all time” and that “Clash is love, Clash is life.” Others felt peer pressure to play it due to its popularity with other students: “Other people play Clash so I feel obligated and it's also fun, I guess.”
It seemed that students enjoyed the game due to its quick nature which requires skill and developed strategies needed to overcome your formidable opponents. However, to those who don't play it, constant talk of it and seeing it all the time becomes annoying.
One such student, Laura Alverez Linik, shared this belief and stated why she found it annoying: “When people play clash it makes me feel upset because, like, why? It makes me feel like people are wasting their life.” Perhaps she struck a nerve, as Laura's speech was controversial among those who play the game, showing the loyalty (or perhaps addiction) they have to it.
In conclusion, despite some considering it to be a bland game, Clash has become popular with people due to its strategic and competitive nature, leading to its massive spike and increase in popularity.