Competition amongst nations is nothing new. From global sporting events to world championship board games, the list goes on. But, how honest is your country when it comes to competing? We explore which nations are willing to bend the rules in order to win. 

 

Competition between nations has been around for centuries, with sport being the main focal point for rivalry between countries. Now, more than ever, we’re also seeing an increase in popularity of eSports and board and card games, with individuals challenging each other all over the world for championship prizes and huge sums of money. 

But with competition comes the chance of playing against the rules. The team behind Bingo Scanner, a bingo game comparison site, has used search volume to show which countries are most likely to cheat during a game. Including terms such as ‘how to cheat’, ‘how to win’ and ‘cheat code for’, the study analysed which country has the highest search volume per month and may therefore be more likely to be cheating. 

Alongside this, the research looks into which countries are the most successful in eSports and board and mind games, such as poker and chess. Finding the number of players per nation, total winnings and number of champions, it reveals down who the most competitive countries truly are. 

The United Kingdom Ranks As Country Most Likely To Cheat During Board & Video Games

 

monopoly-board-game

Rank

Country

Total Search
Volume*

Population

Search Volume per
100,000 Capita

1

United Kingdom

10,080

67,886,011

14.85

2

Ireland

630

4,975,285

12.66

3

New Zealand

580

4,822,233

12.03

4

Australia

2,640

25,499,884

10.35

5

Hungary

880

9,660,351

9.11

6

United States

28,870

331,002,651

8.72

7

France

3,400

65,273,511

5.21

8

Korea

2,430

51,269,185

4.74

9

Italy

2,570

60,461,826

4.25

10

Mexico

4,450

128,932,753

3.45

*Average search volume per month between March 2020 and February 2021 for terms, ‘how to complete, how to cheat, how to win, cheat code for, how to cheat in uno/chess/cards/poker/monopoly/ludo/scrabble, how to win in uno/chess/poker/monopoly/ludo/scrabble’. 

The United Kingdom is ranked as the country most likely to cheat when playing video and board games. When calculating the average monthly search volume for the key terms and finding the results per 100,000 capita, the UK is top, followed by Ireland and New Zealand. 

Analysing search volume results alone, United States consumers search more than 28,000 times a month for ‘how to cheat’ and ‘how to win certain games’ - a concern perhaps if you’re playing with your friends. 

Denmark Ranks As The Most Competitive Country

 

video-game-consoles

Rank

Country

No. of current champions in board, mind and card games per 1,000,000 capita

eSports players per 100,000 capita

Total eSports earnings per 100,000 capita ($)

1

Denmark

0.17

27.90

$667,869.10

2

Estonia

1.51

15.68

$315,898.75

3

Sweden

0.10

26.13

$391,699.86

4

Norway

0.74

17.52

$153,856.38

5

Korea

0.10

7.92

$191,225.80

6

China

0.004

0.33

$8,683.84

7

Israel

0.12

2.31

$39,409.70

8

Canada

0.03

7.71

$77,101.20

9

Australia

0.08

9.37

$69,209.95

10

Netherlands

0.18

7.95

$58,295.09

When looking at data for board, mind and card games as well as eSports, Denmark ranks as the most competitive country. The country currently has 1,616 eSports players, with total earnings equating to $38,684,327.57. This works out to be an average of $23,938.82 per player. 

The study also looks at the nations which are the current champions in a range of board, mind and card games. The United States ranks first with 10 champions, followed by Japan and the United Kingdom with nine respectively. 

Denmark’s Johan Sundstein is the highest earning eSports star 

 

esports-tournament

Rank

Country represented

Full name

eSports username

Total earnings ($)

1

Denmark

Johan Sundstein

N0tail

$6,969,737.80

2

Finland

Jesse Vainikka

JerAx

$6,470,548.78

3

Australia

Anathan Pham

ana

$6,000,441.96

4

France

Sebastien Debs

Ceb

$5,559,712.41

5

Finland

Topias Taavitsainen

Topson

$5,476,317.57

6

Germany

Kuro Takhasomi

KuroKy

$5,198,604.15

7

Jordan

Amer Al-Barkawi

Miracle-

$4,801,541.68

8

Bulgaria

Ivan Ivanov

MinD_ContRoL

$4,582,616.16

9

Lebanon

Maroun Merhej

GH

$4,196,910.69

10

Finland

Lasse Urpalainen

Matumbaman

$3,765,369.04

The competition within eSports is beginning to attract large audiences all across the globe. As studies show, in 2020 there were an estimated 495 million people watching eSport at competition level - this is set to increase to 646 million in 2023.  Comparatively, 1.12 billion people watched the 2018 World Cup final between France and Croatia. 

Given how far eSports has advanced in recent years, we could soon be seeing more people watching consumers play video games, than real-life sports. 

With these large viewing numbers and sold out arenas comes the increase in prize money through sponsorship attraction. Johan Sundstein, competitor for Denmark and professional Defense of the Ancients (DOTA 2) player, has earned a staggering $6,969,737.80 during his eSports career - the same amount as Premier League football club, Manchester City, paid their stars on average in 2020.

As we begin to see a rise in other forms of competitiveness between countries, evidence shows that eSports could soon be the leader. With prize money soaring and viewership growing at a high rate, should we begin to pay more attention to it?

Speaking of paying more attention, it’s clear to see that searching how to win and cheat in games is apparent - perhaps you need to be more aware of who you’re battling against next time you start a game! 

 

 


Methodology:

In the 28 countries analysed, we translated the terms including ‘how to win’, ‘how to cheat’, ‘cheat code for’ to fit the relevant country for the most accurate results in Keyword Planner. Using the past 12 months as a time frame, we added the results of each search term together to provide an overall figure.

 

Sources: