A gardening game created by a teenager on online platform Roblox has attracted a record 21 million simultaneous players, a figure rarely seen in the industry.

Whether it serves as a chill escape from the onslaught of the real world or simply a way to beat vacation doldrums, a viral Roblox game about gardening has become the surprise hit of the summer.

Technically an “experience” within the game-creation platform Roblox, it smashed its own record for concurrent users by reeling in 16.4 million active players on Saturday.