It could be a small surge but something where you noticed a sudden influx of people. Maybe a game you were playing that got quite popular after it was streamed or there was free weekend on Steam.
For example during the quarantine and around the time when the used console market got prohibitively expensive handheld emulators like the RG350 and much later the Miyoo Mini got quite popular. This was partially due to more people at home wanting to play their favorite classics but also them being promoted as “fake” GameBoys and PSPs on TikTok.
Stranger Things and Critical Role both had a big part in blowing up TTRPGs
Definitely. I think culturally we were ready for a resurgence and then a couple of catalysts kicked it off. Critical Role was undoubtedly one of them.