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.
Not sure what caused it, but D&D exploded in popularity at some point.
When we young teen boys were playing in the mid-80s, it was not cool. You would never talk about it to other people that weren’t into it as it was unspeakably nerdy. Keep that shit on the down low. Nerd.
Now I don’t play because it’s so crazy complex. I might go for gaming the old-school way, but I tried and the mechanics are archaic and difficult.