The top 10 gaming searches of 2016 on Yahoo UK

This long-running football series stayed on top of its game this year – despite competition from newly energised rival PES 17. The first in the series to use the Frostbite engine – the super-sharp graphics behind games such as Battlefield – it's been the fastest-selling FIFA game yet.

This free-to-play strategy game blends elements of city-building, Clash of Clans-style battles and more strategic gameplay. It has remained a top search since it launched into beta test in 2012 – and now has players on PC, Android and iPhone.

It took the telephone 75 years to reach 100 million users worldwide, but this cute puzzle game managed the feat in just over a year in 2012. It's still wildly popular. Earning £425,000 per day at one point, the match-three puzzler became an icon – and widely imitated.

Card games remain hugely popular – even in 2016 – with Spider (a two-deck patience game) remaining one of the top searches of the year.

Without question the biggest game of the year when it came to creating headlines, this augmented reality title was downloaded 500 million times – and linked to muggings, stabbings, and incidents such as two men falling off a 75ft cliff near San Diego while 'hunting' Pokemon. The game – which saw players hunting Pokemon in the real world – has created a new genre – and looks set to be widely imitated.

This violent browser racing game has been lauded as one of the best free games out there, and still draws huge audiences, with user-created levels where literally anything can happen and hapless cartoon racers dying in various imaginative and horrible ways.

For anyone nostalgic for the classic Nokia game Snake, this is a turbo-charged modern version, and has been a massive hit since it launched in March 2016. Like Snake, you're a worm which loops around endlessly - but the goal here is to grow bigger by eating other snakes using power-ups.

This blocky game is still going strong in 2016 – with sales now standing at 104 million across all platforms, making it the second-best-selling game of all time, after Tetris. With 40 million players each month, the game shows no sign of slowing down – with virtual reality versions being shown off this year.

In this multiplayer action game, you’re a cell in a petri dish and must grow as quickly as possible by swallowing smaller cells while avoiding being swallowed by bigger ones. The mobile version was released in July last year, and received a major boost from President Frank Underwood this year. The game featured heavily in House of Cards episode 9, some speculated it was an ad placement.

Roblox is like a DIY game-making kit aimed at youngsters (players are from 8 to 18 years of age) and it's one of the huge, unsung hits of the gaming world. Players have created more than 15 million 3D games, using a tool kit which lets players make their own 3D adventures – then share them via mobile, PC or even VR headsets.