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.
I’ve been skateboarding since '85, and in the 90s is was basically dying out as everyone turned to rollerblades. The one two punch of Tony Hawks Pro Skater and Tony landing a 900 in the Xgames on live TV really reinvigorated the sport.
I think the realisation that rollerblades are pretty boring once you’ve become decent on them had a lot to do with it. Unless you’re going to get into serious acrobatics, there just isn’t a wide variety of tricks you can do on blades, compared to skating.
I agree, I did rollerblade as well for a while, though I stopped before grinds really became a thing. We tried, but the frames at the time just weren’t built for it.
It just became about jumping bigger and bigger stair sets, and at some point you either give up or really get hurt.
Now days due to various injuries I can’t blade or ice skate, though I can still hold my own in a skatepark or on a snowboard.
Yeah that’s exactly we did, had a couple of big wipe outs on the crazy stairs we were doing 180s down and were just like, is this all there is? And even if you’re doing grinds that’s like, one trick (no matter how many different angles you can position your feet when you do it).
I save my knees for basketball these days, but I miss the skateboard.