Key gaming habits are revealed in the annual State of Gaming review conducted by Spil Games, which operates three social gaming platforms – GirlsGoGames.co.uk, AGame.com and Games.co.uk.

The popularity of online gaming was also evident on Spil Games’ platforms. The amount of people playing in 2011 soared to 170 million, up by 40 million year-on-year. These impressive numbers scored Spil Games the number one slot as the most-visited online gaming property in the world*.

Online gamers have increased their online playing time from 38 to 85 minutes per month. In the UK, the most popular game last year was Family Barn, whereas globally Bubble Shooter takes the top spot.

“What we’ve noticed over the past year is that more people are playing more online games – and for longer," said Peter Driessen, CEO of Spil Games. “The benefit of social gaming platforms like ours is that they encourage players to create, connect and share. 2011 marked the year online games came of age, and we expect the number of players to continue to grow, cementing their position as the most dominant way we’re playing.”

Highlights from the State of Gaming Review:

By the end of 2011, four of the top five games for women were social or had a social element

Teens prefer racing games, particularly those in which they can show off their achievements to their friends.  They submitted more than 33,610,844 high scores in 2011

Social games are especially popular with girls, with Pet Party being played the most

Overall, gamers around the world notched up 11 billion gameplays in 2011 – that’s 350 games every second

The busiest day of the year was 17^th December and people are most likely to play on a Saturday

The city with the most online gamers was Cambridge

Source: comScore Dec 2011