Blocks have never been hotter – and we’re not talking about the 122 million Minecraft copies sold.

Minecraft, bought by Microsoft for 2.5bn in 2015, is the world’s most popular game, but it’s also breaking bizarre new ground in the ‘adult’ sphere.

The number of fans looking for Minecraft-themed content on Pornhub, the largest pornography site on the web, is soaring, according to the porn site’s annual report, with searches for ‘Minecraft’ jumping 156% last year.

And while the exact numbers haven’t been revealed, this is in addition to last year’s revelation that Minecraft porn had already grown by 326% since January 2014.

When games go x-rated

Niche tastes aren’t new, of course. Arguably the ability to cater to such a vast range of preferences is how adult websites thrive (eight of the world’s most popular websites are pornography sites – with Pornhub leading the way).

However Minecraft hasn’t yet made Pornhub’s most searched terms of 2017.

Blizzard Entertainment’s shoot ‘em up Overwatch is the game-themed category that’s attracted the most x-rated clicks on the site, ranking 13th in the most searched terms of the year.

According to some, the 2016 game became the fastest-selling new IP ever – selling around 7m copies sold and making up to $400m in its first month alone.

So perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised the gamers who dedicated 119 million hours that month wanted the franchise to shape their private time too.

Expect the unexpected

Other trends we could have predicted include the continued rise in popularity of virtual reality (or VR) porn, which again is proving more of a hit with men than women.  

Read more: Women love sex tech – but not saucy VR

While some of the more obscure themes having a zeitgeist moment include TV’s Rick and Morty (the popular time-travelling cartoon Brits are now bingeing on Netflix).

And in another case of a kids craze growing up fast: fidget spinners. Don’t ask.