Elf Bowling continues its epic climb up the Lycos 50 this week, moving up five spots to a new high at #11. Welcome to our newest list of the week's 50 hottest search terms. Elf Bowling, that nutty web-based game, is more popular than ever this week thanks to a rumor that e-mail versions of the game contain a virus. (Not true, says game creator Nstorm.)
Holiday terms remain busy. Santa Claus dips to #9 but a new topic, toys, races to #6 on the list. As noted in yesterday's report, toys and toy stores have been huge this holiday season. (Note: we have chosen to include only searches for the exact word "toys" in this count. Individual toys like Barbie are counted separately.) And of course, Christmas itself is #1 for the third straight week.
Two more key newbies: paintball and band Blink 182. Paintball has been knocking at the door of the Lycos 50 for the past several weeks. Though many of us think of it as an old fad, paintball seems to be making a strong comeback in late '99. Nearly a third of this week's queries were for "paintball guns," which makes us wonder if those are hot Christmas gift requests.
Blink 182 also has been rising for months -- it was one of our early warning items in October -- and the band has finally cracked the top 50.
Other key points on this week's list:
GOLF CRAZY: Golf is hot. #23 seems pretty good for a sport that's in the off-season for everyone in the Northern Hemisphere. Among the top terms: golf equipment and accessories (including many for the distance-finding "golf scope"), golf gifts and golf vacations.
BACK IN ACTION: Three old standbys return to the Lycos 50 this week after short absences. Sailor Moon jumps back in at #35 just a week after she dropped off the list entirely. (Why so high now? We don't know.) Limp Bizkit returns at #44, and off-again-on-again Jennifer Love Hewitt inches past Carmen Electra to claim the #47 spot.
NEW THIS WEEK: Toys, Sailor Moon, Limp Bizkit, paintball, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Blink 182.
DROPOUTS: Mars, Blair Witch Project, Shakespeare, Ramadan, Jenny McCarthy, capital punishment.
BIGGEST RISE: Guns up 15 spots to #19. (Stocking stuffers, perhaps?)
BIGGEST DROP: NASA down 14 to #36 as interest fades in the Polar Lander expedition.
STABILITY AT THE TOP: The top four terms -- Christmas, Pokemon, Britney Spears and Dragonball Z -- remained in the same spots for the third week in a row.
CHANGING OF THE GRRRL GUARD? Longtime top-ranked woman Pamela Anderson falls to #10 this week, her lowest rank ever. New hottie Jennifer Lopez is now only three spots behind at #13. Having already lost the spot of top woman to Britney Spears, Ms. Anderson now looks to be in danger of falling much farther down the list.
AND FINALLY: In case you're curious about guns vs. paintball guns: searches for paintball guns and other paintball equipment are counted as paintball queries. Queries on plain guns and a few related terms (such as gun parts, gun sales, firearms) are counted as guns. Air guns and BB guns aren't counted as guns, being (in our judgment) halfway between toy and lethal weapon. Same goes for spud guns and potato guns (more popular than you might think). Further questions? Please drop me a line at Fritz@lycos.com.
