SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - The Roblox game world that has won over children around the world and became a pandemic hit scored big on Wall Street on Wednesday (March 10), as newly-listed shares surged. The company's shares listed under the symbol RBLX on the New York Stock Exchange closed the trading day up 54 per cent to US$69.50, from a reference price of US$45 as part of so-called direct listing. That gave the gaming platform and pandemic star a valuation of some US$40 billion (S$53.75 billion). "We are deeply humbled by the overwhelming support for @Roblox and our public offering today," co-founder and chief executive David "Builderman" Baszucki said in a tweet. "We recognise the potential ahead of us: to build the platform where billions of people come together to learn, work, and play." With its Lego-like avatars and easy-to-learn coding for budding programmers, the online gaming app has become a thriving clubhouse for young gamers, most of them no older than 16. By late last year, more than 31 million users daily were diving into Roblox on mobile, desktop, or console devices and cumulatively spending billions of hours there, according to the Silicon Valley based company. "In an in...