Short answers, pulled from the story.
Magic: The Gathering was created by Richard Garfield and released by Wizards of the Coast on the 5th of August 1993. Garfield was a doctoral candidate in combinatorial mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania when he developed the game concept.
Magic: The Gathering had accumulated approximately fifty million players. A 2015 estimate placed the number at around 20 million players, and the game's player base has continued to grow through both physical and digital formats.
A mint-condition Alpha Black Lotus sold for $3 million in April 2024. Earlier sales of the same card included a PSA Gem Mint 10 copy signed by artist Christopher Rush that sold for $511,100 in January 2021, and a similar copy that sold for $540,000 in March 2023.
The five colors are white, blue, black, red, and green. White represents order and light, blue represents intellect and manipulation, black represents power through death and sacrifice, red represents chaos and fury, and green represents life and nature. Each color draws mana from a different land type.
Richard Garfield was introduced to Wizards of the Coast founder Peter Adkison through a colleague in 1991. Adkison passed on Garfield's board game RoboRally but asked for a portable game that could be played at gaming conventions. Garfield developed the Magic concept shortly after that meeting, and Adkison immediately agreed to produce it.
Hasbro acquired Wizards of the Coast in 1999 for $325 million, making Magic: The Gathering a Hasbro property. Hasbro later reported that Magic had generated $1 billion in annual revenue.