The “I’ve played these games before” meme has taken TikTok by storm, originating from a scene in Season 2 of Netflix’s South Korean series Squid Game.
The moment features protagonist Seong Gi-hun (played by Lee Jung-jae) shouting the line, “I’ve played these games before!” to a crowd of players in an attempt to sway their vote. The English dub of this scene quickly became a favorite for meme creators, especially gamers.
This meme emerged after the release of Squid Game Season 2, Episode 3, titled “001,” on December 26, 2024. Toward the end of the episode, Gi-hun emphatically delivers the now-iconic line.
TikTok user squidgamefanpage29 reposted the scene the same day, gaining over 346,500 views in just a week. The phrase became the focal point of jokes about expertise and experience, often humorously exaggerated.
“I’ve played these games before” meme goes viral
Gamers were the first to adopt the meme, using it to poke fun at having “veteran status” in online games. Many videos combined Gi-hun’s dramatic delivery with captions portraying someone with far more knowledge than their peers.
TikToker garfieldl0ver6 was one of the earliest users to make this connection, posting a meme on December 27 that received over 1.1 million views. “456 noobs vs. 1 pro ahh,” they titled the clip.
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The meme quickly expanded into broader contexts. For example, TikToker cjneedaname used the sound in a video captioned, “when I’m watching an anime and have to let everyone know I read the manga first.” Her post garnered over 591,000 views and 191,000 likes.
Another iteration by content creator munburumu poked fun at “8th graders excited to start high school,” earning over 1.8 million views and 398,000 likes.
As of January 2025, the “I’ve played these games before” meme continues to dominate TikTok. The audio is often paired with captions about someone inexplicably being an expert on a topic, ranging from video games to niche hobbies.
This is just one of the latest trends going viral on TikTok, alongside the ‘indigo’ fad and the ‘pretending I got into Harvard’ craze.
