About

"Stop, I Don't Like This Game" is a video trend that originated on TikTok in October of 2022 but did not gain prominence until November. It features someone playing tag with a friend, getting chased for several seconds, then turning around and screaming "STOP! I DON'T LIKE THIS GAME!" or a similar phrase right as they're about to get tagged.

The behavior of the person yelling is meant to mimic that of a bratty and petulant child playing a game on the playground. As soon as they're at risk of losing, they immediately throw a tantrum, typically attempting to call a time-out, demand to change the rules, or just threaten to quit the game entirely.

Origin

The first video on TikTok to feature the format was uploaded by user @lebronjames455^[1] on October 21st, 2022. It features him getting tagged by another friend, then chasing the friend and yelling, "I'm gonna get ya, I'm gonna get ya!" Suddenly, the friend turns around and yells "STOP! STOP!" causing lebronjames455 to slip and fall. As of December 2022, the video has over 2.4 million views.

Spread

The first video to copy the format of lebronjames455's video, as well as the first video that features the phrase "I don't like this game," was uploaded by @toodirtytom^[2] on November 10th, 2022. Tom was subsequently credited by other users' versions of the video as the originator of the idea.^[3]

Several videos by other users were uploaded in the following days, but the first two to gain major traction were both uploaded on November 21st, 2022. One by @corbinmillet^[3] (below left), featuring him yelling at a small child, would go on to become the most popular one on the site, amassing over 19.1 million views as of December 22. Barstool Sports' upload (below right) has over 11.2 million views, as well as being the video whose sound has been sampled the most times, at 167.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References