About

The Numbers, Mason, What Do They Mean? refers to a catchphrase and image macro meme taken from a cutscene in the 2010 video game Call of Duty: Black Ops. The line is uttered by protagonist Alex Mason's CIA handler Jason Hudson in an attempt to uncover a Soviet sleeper agent plot. The line came to be used as a meme to signify confusion, particularly about numbers, over the following years.

Origin

The game Call of Duty: Black Ops was released on November 9th, 2010. The first-person shooter is set in the Cold War and follows CIA operative Alex Mason as he struggles to decode a series of numbers that were programmed into him when he was kidnapped and brainwashed by Soviet forces who intended to turn him into a sleeper agent.

The phrase, "The numbers, Mason. What do they mean?" is spoken by CIA handler Jason Hudson during a cutscene in which he interrogates Alex Mason. The scene was reposted to YouTube^[1] by Jub on December 16th, 2010, where it gathered over 1.6 million views in 14 years.

The exact first memetic use of the scene is unknown, but the earliest known use of the line as a catchphrase dates back to a post on the GameFAQs^[6] forums from March 4th, 2011, with other instances appearing on the site that same year.^[7]

On May 11th, 2012, KYM^[2] user Zarathh posted a version of the meme inspired by My Little Pony, gathering over 300 views and 20 likes in 12 years.

Spread

Sometime in 2015, a joke about the game Minesweeper was reposted to Pinterest^[3] from 9GAG that referenced the COD: Black Ops line.

The meme gained traction on Reddit after 2018, with Redditor^[4] /u/xxBeanBoyyxx posting a meme to the subreddit /r/dankmemes on September 10th, 2019, that read, "Kids in 2069 when their grandparents are laughing when it's April 20." The post gathered over 31,000 upvotes in five years.

On January 17th, 2020, Redditor^[5] /r/vidygamer posted an image to /r/Animemes containing the catchphrase, with the punchline referencing comic tags on adult cartoon websites. The meme garnered over 1,200 upvotes and 10 comments in five years.

On March 9th, 2023, X user @FaZeClan quoted the meme in response to a cryptic post by the official Fortnite X account, gathering over 232,000 views and 2,700 likes in two years.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References