Reddit Meme Olympics

Overview

The Reddit Meme Olympics, also known as The Meme Lounge Olympics, refers to a competition launched in January 2020 by the /r/MemeLounge subreddit, where meme-themed communities are pitted against each other in a tournament-style competition. During each week of the event, participants from 12 different subreddits are split into brackets to create original memes centered around a variety of themes.

Background

The Lighting of the Olympic Torch

On January 9th, 2020, Redditor u/EvasionSnake (a moderator of r/Animemes) submitted a post to The Meme Lounge about the beginning of the inter-subreddit event dubbed The Meme Olympics.^[1]

The Meme Olympics are going to be a series of contests which will run from the 17th of January, featuring 12 subreddits who will participate! These 12 subreddits will all compete in the Olympics, and will be represented by you. Yeah, you! This time around we have no set teams, and anyone can choose to represent whoever they want, as often as they want! You could even represent several teams, if you feel like it!

On a rotating basis each week, the 12 subs are broken down into three brackets with four competitors per group. At the beginning of each week during the Olympics, each bracket is given a random theme (such as memes about the apocalypse) they must use to create content. For the next three days, the subreddits are tasked with making the best memes possible to fit the assigned theme, which are subsequently submitted to the appropriate subreddit with a specific flair.

With the conclusion of each round, the subreddit mods pick out the best meme from their selection before moving into the decision-making finale. From there, the 12 mods from every subreddit must decide which of the memes are the best before ultimately awarding a top selection in each round, as well as a 2nd, 3rd and 4th place. After ranking, the users who submitted the best memes are awarded Platinum, Gold, Silver or "a cookie."

After several rounds, the subreddit with the most Gold and Platinum awards in total is declared the winner and is given the prize of having their community mascot displayed on the losing subreddits for an entire week.

Participants

The 12 subreddits competing in the event are:

Developments

Round 1

Between January 16th and 19th, 2020, the first round of the Meme Lounge Olympics took place.^[2][3] During week one of the event, the subreddits were split as follows:

• Bracket 1: Days of Memester Past

Theme: memes must feature two distinct versions of the same character.

/r/Raimimemes, /r/BoomerangSquad, /r/ShitPostCrusaders, /r/MemePiece

• Bracket 2: The Morning After

Theme: memes must involve the collateral aftermath of a crazy event to some degree.

/r/HistoryMemes, /r/MinecraftMemes, /r/DankMemesFromSite19, and /r/BokuNoMetaAcademia

• Bracket 3: O, Canada…

Theme: memes must feature or incorporate one or more of the Canadian Stock Images.^[4]

/r/Ancient_History_Memes, /r/Otonokizaka, /r/Animemes,/ r/RegularShowMemes

Online Reactions

During the first week of the event, the theme assigned to the third bracket of the subreddits (memes based on the Canadian Stock Images) caused confusion among those unaware of the ongoing event. On January 19th, 2020, Redditor^[5] /u/EatAndSleep_ posted the inquiry about the influx of Canadian-themed content in the /r/Animemes subreddit, with the post acquiring over 200 upvotes in one day.

Search Interest

External References