Game Is Game

Submission 36,092

Part of a series on Catchphrases. [View Related Entries]

About

Game Is Game is a catchphrase that centers on pickup culture and the slang term rizz, attesting that it doesn't matter what the method is (or game is) in a pick-up scenario as long as it works and achieves the final result, which is usually sex. The phrase stems from the precursor phrase "Game Recognizes Game." Although the phrase likely predates internet history, it became the subject of videos and memes in 2023 when it was popularized by former TikToker and Instagram user Life and Scars (@lifeandscarz) who said the phrase at the end of all his videos. The phrase also became a notable spam comment, most often written with the speaking head emoji (🗣️).

Origin

The phrase "game is game" originates from African American Vernacular English (AAVE) from the 1990s, originally becoming commonplace in rap music from the era. For instance, one of the phrase's first known uses was in the rap song "Stories From The Black Book" by K-Rino, released on the album of the same name on April 12th, 1993.^[1] The lyric, "Game is game yet death is reality" is said in the song's third verse (YouTube^[2] upload shown below).

"Game is game" is also similar in nature to the phrase "game recognizes game" which was more widely used in 1990s rap music, such as across multiple songs from Snoop Dogg. ^[3]^[4]

Despite the phrase originating in the 1990s, "game is game" wasn't widely used in memes and internet discourse until the 2020s. However, it surfaced in non-viral usage on X as early as 2008,^[5] becoming more commonplace in the late 2010s.^[6]

In 2022 and 2023, the phrase became associated with former TikToker and Instagram user Life and Scars (@lifeandscarz) who said the phrase at the end of his "dating advice" videos. He started his online presence on TikTok (since deleted) in September 2022. Around the same time, he started his Instagram account. On October 8th, 2022, he posted a video to Instagram^[7] in which he ended his video with "game is game" for the first time, receiving roughly 880 likes in 10 months (shown below).

Spread

Life and Scars' usage of the phrase snowballed it into mainstream usage and memes going into early 2023. Memetic usage predominantly started in mid-2023 on TikTok. For instance, on May 25th, 2023, TikToker^[8] @_flexoffender__ posted a Life and Scars edit with the caption, "Game is game," gaining roughly 8.4 million plays and 1.9 million likes in three months (shown below, left).

In the same timeframe, influencers started reacting to Life and Scars' videos, reiterating the phrase "game is game." For instance, TikToker^[9] @kc3xclips posted a clip of streamer BruceDropEmOff on April 30th, 2023, reacting with "Game is game" written in text overlay, receiving 116,400 plays and 10,500 likes in four months (shown below, right).

Others on the app started to parody Life and Scars by using his phrase "game is game" and adding text overlay that outlined a "method." For instance, on August 4th, 2023, TikToker^[10] @step_henny0 posted a video with the caption "Game is game 🗣️" in which he started by saying "new gaslighting method." The TikTok received roughly 9.9 million plays and 2 million likes in 18 days (shown below).