Dabloons

/də-BLOONZ/

noun

On TikTok, dabloons are pretend coins in a collaborative cat-themed role-playing game.

#TikTok trends
#cat memes
#role-playing games
#internet slang

Meaning

In the TikTok trend, dabloons are imaginary coins that users collect and spend while playing along with posts. A cat or another character may greet the viewer as a traveler, offer an item for a stated price, or hand over coins. Participants can accept the scenario and keep a pretend balance in comments, notes, or a spreadsheet; there is no official account or enforceable currency. The term is generally playful, not inherently insulting, sexual, or affectionate.[1][3][4]

1. Fictional currency used in TikTok posts and collaborative role-play: a character gives, charges, taxes, or steals dabloons.
2. By context, a reference to the wider pretend economy built around the coins, including fictional shops, prices, debt, and inflation.

A four-panel slideshow greets a traveler, offers a hamburger, then shows the black cat with the words “4 dabloons.” — This example shows how the game works in a post: a traveler is offered an imaginary item, then told its price in dabloons. People can play along by accepting the trade and keeping track of a fictional balance. Source

Examples

“The cat offered soup for four dabloons, so I paid.”

“I added the dabloons from that gift post to my pretend balance.”

“Twelve dabloons for a blanket? Inflation has reached the forest.”

Origin and spread

Know Your Meme dates an Instagram photo of a tiny kitten paw captioned “4 dabloons” to April 15, 2021. That documents an early meme in the lineage, not the later currency game. A trade-style TikTok slideshow was documented on October 29, 2022; posts then developed into collaborative role-play, with users accepting or paying pretend coins and adding imagined shops and transactions. The spelling’s coiner and precise derivation are not established.[1][2]

How to use it

Use “dabloons” for the pretend currency or, by context, the role-play economy—not for real money or the historical coins themselves. Posts can joke about theft, taxes, debt, and inflation, but those are scenarios within the game. Playing along is optional; a balance has no official standing.

A black cat raises one paw beside the caption “4 dabloons” on a black background. — This cat-and-caption meme shows the visual joke behind “dabloons”: the raised paw is presented as four imaginary coins. The later TikTok game turned the phrase into pretend currency that users could give and spend. Source

From notes to spreadsheets

The Guardian describes participants first tracking balances in phone notes, then finding the improvised economy complex enough that some moved to spreadsheets. The bookkeeping remained informal.[4]

Fictional institutions joined the game

As the role-play expanded, users added imagined thieves, lotteries, government agencies and rival factions—world-building beyond the original coin-and-trade encounters.[5]

Questions people ask

How do people play along with a dabloons post?

Treat the post as an encounter: accept the coins or trade, then keep a pretend balance if you want. People used comments, phone notes, or spreadsheets; there is no official ledger.[4]

Is a dabloon the same as a historical doubloon?

No. The trend’s name echoes the historical coin, but dabloons in TikTok role-play are imaginary currency, not coins being exchanged.[4][3]

When did the cat meme become a trading game?

Know Your Meme documents the cat-paw “4 dabloons” image in 2021 and a first known trade-style TikTok slideshow on October 29, 2022. The broader role-play economy developed afterward.[1][2]

Sources

1. Know Your Meme — TikTok Dabloons / TikTok Doubloons / 4 Dabloons CatSupports: meaning, origin.
2. The Verge — What’s the deal with TikTok Dabloons?Supports: origin.
3. Dazed — What are dabloons? A guide to TikTok’s new favourite meme currencySupports: meaning.
4. The Guardian — What are dabloons?: Tiktok’s new imaginary economy explainedSupports: meaning.
5. Dabloons - Wikipedia