What is Cheeki Breeki?

A Russian catchphrase from Bandit NPCs in the 2007 game S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl that later became a hardbass and dance-video meme on YouTube.

Where did Cheeki Breeki come from?

It first appeared as an NPC combat line spoken by the Bandit faction in the 2007 first-person shooter S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl.

What does Cheeki Breeki mean?

It's a shortening of "А ну, чики-брики и в дамки," a Russian checkers-based expression roughly meaning "one, two, you're on top".

How do you use Cheeki Breeki?

People pair the phrase or its hardbass remix with clips of Russians squatting or dancing in tracksuits, or use it as a shout in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.-themed videos.

Is Cheeki Breeki still popular?

It became a classic S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Slavic-meme reference, kept alive by videos like apartje's Hardbass Anthem, which pulled in more than 7.9 million views.

Cheeki Breeki

2007catchphraseclassic

Published August 17, 2026

"Cheeki Breeki" is a Russian catchphrase pulled from the 2007 first-person shooter S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, where Bandit faction NPCs shout it during combat1. The line spun off into hardbass remix videos, dancing edits, and years of fan parodies that turned a throwaway game quote into shorthand for goofy Slavic energy online2.

catchphrase memes gaming video game music memes mashup video memes dance memes

Overview

The catchphrase is a shortening of the full Russian line "А ну, чики-брики и в дамки!" (A nu chiki-briki i v damki), spoken by Bandit NPCs in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. survival horror series, which loosely translates to a checkers metaphor about crowning a king, roughly "one, two, you're on top" (translated from Russian)2.

Fans latched onto the funny-sounding Russian phrase and the Bandits' broadcast chanson music, splicing them with hardbass tracks and clips of Russians dancing in tracksuits1. That squatting-adidas visual, paired with the phrase, is what most people picture when they hear "Cheeki Breeki" today.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. video game / YouTube (viral spread)

Date

2007

The line first appeared in the 2007 game S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, where Bandit NPCs shout it as one of several Russian stock combat lines2. A "Russian chanson" tune broadcast on the Bandits' in-game radio is loosely based on the real song "Хоп, мусорок" (Hop, moosorok / "Heyho, little cop"), which was already popular in Russia around the game's release3.

How It Spread

On December 12, 2011, YouTuber TheIronTyrant uploaded a video called "Meet The Bandits," pairing footage of Russians dancing with Bandit voice lines from the game, including "Cheeki Breeki"1. The video pushed the quote out of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fandom and into wider gaming circles, racking up around 2.9 million views before the original upload was taken down.

On July 28, 2012, an image explaining the phrase started circulating on 4chan's /vg/ board, and a Tumblr reaction image referencing it followed that October3. By June 19, 2015, Urban Dictionary user Chairman Moka wrote a definition breaking down the checkers metaphor and pointing readers to the dancing video, and the entry picked up more than 890 upvotes over the next two years2.

YouTuber apartje uploaded the "Cheeki Breeki Hardbass Anthem" in October 2015, welding game audio to a hard techno beat, and the video was viewed more than 7.9 million times1. On January 11, 2016, Life of Boris released the first in a series of edits layering apartje's remix over the "Meet The Bandits" footage, which drew another 2.7 million views within about a year and a half3.

How to Use This Meme

People typically pair the "Cheeki Breeki" phrase or its hardbass remix with clips of Russians dancing, gopnik squats, tracksuits, or other Slavic imagery. It's often used as a video caption, a soundtrack for edits, or a shouted callout during gaming streams tied to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. content1.