# Pool's Closed Pool's Closed is the catchphrase behind one of the earliest coordinated 4chan raids, launched in July 2006 when /b/ users flooded Habbo Hotel with identical black avatars sporting giant afros and grey business suits. Their human blockade of the virtual pool set the template for organized Anonymous trolling and produced some of the movement's longest-running mascots. ## Origin The trigger was a set of rumors circulating on 4chan's /b/ (random) board in mid-2006 claiming that Habbo Hotel's social moderators were profiling and banning avatars with darker skin tones[1]. On July 6, 2006, a group of /b/ users calling itself /b/lockers organized the first coordinated raid, coating the pool area with a wall of matching afro-and-suit avatars until the room was unusable[3]. The exploit was mechanical rather than a code bug: avatars physically could not pass through each other, so the human wall stayed intact as long as the raiders held position. The raid escalated over the following week, drawing participants from Encyclopedia Dramatica, YTMND and other Anonymous-adjacent sites, and hit its peak on July 12, 2006 when the flood of matching raider avatars crashed a majority of Habbo's public rooms and discussion forums[3]. Habbo Hotel went offline later that same day, and July 12 turned into the raid's unofficial anniversary date, marked each year by a repeat performance[1]. - **Platform:** 4chan /b/ (organized) / Habbo Hotel (executed) - **Creator:** Unknown (organized by 4chan /b/ users self-identified as /b/lockers) - **Date:** 2006 ## Overview The Pool's Closed raid worked because Habbo Hotel's engine wouldn't let avatars walk through each other, so a tightly packed line of identical characters could seal off a room's only entrance[1]. The raiders standardized on one look: a dark-skinned male avatar with a giant afro and a grey business suit, chanting "Pool's closed due to AIDS" at anyone who tried to enter[3]. That specific costume turned into the visual shorthand for the entire operation and later showed up on t-shirts, image macros and every /b/ thread commemorating the raid[7]. The format spawned three linked mascots that still show up in 4chan folklore: the smiling black man clip art used to represent the raider avatar, the Afroduck (a raider caught in a lucky screenshot behind a bronze duck statue) and Swastiget, a formation of avatars arranged into a swastika to bait moderators[3]. The tone was pure early-4chan lulz, half satire aimed at the Habbo moderators the raiders believed were profiling darker-skinned avatars, half slapstick harassment of any user who wandered near the pool[1]. ## How to Use A Pool's Closed post typically features the black-afro-and-suit mascot, sometimes photoshopped into unrelated scenes to declare that some new thing is now closed (Sparta from 300, a pickup truck bed converted into a makeshift pool, US political situations)[1]. The common convention is to keep the deadpan blockade energy: the mascot is doing you a favor by shutting the thing down, and the caption is usually just the phrase itself or a "due to AIDS" variant. Today it's often used ironically to mock any perceived gatekeeping. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Pool's Closed? Pool's Closed is a catchphrase tied to a series of 2006 Anonymous raids on the social game Habbo Hotel, where 4chan /b/ users used identical avatars to block the entrances of popular rooms[1]. ### Where did Pool's Closed come from? It came from a coordinated raid organized on 4chan's /b/ board and launched on July 6, 2006[3]. ### What does Pool's Closed mean? Originally it was a literal chant used by /b/lockers to tell other Habbo users that the pool was inaccessible; the full raid slogan was often "Pool's closed due to AIDS"[7]. ### How do you use Pool's Closed? The mascot is typically photoshopped into scenes to declare something off-limits, from Sparta and pickup trucks to political jokes[1]. ### Is Pool's Closed still popular? It sits in classic status; raiders reenact the blockade every July 12, and Justin Whang's October 2025 video renewed interest in the mascot's origins[3]. ### Why did the raiders use black avatars with afros? The raid was framed as a protest against Habbo moderators the /b/ users accused of banning avatars based on skin color, so they picked the exact avatar look they claimed was being profiled[1]. ### When was the biggest Pool's Closed raid? The peak came on July 12, 2006, when the flood of matching avatars crippled Habbo's public rooms and the site went offline[3]. ### What is Afroduck? Afroduck is a Habbo raid mascot derived from a screenshot of a /b/locker positioned behind a bronze duck statue in the game[3]. ### Where did the smiling black man clip art actually come from? In October 2025, Twitter user @IKJLeio identified the source as "Task Force Clip Art Really Big Edition", a 2006 stock clip art pack preserved on Internet Archive[3]. ### What is the "Pool Tool"? A piece of freeware distributed on /b/ during the raid that bundled tips for evading bans, spamming chat and getting around Habbo's word filter[3]. ### What is Swastiget? Swastiget refers to raider formations arranged in the shape of a swastika inside Habbo rooms, staged specifically to bait the site's moderators[3]. ## References 1. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130620154446/http://ohinternet.com/Pool's_closed]() 2. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsTaxZSKGgU]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/pools-closed]() 4. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbXAeJg4VIs]() 5. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAo7kRDrUmU]() 6. [https://web.archive.org/web/20060617133104/http://www.comdist.com/software.htm]() 7. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Pools%20Closed]() 8. [https://www.lurkmore.com/view/Pool's_Closed]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/pools-closed Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library