Emoji patterns
๐ง This page is a work in progress, while we consult with the Yat community and build this content over a period of time. ๐ง
Table of Contents
Introduction
So you love emojis and you’re looking to buy your first Yat or you’re a long time Yatter and wanting to grow your collection… but where do you begin with finding the right combination of emojis?
With many options given the 450+ emojis and up to 5 emoji length it can be a daunting task to pick the right mix. Many patterns have been discussed since Yat’s inception and we thought it would be a good idea to document the many favourites among the Yat community.
One Emoji Yat
Arguably the most desirable Yats in existence, a One Emoji Yat allows the cleanest representation of what you stand for or how you want to be known using a single emoji. Notable owners of a One Emoji Yat include Yat’s co-founders Naveen Jain (๐ฆ ) and Riccardo “fluffypony” Spagni (๐ด). 888 (โจ) and Gram (โ) are also among the owners of these elusive Yats.
๐ was purchased by Arete for $425,000 in the first live auction event, Yat 100 Destiny.
The other One Emoji Yat owners are Danish Chaudhry (๐ฆ) and Branden Hampton (๐ฐ).
The ๐ emoji is reserved by Yat Labs to ensure no one else can masquerade as the company.
Repeaters
Repeaters are a simple pattern. A string of 2 to 5 emojis where only a single emoji is used in the Yat (e.g. ๐๐ purchased by Steven Cohen at the Cloud 35 event). Sought after for their clean look, ease of typing, and similarly to a One Emoji Yat the ability to express or represent an idea or identity very easily.
Outside of the One Emoji Yat the Repeater is the most sought after emoji pattern for Yats and is considered ‘blue chip’ by those spending larger sums to purchase for personal use or investment.
Sometimes slang is used to refer to Repeaters of different lengths, infusing the number of emojis at the front e.g. threepeater (Repeater with 3 emojis) or fivepeater (Repeater with 5 emojis).
A number of two-emoji Repeaters were sold at the Yat 100 Destiny and Cloud 35 events, the results of which can be seen in a special collection of 176 two-emoji Generation Zero Yats, a nod to the original 176 emojis released in 1999.
Generally speaking the shorter the Repeater, the more sought after and valuable it becomes, with only a few exceptions. โญโญโญโญโญ may be considered superior to all shorter star emoji Repeaters due to the iconic use of a maximum five stars to rate or grade something as ‘the best there is’. Two pairs of running shoes (๐๐๐๐) may be more attractive to some than three running shoes.
Infinite Repeaters
The Infinite Repeater is a set of patterns using the infinity emoji to imply that a single or multiple emojis of the same type are repeating forever. While not officially a Repeater, we are including the pattern in this section as they have taken on various formats and don’t sit in one single other pattern format. Some examples of the patterns used to convey this message include (but are not limited to): โพ๏ธXโพ๏ธ, โพ๏ธXXXโพ๏ธ, XXโพ๏ธ, XXXXโพ๏ธ, and Xโพ๏ธX.
Adoptables
Kicked off by Spotnein and then accelerated by Yat Sultan and technoveins, you can find some of the history documented in this Twitter thread. Adoptables were a community led pattern with the string of emojis representing an upright person, characterised by a smiley, animal, object or scene at the top for a head, followed by emojis representing torso, legs, and feet (e.g. ๐๐๐๐).
There is a great 1 pager on Adoptables by, ‘What Is A Yat Adoptable?‘, published by Spaid.
The different clothing (๐๐๐๐๐), head wear (๐๐ฉ๐๐), accessories (๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐), poses or gestures (๐ช๐คณ๐), scenes (โฐ๏ธ๐๏ธ๐), and more, leads to an extensive number of variations that are possible.
Could Adoptables be the Yats we are most likely to take into the metaverse and which some may see as an extension of self?
“The Tamagotchi had “a prosthetic of presence” that made it less of a toy than an extension of self, Duke University Anthropology professor Anne Allison told VICE.”
OG Adoptables
OG Adoptables, aptly named by Yat Sultan, are those which contain the original and most sought after clothing combination with a single leading emoji (e.g. ๐คก๐๐๐ or ๐ง๐๐๐).
It was widely believed that all Generation Zero OG Adoptables had been purchased before the Yat Horizon event (which marked the beginning of Generation One), however a final Adoptable (๐๏ธ๐๐๐) was discovered by sm4sher and purchased by Joseph.
In the weeks following Yat Horizon, Yat Labs held a number of auctions for new emojis introduced at the event, including for 3 patterns, ๐๏ธโค๏ธXโ and Repeaters, with a single OG Adoptable (๐งข๐๐๐) selling at auction for 1.5 ETH.
Animal Adoptables
Not limited to human smiley face emojis, the Adoptable format lends itself well to animal heads (๐ต๐๐๐), switching of feet to paws (๐ถ๐๐๐พ) and more (โ๐ผ๐ฅ๐๐).
Object, Scene, and Gesture Adoptables
Any emoji can take the place of an Adoptable’s head, sometimes that may lead to it representing a funny idiom or phrase, such as pinhead (๐๐๐๐ or ๐ณ๐๐๐). An Adoptable may include a hand gesture (โ๏ธ๐๐๐๐) or background scene (๐๏ธ๐๐๐๐).
Naughty Adoptables
Some have taken Adoptables in an ‘after dark’ direction by adding emojis which have sexual connotations (๐๐๐๐) or substituting fruit for anatomy to give the appearance of nudity (๐๐๐๐ฃ).
Face Yats
Face Yats are fairly self explanatory, it’s those where body parts or other emojis are used to represent a face. The most iconic Face Yat is arguably the one of a kind Yat which consists of ears, eyes, and nose (๐๐๏ธ๐๐๏ธ๐, owned by Plats).
X๐๏ธ๐๐๏ธX
The OG Face Yat consists of eyes and nose, with emojis either end which can be a bookend (i.e. same emoji used both ends, โ๏ธ๐๏ธ๐๐๏ธโ๏ธ) or a theme with complimentary emojis (e.g. ๐๐๏ธ๐๐๏ธ๐, Diamond Hands Face Yat). Repeaters, along with OG Face Yats with bookends, are the only known pattern to sell out in Generation Zero.
๐X๐X๐
Another Face Yat variant is where the ears and nose emojis are used, with the eyes replaced by different emojis. These work best where the emojis replacing the eyes reasonably represent eyes (e.g. ๐๐๐๐๐โ). The emojis used for eyes need not match (๐๐๐๐๐).
๐๐๏ธ๐XX & others
There are many other forms of Face Yats, including the side profile Face Yat, which we believe was originated (or at least made popular) by Yat Sultan. It consists of a nose, eye (or eyes), and ear, with one or two emojis to the right of the ear indicating something next to the face (e.g. ๐๐๏ธ๐๐คณ or ๐๐๏ธ๐๐ต๐ป).
The choices are almost limitless, some have created Face Yats where the human nose is swapped for the pig nose, or where the eyes and ears are replaced, with a nose being the only real facial feature in the Yat.
Yavatars
At Alien Star Cloud we developed a concept that any Yat can be a Face Yat with the launch of Yavatars!
Our designer Wyn (๐ฅโ ๏ธ๐ฅ) had been experimenting with backgrounds for Face Yats (a collection of emojis, typically a pattern of 3 or 5, resembling a face). What we realised though, as he developed the idea further, was that the emojis didnโt even need to resemble facial features to look amazing, because almost any combination of emojis were instantly recognisable as eyes, nose, and ears, as soon as you layered them over the top of a face background.
Read more in our article, ‘Creating avatars with emojis’.
Bookends
Bookends represent those patterns where an emoji (or set of emojis) is sandwiched between two (or more) emojis of the same type on each end, similar to the way a set of books is held in place and styled by bookends you sit on a physical shelf.
ABA
The ABA pattern is a popular 3-emoji Yat often used by those who want the next best thing to a single emoji Yat, a single emoji enhanced by complementary bookends.
A popular combination used by many early Yatters has been the โจXโจ variant, with the sparkles enhancing and decorating the middle emoji, rather than drawing the eye away from it, with examples including YatMuseum (โจ๐โจ), YatReviews (โจ๐โจ), Yats not Yachts (โจ๐โจ), and stew.eth (โจ๐โจ), among many others. Other popular emojis used as the bookend in this pattern include hearts, clouds (e.g. technoveins โ๏ธโ๏ธโ๏ธ, Yatman โ๏ธ๐ฆโ๏ธ), stars, and fire.
Other ABA variants include those where the bookend emojis are themed to the middle emoji by colour, category, hand gestures, and more e.g. z0rg (๐ค๐บ๐ค), chicka (๐ฅ๐ฃ๐ฅ), YattyLight (๐คโ ๏ธ๐ค), Tal (๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ), and Jaษฑes (๐ช๐๐ช).
Mouse over or tap the image to flip it. Yats from Wyn (๐ฅโ ๏ธ๐ฅ) and Joseph (โจ๐โจ).
These banners use custom emoji and backgrounds from Alien Star Cloud which you can customise for your own Yat here.
AABAA (double or super bookend)
An AABAA bookend (also known as double or super bookend) is often used by those who were ideally looking for an ABA pattern, but either this was taken or the cost prohibitive. The AABAA can strike a nice balance between lower cost, but retaining the visual effect of a single emoji highlighted by those which surround it.
Common versions of this pattern include the super star (โญโญXโญโญ), super heart (โค๏ธโค๏ธXโค๏ธโค๏ธ), super sparkle (โจโจXโจโจ), and super fire (๐ฅ๐ฅX๐ฅ๐ฅ) bookends. The super heart bookend format introduces an interesting dynamic with the introduction of peer emojis which will allow Yat owners to create a string of multi-coloured hearts around the middle emoji e.g. ๐๐๐๐งกโค๏ธ.
Dubbing them with their nickname ‘super star’ bookends, Vlindersteen purchased a large number of โญโญXโญโญ Yats. It was observed that the price of the most popular bookend emojis were strangely much cheaper in the double bookend format than other less popular emojis, spurring a number of buyers to accelerate the trend.
The cloud is also a popular emoji to use in this pattern combination, as it shows a horizon and emojis that are relevant to being ‘in the sky’ can be placed in the middle, examples include: โ๏ธโ๏ธ๐ธโ๏ธโ๏ธ, โ๏ธโ๏ธโ๏ธโ๏ธโ๏ธ, โ๏ธโ๏ธ๐ฝโ๏ธโ๏ธ, & โ๏ธโ๏ธ๐โ๏ธโ๏ธ.
ABCBA
ABCBAs are a highly popular Yat pattern with symmetrical bookends. Sometimes they are created purely for aesthetics (๐๐ธ๐๐ธ๐), other times they can be used to create a small scene (๐ธโ๏ธ๐ฝโ๏ธ๐ธ).
Depth Sparkle
Depth Sparkle is an ABCBA pattern created where B is โจ, A is typically โญ or โค๏ธ, with the middle emoji (C) being an emoji that the owner wants to highlight. The name ‘Depth Sparkle’ comes from the 3D effect that resulted from the sparkles in the official Yat collection.
ABBBA (three-peater with bookend)
ABBBA is popular as an alternative to a threepeater, where the bookend emojis used are decorative or themed the same as the three middle emojis (e.g. โจ๐๐๐โจ or ๐ช๐คก๐คก๐คก๐ช).
ABCA / ABBA
ABCA is popular as an alternative to a two-emoji Yat (commonly Repeaters or Word Representation Yats), where the bookend emojis used are decorative or themed the same as the two middle emojis (e.g. โจ๐๐โจ).
ABABA, ABAXX, XXABA
Other bookends include the ABABA, which has been seen used to combine two themed emojis (e.g. โ๏ธ๐ผ๏ธโ๏ธ๐ผ๏ธโ๏ธ to represent blockchain art / NFTs) and those where a bookend is incorporated as part of a Yat (e.g. โ๏ธ๐ โ๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธ owned by Ripple3037).
Permutation Set
Made famous by early Yatter Tosicamir, the Permutation Set is one which captures all variations of a specific set of emojis. The benefit being that you might tell someone, “My Yat contains the following emojis and you can enter them in any order you like to find me”.
5! Empire
The ‘5! Unique Yat Empire’ is a set of 120 Yats consisting of every permutation of 5 specific emojis that is possible. The first known to exist (and only one we are aware of) is that owned by Tosicamir. As he explained when he secured the set in April, 2021:
The first 5! Unique Yat Empire is now complete! Visitors to the empire no longer need to remember the precise order of ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐น๏ธโ to visit my domain! They may instead place these in any order they so choose...
4! Kingdom
The ‘4! Unique Yat Kingdom’ is a set of 24 Yats consisting of every permutation of 4 specific emojis that is possible. Often purchased based on theme, sets observed include the Generation 0 hats (๐๐ฉ๐๐) and vehicles of flight (๐โ๏ธ๐๐ธ).
ABBBB 5 Set
The ABBBB 5 Set pattern contains 4 emojis of one kind and then 1 of another kind, but owning eachย e.g.
BAAAA, ABAAA, AABAA, AAABA, AAAAB
Often those buying this pattern will ensure the theme between emoji A and B matches in a way that it could be used to create a moving scene or where they are at least related. An example by Ripple3037 (titled ‘Extinction Event’):
๐ฆโ๏ธโ๏ธโ๏ธโ๏ธ
โ๏ธ๐ฆโ๏ธโ๏ธโ๏ธ
โ๏ธโ๏ธ๐ฆโ๏ธโ๏ธ
โ๏ธโ๏ธโ๏ธ๐ฆโ๏ธ
โ๏ธโ๏ธโ๏ธโ๏ธ๐ฆ
Yat Frames
Yat Frames were a concept devised by Joseph. The idea is to use sets of Yats (two or more), which create a moving scene when looking from one Yat to the next (where each Yat consists of 1 ‘frame’).
Word Representation
Emojis can often represent a single word, e.g. โค๏ธ = love or โญ = star, making a string of emojis useful to represent a short sentence or phrase where the emojis are translated using the word(s) they represent (e.g. ๐ฅ๐๐ซ, Lit For Nothing).
๐๏ธโค๏ธX
I (๐๏ธ) love (โค๏ธ) Yats are a simple and iconic way of representing a love for a particular object, activity, or anything else an emoji or string of emojis represents (e.g. ๐๏ธโค๏ธ๐ฑโ๐ถ, I love cats and dogs). They are one of few patterns which Yat Labs loaded with a premium price in Generation Zero in anticipation of demand for what is probably the most recognisable and widely used Word Representation pattern available.
๐๏ธ๐๐โค๏ธX
As the ๐๏ธโค๏ธX pattern became scarce or for those who couldn’t afford the premium, cheaper alternatives were discovered which convey the same message with a large number of emojis e.g. I freaking love X.
๐๏ธ๐งX & ๐๏ธ๐ฝ๏ธX
As the ๐๏ธโค๏ธX pattern became scarce or for those who couldn’t afford the premium, cheaper alternatives were discovered which convey the same message with a large number of emojis e.g. I freaking love X.
๐๏ธ๐X
New patterns using Word Representations emerged including ๐๏ธ๐ (sofa king -> so f#cking).
๐ฝโญโ๏ธ
The founders of Alien Star Cloud settled on the name of this project after considering a large number of word representation Yats. It would ideally be something short (no more than 3 single word emojis), be well themed, and make sense when strung together. We also wanted to ensure the last emoji matched a top-level domain (TLD) that would allow us to shorten the primary domain length (e.g. alienstar.cloud instead of alienstarcloud.com).
These are several other options available where someone wants to match a final emoji in a Yat to a TLD:
.club โฃ๏ธ
.cloud โ๏ธ
.party ๐
.earth / .world ๐
Alphabet (Word Yats) and Numbers
Rather than each emoji representation an entire word, sometimes individual emojis are used to represent letters or numbers to create what the community has dubbed ‘Word Yats’. An extensive alphabet library is available for viewing here. Some emojis are used to represent numbers also, e.g. โ๏ธ = 2 or ๐ = 4.
Personal Assortment
Perhaps the most common and genuine Yat of them all is a personal assortment of emojis that may not have any rhyme or reason to the casual observer, but which are meaningful to the owner. Emojis don’t have to be placed in a particular pattern. One might simply choose a combination of 1 to 5 emojis that represent them and arrange them in a way that makes sense, whether that’s in a visually appealing way, chronologically, or some other method. ๐๐๐ธ and ๐ข๐ผโ๏ธ๐จ are two random examples observed in the Yat feed as this section was written, what meaning do they have? We can only guess as that is part of the intrigue for personal Yats.
Scene
Scene Yats are those where the emojis are arranged to appear as if they form a single image or scene. Many in this category were ideated or bought to greater popularity by Yat Sultan.
Selfie
The selfie emoji lends itself to scenes incorporating a tourist taking a selfie of themselves in front of landmarks e.g. ๐ฝโ๏ธโ๏ธ๐ค๐คณ.
Cowboy
A cowboy riding a horse (๐ด๐ค ) lends itself to many interesting scenes, in fact Yat Sultan has created an entire series on this premise (e.g. ๐โ๏ธ๐ด๐ค โ๏ธ and ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ด๐ค ).
Ants
Another Yat Sultan special, this series of scenes consists of 2 ants taking items back to the ant nest, examples include birthday party ants (๐ณ๏ธ๐๐๐๐) and fast food ants (๐ณ๏ธ๐๐๐๐).
Throwing
Throwing Yats consist of those where the dash emoji (๐จ) is used to indicate something moving through the air, often adjacent to the waving hand (๐), used to visualise having thrown it. Common examples include sports (๐๐๐จ๐) and other objects (๐ต๐จ๐๐).
Train
Train Yats consist of the locomotive followed by emojis representing carriages, literally or figuratively e.g. love train (๐โค๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธ), ghost train (๐๐ป๐ป๐ป๐ป), pineapple express (๐๐๐จ), or a regular train with carriages (๐๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ). Currently only the Mountain Cableway emoji is available to use in place of a Railway Car (๐), but given their similar visual appearance it seems likely these will one day be peer emojis.
Race Yats
Race Yats come in a variety of scene types, a common one being the photo finish (๐ทโจ๐๐ด๐ด), but the chequered flag can be used in a number of different ways to create a race scene (๐๐๐๏ธ๐๏ธ๐๏ธ).
Handshake
The handshake emoji lends itself to many types of scenes where two or more in the scene are making a deal or in agreement, even if that’s in selling your soul to the devil ๐ป๐ค๐ค๐๐ฐ.
Aesthetic
Many other scenes are possible, not all of them allow for multiple iterations (e.g. โ๏ธ๐โ๏ธ๐ฆ๐ป by Yat Sultan).
Theme
Given the broad and numerous categories of emojis available, many Yats are created with a particular theme.
Sports
Sports Yats are very popular given the variety of equipment and accessories available (โฝ๐๐พโณ๐). Many are created using earlier mentioned patterns from ABCBA, to Adoptables, and Throwing Yats. However, Sports Yats can be created in many other ways.
Crypto
Being a form of Web 3 identity, there is a crossover in interest from the crypto community which leads to many crypto themed Yats (e.g. ๐ถ๐๐๐, Dogecoin to the moon).
This Yat from onebuffalo.eth.
This banner uses custom emoji and backgrounds from Alien Star Cloud which you can customise for your own Yat here.
Food / Dinner / Yat-wiches
The large variety of food related Yats lends to many food patterns, everything from food preparation (๐ช๐ฅ๐ฅ๐), to dinner table layouts (๐ฝ๏ธ๐ท๐น๐ท๐ฝ๏ธ), and Yat-wiches (๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐).
Outdoors
The great outdoors has many elements that have been emojified, from water, to mountains, the sun, tornadoes, and more.
Diamond Hands
‘Diamond Hands’, a term popularised by the WallStreetBets subreddit, means to persistently hold an asset (originally stocks) through thick and thin. Commonly used now for stocks, crypto, and other digital assets, this phrase is frequently used in Yats (e.g. ๐๐๐๐, ‘orange pilled’ referring to Bitcoin, and ๐๐๐๐๐).
Sexy / Naughty
The popular use of some emojis to reference