The phrase comes from the Polish localisation of Stronghold, known in Poland as Twierdza, a real-time strategy game about building and defending a medieval castle. In gameplay, workers and peasants call out shortages as they gather timber, stone and food, and trzeba drewna is one of those practical resource announcements. Shared on Polish soundboards and in gaming edits, it has survived because it is instantly recognisable to players and immediately understandable in any clip about running out of materials, even for viewers who have never played the game.