Squid game is not your typical death-survival show. It blends the lethal duality of entertainment and unconscious rage, of high-fashion consumption and the blackest id and zeitgeist.

The first game that we play in Squid Game is a rock, paper, scissors game. It divides players into two equal groups, offense and defense.

Gameplay

When you first come across Squid Game, its cheerful hues and kid-friendly gameplay might seem appealing. But beneath that lies an underlying reality of suffering, deception and mortality. The show explores how the rich misuse children’s games to ridicule and murder.

The very first game, Red Light Green Light, shows the strength of the geniuses by reminding players that a single act outside the boundaries will kill them. It also supports the theme of control that runs throughout the rest of the show.

Honeycomb Round 2: the contestants make designs with a stick. It is one of the easiest rounds but also the most symbolic, in that it depicts the geniuses using seemingly ordinary things to subdue their victims.

The series’s most tragic deaths occur with Marbles, a game in which pairs of players fight against one another. This round also sees allies suck on each other and husbands break their wives, and it kills off some much-loved figures, including fan favourite Ali. It’s the game that feels the most vulnerable, and also the one that is most emblematic of the series as a whole.

Rules

The squid game you’ll play in the first and final episodes of Squid Game is not the risky, one-way battle royale you’re likely envisioning. Rather, it’s a good-natured school game that gets really aggressive.

The game involves two teams, and each player from each team competes against another. On the field, a squid diagram is sketched, and the offensive team hops from one point to another within the squid’s boundaries to win. The defense tries to force the offensive players into bounds, but if an offensive player gets to the head of the squid and knocks it on with their foot, they win.

The other game available in Squid Game is a tug of war. This one, which was called juldarigi in Korean, is still played at festivals and is believed to guarantee good crops. Both Gi-hun and Sae-byeok manage to make it out alive, albeit with a hideous wound. Sang-woo had slit Sae-byeok’s throat, butchering her in the abdomen with a dinner knife.

Setup

The squid game court was based on a childhood game played by the series’ lead, Gi-hun (a “Squid Game doll” introduced in Episode 1 of the show). It was designed in four equal spaces shaped like a squid. Its offense seeks victory by jumping from one side of the squid to the other, while its defence attempts to halt them. This is what the defense needs to prevent the attackers from entering area 2 and acquiring the house.

The squid players are poor and in dire need, which is why most of them return. Organizers encourage them too, giving them the winning money of previous matches. Yet the organisers don’t place any unique pressure on withdrawals, and they track trends to ensure that their competition is equal.

It’s hard to say how big the squid court will be, though it appears to be about half as large as a basketball court. Players can splatter paint or scratch directly into the floor outside to define their territory, or use masking tape inside.

Variations

The Squid Game idea is easy and quaint in one respect, grim and perilous in another. The show features people with different levels of debt playing games they played growing up, which might (or might not) kill the majority of them. The grand prize is $40 million dollars.

In the pilot, the Recruiter forces Gi-hun to play ddakji, a sweet game that kids used to play when their parents invited them home for dinner. The Recruiter pays Gi-hun 100,000 won for each round of the game that he wins, but beats him in the face every time he loses.

This tension in Squid Game’s games would be just as applicable to other kid’s games. Redditor jmemw926 points out that Simon Says would go the way of Simon Says in such circumstances, because one would have to accept that the doll should bark at them while the clock ticks down. Something as elementary and yet stressful as hide and seek might work on the show too, where you’re hidden for a specific period of time, or you die.

Equipment

Squid game became one of the most talked-about TV shows of all time. It has been as popular as it’s been since small screen hits such as Tiger King and Dark – word of mouth phenomenons – were brought to the big screen.

Producers were constantly creating new games and challenges in an effort to keep the show new. Aside from the regular Red Light/Green Light, Dalgona, and tagging, there were mini dorm games and hidden missions that gave contestants a sneak preview or instant eliminations.

During its run, fans began making Squid Game memes and allusions. They too used the game to build games of their own and compete with one another. The games they developed are everything from straightforward to extremely competitive.

But as dark and twisted as the Squid Game world can be, it’s also colourful and compelling. You can buy exclusive merchandise, or get a snack for your stomach while watching Gi-hun’s twisty journey.