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In the series of Squid Game games, there are a bunch of Korean traditional games that turned into dangerous games. Here is the list of the game in order, from the recruitment to the final round: In this article, Channel-Korea will provide you with a detailed explanation of everything about the Squid Game games in order and their explanation, so keep on reading.
The Beginning: The Recruiter’s Game with Ddakji
In the beginning, every player gets tested by the organization’s recruiters before they could join the Squid Game with a game called ddakji. The game ddakji is also similar to the popular 1990s game known as pog. Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) played ddakji with one of the organization’s recruiters (Gong Yoo), or also known as the Slapping Guy. The game is quite simple where one player has to flip the opponent’s tile on the ground with their own tile until it is made of folded paper. Seong Gi-hun has to experience some difficulties while playing ddakji, but after several times, he could make it and join the game as a player.
Squid Game’s Round 1: Red Light, Green Light
The official first round starts with a game called Red Light, Green Light. The game is originally well-known by different names such as Statues or Grandmother’s Footsteps. Meanwhile, in Korea, it is known as Mugunghwa Kocchi Pieotseumnida. There is a huge girl doll who sings, and the players can move forward while the doll shouts, “Green Light, Red Light.” But, if movement is detected afterward, the player is eliminated by getting shot to death. This game was quite popular among Korean kids and many used to play it in their childhood. Initially, the players thought the game was ‘simple’, but it wasn’t as simple as it seemed after a lot of them died after getting shot and eliminated. But, the ones who were able to cross the finish line without getting caught in 5 minutes moved on to the next round.
Squid Game’s Round 2: Dalgona/Ppopgi
In round 2, there was the Dalgona / Sugar Honey Comb Game or in Korean well-known as Ppopgi Game. This time, all of the players from each team have to choose a shape between an umbrella, triangle, circle, and star. After choosing a shape, the players are given a case with Dalgona candy inside. They have to extract the candy based on the shape they have chosen within 10 minutes without breaking the shape. The players try many ways to extract the candy such as using a pin, secretly using a lighter, or even like Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) who was licking the candy until it melted. If the players make it within 10 minutes, they would be able to move on to the next round. But if they don’t, death would be their punishment. Many players were very careful since they have seen a lot of players who couldn’t make it from the previous round during the Red Light, Green Light game.
Squid Game’s Round 3: Tug of War
In the 3rd round, they had to cooperate with each member of the team while playing the game Tug of War. Two teams compete against each other pulling a rope on two different high towers. The team that manages to make the opponents fall would be the winner. Meanwhile, another team who can’t make it suddenly falls from the tower and dies. There were also some tricks from Oh Il-nam the old man (Oh Young-soo) who was in the same team as Seong Gi-hun, Ali Abdul (Anupam Tripathi), Cho Sang-woo (Park Hae-soo), and other regular players. Oh Il-nam explained some tricks that he used to use while playing when he was a kid, and those tricks eventually led them to the win. Originally, the game holds deep cultural significance in South Korea since there are a bunch of Tug Wars that have been played during festivals or community celebrations. Tug of War is well-known as Juldarigi in Korean.
Squid Game’s Round 4: Marbles
In the fourth round, every player received a pouch filled with 10 marbles. The marbles were used to compete for the partner next to every player. Then, the player who took all 10 marbles from their partner became the winner. However, if one of them couldn’t make it until the times stopped, then they would die. Every player eventually used some violence to win the fourth round, even some of them betrayed their partner as well. Just like Cho Sang-woo (Park Hae-soo) and Ali Abdul (Anupam Tripathi) who were initially on the same team, Sang-woo betrayed him to give his marbles to Sang-woo. It also caused Ali’s death and he got eliminated.
Squid Game’s Round 5: The Glass Tile Game
Another dangerous game to the next stop was The Glass Tile Game or Glass Stepping Stones which is played in the round 5. Each stepping stone is made of one of two types of glass, tempered glass, and normal glass. The tempered glass can even stand the weight of 2 players, meanwhile, the normal glass couldn’t even stand 1 player’s weight and it simply will shatter. Every player had to choose between the 2 tiles, whether it was made as tempered glass or normal glass. The player also had to walk passed through 18 pairs of tiles as well. If they could make it to cross to the other side, they could move forward to the next round. However, if they couldn’t, then they would die. The game was very tricky yet risky where the players possibly got cheated by the other player, especially when the Front Man of Squid Game quickly turns off the lights when he could see one player who can tell the difference between tempered glass and normal glass.
Squid Game’s Final Round: Squid Game
Last but not least, the final round was finished with a game titled Squid Game. In real life, the game was very popular in South Korea from the 1970s to the 1980s and was commonly played by kids. This time, Seong Gi-hun and Cho Sang-woo were the only players left to compete against each other to win the final prize. The competition got even worse since both of them could easily kill each other within a second, not to mention how they hold a knife as their weapon. Seong Gi-hun or Cho Sang-woo have to reach a specified space at the end of the playing field that has the shape of a Squid. They were allowed to hurt each other, even potentially kill each other to reach the final space. In the end, Cho Sang-woo decides to up and lets Seong Gi-hun become the winner although Gi-hun doesn’t want to see his friend die in such a ruthless way. All of the arrangements of the games in Squid Game are incredible yet dangerous at the same time. No wonder many viewers were curious about the games and wanted to know further details! Which one of the games successfully brought you goosebumps? Leave a comment with your thoughts on the matter in the section below, and don’t forget to kindly share this article on your social media.