Every Game In Squid Game Ranked
#7: Ddakji
“Red Light, Green Light” It’s not a game played on the island officially, but it is the one that gets every single character pulled into their high-risk, high-reward ordeal. Also known as Pogs outside of Korea – though they’re not exactly the same – the aim of the game is simply to use your paper tile to flip your opponent’s over, taking it in turns. Gi-hun gets 100,000 won for every game he wins, and if he loses gets slapped by the strange businessman who challenges him in the subway station. Ultimately, even if you lose every single game of ddakji you’re not going to die – unlike all the other games – but it’s still a unique and compelling introduction to the show’s concept, for both the audience and the characters.
#6: Tug of War
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“Stick to the Team” This is a game that isn’t unique to Korea; it’s something all kids around the world will have played at some point. Here, the aim is to avoid falling to your death at the bottom of a vast pit, with a guillotine positioned so that when a team loses, they can’t climb back out on the rope; the rope gets severed and they plummet to their doom. It’s definitely one of the least shocking and most predictable parts of the show, since it’s clear enough what’s going to happen as soon as the game is revealed, but it’s still a way nobody would want to die. Worse, the fall doesn’t instantly kill all the players – some are still breathing, barely, when the guards carry them away.
#5: Ppopgi
“The Man with the Umbrella” There are four shapes on four doors and everybody has to pick which one they want. Just to be safe, Sang-woo suggests they each pick a different one. This turns out to be the wrong call, as they’re playing a game called “ppopgi”, where a shape needs to be cut out, intact, from a piece of honeycomb toffee called “Dalgona Candy”. Gi-hun inadvertently picks the hardest one, the umbrella, while Sang-woo has the easiest, the triangle. In the end, Gi-hun seems to be the only umbrella competitor able to carve his umbrella out without breaking it, which he does by licking the back of the honeycomb until it melts enough to simply pull apart. Anybody who fails is brutally shot at point-blank range.
#4: Glass Stepping Stones
“VIPS” Another game particularly cruel for those with a fear of heights, the players have to cross a bridge made of alternating glass tiles; some will break, some won’t, and there are also lots of gaps to make it even more dangerous. Typically, there’s also a tight time limit, which leads to frustration in the group. Going last means you know which tiles are duds, but it also means you’ll have to go much faster. This makes it even tenser because the three main characters are right at the back. It’s also so stressful that the players forget the path they should be taking, and some refuse to move forward. You’ve got a fifty-fifty chance of dying eighteen times over; yikes.
#3: Squid Game
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“One Lucky Day” It’s the entire show’s namesake and the game we see played by a young Gi-hun in the opening scene, so of course, it ranks highly. It’s also one of the trickiest games to follow for non-Koreans as there’s no version of it outside the country. It’s just Gi-hun and Sang-woo going head-to-head, back in the very first arena we saw during “Red Light, Green Light”. But it quickly descends into an all-out fight rather than following the rules which is why, despite it being the title of the show, it’s not the top entry on our list. However, it’s still one of the most important moments in the series, fought in the rain between the only two survivors.
#2: Marbles
“Gganbu” This one was as tricky as it was distressing. After being encouraged to pair up, it turns out that their trusted partners are their competitors. This pits Gi-hun against the old man, Ali against Sang-woo, and perhaps worst of all, the married couple who have been there the whole time. They’re actually allowed to play whatever marble game they like to claim all the marbles from their rival; whoever has the marbles survives. It goes to show that even in a system that seemingly gives you freedom – in this case, the freedom to choose the game – you’re still being controlled by rules you can’t influence or change. It was certainly upsetting to watch this play out.
#1: Red Light, Green Light
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“Red Light, Green Light” Though it was only the first true game, it was the one that introduced us and the players to the sadistic world of the show and the ruthlessness of the Front Man. The only rule is that you can’t move while the giant, horrifying doll is looking at you, or you’ll get shot by one of the many snipers around the arena. Hundreds of people are slaughtered in this first game for tripping, stumbling, or just twitching slightly. Everybody who tries to flee is killed with no mercy, in one of the show’s most disturbing scenes. But it really epitomized what “Squid Game” is about: simple children’s games with fatal consequences and no room for error.
