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Spoilers for all three seasons. The scripted Squid Game turns familiar playground activities into lethal contests. Here is every featured game in story order, including which scenes are not official competition rounds. The rules and fictional player counts below follow Netflix Tudum’s guide, published July 17, 2025: Netflix Tudum’s three-season rules guide.
Before the Season 1 contest: Ddakji
Ddakji
In Episode 1, the Recruiter invites Gi-hun to play. One player lays a folded square paper tile on the ground; the other throws a matching tile at it, trying to flip it. The Recruiter wagers 100,000 won per round, but Gi-hun pays with slaps when he loses. This is an entry bet, not one of the six formal competition rounds.
Season 1 games, in order
1. Red Light, Green Light
Players move toward safety while “green light” is called and must freeze at “red light.” Anyone detected moving after red is eliminated. They have five minutes to cross. Netflix Tudum reports that 456 entered the fictional first round, 255 were eliminated, and 201 survived.
2. Dalgona (honeycomb cookie)
Each player chooses a stamped shape—circle, triangle, star, or umbrella—and receives a dalgona cookie with that design. The aim is to extract the shape without cracking the cookie, using a small needle within ten minutes. Netflix Tudum reports 187 participants, 79 eliminations, and 108 remaining.
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- A light strategy, bluff and push your luck game. Be ready for fun and intense games with your friends!
- Lead your team through six games based on Netflix's hit series. Each game has its own rules. Battle it out to save as many team member as possible through all six games.
- Through all six games, players play cards, gather tokens and defy the odds to beat each game before progressing to the next. Make your best to have as many team member as possible until the last game to optimize your chance to win.
3. Tug-of-War
Teams of ten pull against each other on elevated platforms. The losing team falls after the rope is severed. The round makes coordination and strategy as important to the outcome as individual strength. Netflix Tudum reports that 40 players remained afterward.
4. Marbles
Players pair up with ten marbles each and choose a marble game. Under the series’ stated rules, a player must take their partner’s ten marbles within 30 minutes to win. The painful twist is that each player must compete against the partner they chose.
5. Glass Bridge (Glass Stepping Stones)
Players cross a suspended route of paired panels. One panel in each pair is tempered glass; the other is ordinary glass that breaks. They do not know which is which and have 16 minutes to cross. Netflix Tudum reports that three players make it across as finalists.
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6. Squid Game
The traditional court is drawn in the shape of a squid and has offense and defense roles. The offense begins by hopping on one foot outside the lines and tries to reach the top of the court; the defense tries to stop it. The show turns the playground contest into a lethal final match between Gi-hun and Sang-woo: being pushed out of the court means death in the drama. Netflix Tudum’s guide explains the finale as an adaptation of the traditional game’s rules, not a claim that informal childhood play has one universal rulebook.
Season 2 games and challenges, in order
Bread and Lottery
In the Recruiter’s Episode 1 encounter, unhoused people must choose between a bun and a scratch-off lottery ticket; they cannot take both. It is a character scene and social experiment, not an arena round.
Rock, Paper, Scissors, Minus One
Each player shows rock, paper, or scissors with both hands, then removes one hand. The remaining signs are compared using standard rock-paper-scissors rules. In the Recruiter’s version, the loser faces a Russian Roulette penalty.
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Russian Roulette
The Recruiter first plays a version in which the cylinder is reset between draws. Later, he plays with Gi-hun using a single spin, with the players taking turns without resetting it. This is a fictional plot device, not a real-world game or safe activity.
1. Red Light, Green Light
The movement rule is the same as in Season 1: move on green and freeze on red. Netflix Tudum reports 91 fictional eliminations in this round, compared with 255 in the first season’s round.
2. Six-Legged Pentathlon
Teams of five are tied together in a six-legged relay and must complete five mini-games within five minutes:
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- FAST-PACED TILE LAYING GAME: In this highly competitive tile placement game, try to collect the most Interstellar Credits by strategically placing Photo Op tiles and Imaging Devices on the board. But watch out for Hazards and Black Holes
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- SABOTAGE WITH HAZARDS: Stay alert! Opponents can play Hazard tiles, such as the Abominable Worm and Cosmopoachers, to sabotage photos and subtract credits from another player’s score
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- Ddakji: throw a folded tile to flip the one on the ground.
- Flying Stone: knock over a stone by throwing another stone at it.
- Gong-gi: toss and catch small pieces through a sequence of stages.
- Spinning top: wrap the top with cord and spin it.
- Jegi: kick the jegi five times in succession.
Netflix Tudum reports 111 eliminations and 255 players remaining after the relay.
3. Mingle
Players ride a carousel. When it stops, a number is called; contestants must form groups of exactly that size and enter rooms. Those left outside or in a group of the wrong size are eliminated. Netflix Tudum reports 100 players remained after this round.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Season 3 games, in order
1. Hide and Seek
A gumball draw assigns players to blue Hiders or red Seekers. In a maze, Hiders may hide or try to find an exit; Seekers must find and kill at least one opposing player within 30 minutes or be eliminated themselves. Hiders receive keys, while Seekers get decorative knives. The violence and stakes belong to the fictional drama.
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- Gonggi Stone catching game (Korean Knucklebones) :Start the game by throwing five gong-gis onto the floor. Pick one gong-gi and throw it into the air. While this gong-gi is in the air, grab one that’s on the floor before catching the one in the air. Repeat this to clear the floor.
- Jebi Kicks (Korean Hacky Sack) : Continuously kick ‘Jebi’ in the air without dropping. Whoever manages the most number of kicks wins.
- Paeng-y (Spinning Tops) : Prepare by winding a rope around the bottom of the top. Then in one swift movement, yank on the free end of the rope to make the top spin.
- Biseokchigi : Knock down the opponents’ Biseok(rocks) in 18 steps. Each step consists of stably resting the biseok on a body part and moving to opponent’s biseok to knock them down.
- DDAKJI : It's involves two playing tiles of different colors. The point of the game is to flip over the other player's tile, by hitting it with your tile from above. As easy as the rules are, it's actually quite a challenging game that takes a lot more skill than you would think - but no worries, I'll give you a tip later to maximize our chances of winning this pastime.
2. Jump Rope
Players must cross a narrow platform within 20 minutes while Young-hee and Chul-su turn a giant metal rope. They have to avoid both the moving rope and the gap in the middle of the platform.
3. Sky Squid Game
Players stand on three towers shaped like a square, triangle, and circle. To advance, a player must push at least one competitor from the structure. Later rounds require someone to press a button to start a countdown; if nobody is eliminated before time runs out, all remaining players are eliminated. The final contest puts survival in direct conflict with moral choice.
How the show’s games relate to Korean childhood play
Korea.net describes ddakji, tug-of-war, marbles, dalgona candy cutting, and squid game as children’s street games popular in Korea during the 1970s and 1980s: Korea.net’s account of the games. The series draws on recognizable play traditions, but adapts rules and stakes for drama. Informal children’s games can vary; the show’s versions are not a single official rulebook for how everyone played.
The scripted series is not Squid Game: The Challenge
Squid Game: The Challenge is a separate real-world competition show with production-specific adaptations and contestant rules. For example, Netflix’s report on its Marbles round describes paired contestants receiving a bag of marbles and 30 minutes to choose a game: Netflix Tudum on The Challenge’s Marbles round. Those rules should not be substituted for what happens in the scripted series.
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