90 Fun Facts About Squid Game

In Squid Game's season-one finale, what is elderly Player 001 revealed to be?

A founder of the games: on his deathbed, Oh Il-nam tells Gi-hun that he and his rich friends started them out of boredom, and that he joined as a player for one last taste of childhood fun.

Hwang Dong-hyuk first wrote Squid Game in 2009 as what?

Feature film was the plan, but Korean studios turned the script down; about a decade passed before Netflix picked it up and it became a series instead.

What did South Korean producers keep telling Hwang his story was, when he spent years trying to sell it?

Too grotesque and unrealistic was the verdict of the studios and actors he pitched, so Hwang shelved the script and made three other films before Netflix picked it up.

Under what title did Netflix originally plan to release Squid Game?

Netflix worried the Korean children's game would mean nothing to international viewers and preferred Round 6, which described the format. Hwang pushed for his own title, and its strangeness turned out to be part of the draw.

In Squid Game's dalgona game, which shape does Gi-hun pick?

The umbrella: a teammate had worked out what the game would be and quietly chose an easy shape for himself, letting Gi-hun walk into the hardest one.

The endless pastel staircases in the players' quarters were modelled on the drawings of which artist?

Production designer Chae Kyoung-sun drew on Escher's four-dimensional stair drawings, Relativity among them, and described the resulting stairways as "a form of bondage for the contestants".

The warren of tunnels linking the arena, dormitory and offices was designed to imitate what?

An ant colony gave the hint for the layout, Hwang said: the dormitory is buried deep inside, and maze-like stairways lead from it up to the rooms and game arenas.

What do the circle, triangle and square on the guards' masks in Squid Game indicate?

Their rank among the staff: circles are workers, triangles are armed soldiers and squares are managers, and a guard who lets a player see his face is executed.

Why did Squid Game's designers make the players' tracksuits green?

Korean school gym kit was green in the 1970s and 80s, art director Chae Kyoung-sun said, so the look was copied to stir memories; one flat colour also strips each player of individuality.

How far off the ground was Squid Game's Glass Stepping Stones set actually built?

About 1.5 metres: the dizzying drop was added afterwards with chroma key screens, yet even that small height made the cast nervous enough to help the scene.

The three characters Seong Gi-hun, Cho Sang-woo and Oh Il-nam take their names from what?

Hwang's own childhood friends lent the names, one of them a boy he used to play with in the alleyways; he says the two leads carry the two sides of his own life.

Gi-hun's past as a laid-off car worker in Squid Game was drawn from which real South Korean event?

The SsangYong Motor strike against mass layoffs in 2009 was Hwang's stated reference: he wanted to show how an ordinary worker like Gi-hun could fall all the way to the bottom.

Lee Jung-jae's 2022 Emmy for Lead Actor in a Drama Series was the category's first win for what?

A role not in English had never won the category; Lee had been acting in South Korea for nearly three decades when Squid Game made him a global star almost overnight.

What is the grand prize on offer to the winner of the games in Squid Game?

₩45.6 billion: the pot grows by ₩100 million each time one of the 456 players is eliminated, and it hangs over the dormitory as a giant piggy bank filling with cash.

In the Korean children's game of squid, how does an attacker win?

Tap the squid's head with a foot and the attackers win; until they cross its narrow waist they must hop on one leg, and anyone pushed over the lines is out.

Within a month of its September 2021 release, Squid Game overtook which series as Netflix's biggest launch?

Bridgerton had held the record with 82 million households in four weeks; Squid Game was helped past it by subtitles and dubs in more than 30 languages, more than rival streamers offered.

What colour jumpsuits do Squid Game's masked guards wear?

Pink, a deliberately cute colour: art director Chae Kyoung-sun thought soldiers running a death game would look all the more grotesque dressed in it.

What is the relationship between detective Hwang Jun-ho and the Front Man?

They are brothers: Jun-ho sneaks onto the island disguised as a guard to look for his missing sibling, and the Front Man finally unmasks before shooting him off a cliff.

In Squid Game's second season, Gi-hun rejoins the games to do what?

End them for good: three years after winning, he has spent his prize money hunting the Recruiter who signed him up, and goes back in as a player to bring the games down from inside.

In Squid Game season one, Gi-hun allies with which player, his childhood friend from the old neighbourhood?

Cho Sang-woo is the neighbourhood's pride, a Seoul National University graduate who is on the run for fraud when he joins the games.

In season two, which North Korean defector is recruited to guard the players?

Kang No-eul, played by Park Gyu-young, is a North Korean defector and former soldier who takes a guard's uniform while searching for the daughter she left behind.

Which pregnant player does Gi-hun ally with in season two?

Kim Jun-hee, Player 222, enters the games pregnant and in debt after trusting the wrong person with her money; she gives birth during season three, and her baby is ultimately declared the winner.

Squid Game's second season drew 68 million views in four days, breaking a Netflix premiere record held by which series?

Wednesday had held the premiere-week record with 50.1 million views; Netflix primed the return with months of fan events around the world, drawing 52,000 people in person and six million online.

In Squid Game's second season, what was Player 120, Cho Hyun-ju, before she entered the games?

A special forces soldier, and it shows: when the players rise up in the season finale, Hyun-ju is the one who teaches them to handle the guns taken from the guards.

Before the games begin in Squid Game, what does Gi-hun habitually gamble on?

Horse racing takes what money he has, and the comparison comes back at him: the Front Man later tells him the games are entertainment for the rich, with the players as the horses.

What is the name of the giant robot doll Young-hee's 'boyfriend', introduced in season two's post-credits scene?

Cheol-su is the boy doll paired with Young-hee; he turns up in season three's jump-rope game, where the two dolls swing the rope over the players.

Which Hollywood star cameos in Squid Game's finale as a recruiter for an American version of the games?

Cate Blanchett appears in the last scene, playing ddakji with a desperate man in an alley; Hwang said he wanted a recruiter who could own the screen with barely a line.

In Hwang's original plan for Squid Game's ending, what happened to Gi-hun?

He left to see his daughter, alive: Hwang says he never meant to kill Gi-hun, then rewrote the ending so that he gives his life for a newborn who stands for the next generation.

After Squid Game's very first game, what do the survivors do?

Vote to leave is what they do, narrowly, and everyone goes home with nothing; but life outside is so bleak that most of them choose to come back.

Which Squid Game episode won Hwang Dong-hyuk the 2022 Emmy for drama directing, the first for a South Korean in that category?

"Red Light, Green Light" won it for a story Hwang had spent about a decade failing to sell: Korean studios turned his first script down long before Netflix said yes.

Which earlier Hwang Dong-hyuk film starred Lee Byung-hun, later Squid Game's Front Man?

The Fortress (2017), Hwang's epic of the 1636 Qing invasion, starred Lee Byung-hun; its Manchu general was Heo Sung-tae, who learned the language for the part and later played Deok-su.

Which manga did a broke Hwang read in comic cafes before Squid Game?

Hwang has said he read Battle Royale, Liar Game and Kaiji in comic book cafes while deep in debt, and wondered how he would feel if he joined such a game himself.

Before acting, Lee Jung-jae worked in what profession?

Fashion model was his first career: he was scouted while working in a Seoul café, and modelling led to his acting debut in the 1993 drama Dinosaur Teacher.

After Squid Game, Lee Jung-jae was cast as a Jedi master in which Star Wars series?

The Acolyte cast him as Jedi Master Sol, his first major American role, reported on the eve of his Emmy win; the series was cancelled after one season.

Dalgona, the honeycomb candy of Squid Game's second game, goes by what other Korean name?

Ppopgi is the candy's other name, tied to the street vendors' old game: a child who cut out the stamped shape without a crack won a second one free.

What makes dalgona puff up into a light, crunchy candy?

Baking soda releasing carbon dioxide is what foams the melted sugar; the puffed syrup is then pressed flat and stamped with a shape before it sets hard.

Why did Squid Game's first season grow from eight episodes to nine?

Finale was split in two: Hwang wrote eight episodes, but the last came out of the edit longer than he had pictured, so he divided it.

Squid Game's composer, Jung Jae-il, had just scored which Bong Joon-ho film?

Parasite made his name abroad; for Squid Game's theme he reached for the recorders and castanets he had played at primary school, and blew the recorder part himself.

Which piece of classical music wakes the players each morning in Squid Game?

The finale of Haydn's Trumpet Concerto is piped into the dormitory as the morning wake-up call, while Strauss's Blue Danube plays as the players are marched to each game.

A cover of which standard plays as the doll's game turns deadly in Squid Game's first episode?

Fly Me to the Moon was picked for the clash: Hwang wanted its romantic lyrics and melody set against the shooting of the players, said the cover's singer, Joo Won Shin.

The giant doll in Squid Game's first game was modelled on a character from what?

A Korean school textbook gave the show Young-hee, the girl on 1970s and 80s covers that Korean viewers knew from childhood; the designers stood her by a bare tree to mix nostalgia with dread.

Which Squid Game contest does Gi-hun survive thanks to elderly Player 001's advice?

Tug of war: the old man's technique, and a teammate's last-second trick, let a team with three women and a pensioner drag an all-male ten off their platform.

The recruiter's ddakji tiles were inspired by which Japanese urban legend?

Red Paper, Blue Paper is a school-toilet ghost story in which a spirit offers its victim a choice of two colours and, in most tellings, either answer is fatal; the ddakji tiles borrow the pair.

Which earlier Hwang Dong-hyuk film starred Gong Yoo, Squid Game's Recruiter?

Silenced, Hwang's 2011 drama about abuse at a school for deaf children, starred Gong Yoo; the outcry it caused led Korea to scrap the time limit for prosecuting such crimes.

What theme did Squid Game's designers choose for the VIP room and its masked guests' costumes?

Animals: the VIPs wear golden masks such as a lion, a bull and a deer, because designer Chae Kyoung-sun wanted a powerful, instinctive look for people who treat lives like pieces on a chessboard.

Hwang's hope was simply to top Netflix for one day — in which market?

Hwang said his ambition was to be Netflix's most-watched show in the United States for a single day; instead season one reached number one in 94 countries.

In Squid Game, what illness does elderly Player 001 say he has?

A brain tumour: with little time left, he says he would rather be in the games than wait to die in the world outside.

Which player number does Kang Sae-byeok wear in Squid Game's first season?

067 is the number on Kang Sae-byeok, a North Korean defector who needs the prize to bring her mother south and get her little brother out of an orphanage.

When Gi-hun loses at ddakji and cannot pay, how does the Recruiter collect?

Slaps his face: each loss costs one slap, with ₩100,000 on offer for a win, and Gi-hun is slapped again and again before he finally flips the tile and takes the cash.

In Squid Game season one, what job did Gi-hun hold, a decade after losing his post at an automobile plant?

Chauffeur is how he scrapes by, a decade after the layoff; by the first episode he is stealing from his mother to place bets and owes a fortune to loan sharks.

What is the profession of Player 111, who trades with corrupt guards for game tips?

Player 111, Byeong-gi, is a doctor who harvests organs from dead players for the black market in exchange for advance word on each game, until the Front Man cuts off the leak.

In Squid Game's dalgona game, what trick lets Gi-hun free his shape in time?

Licking the back melts the sugar along the outline until the shape drops free; Hwang says he used the same trick on the candy as a boy.

In Squid Game's glass bridge game, how does the Front Man strip glass worker Player 017 of his edge?

He turns off the lights: the glass worker had been telling tempered panels from plain ones by eye, and with the clock running Sang-woo shoves him forward to find the last safe step.

Who drags the gangster Deok-su off the glass bridge to their shared death?

Deok-su had refused to move and pressured others to test the panels ahead of him; Mi-nyeo, whom he had earlier abandoned, took her revenge in the fall.

Squid Game's finale is named for a 1924 story whose rickshaw puller finds whom dead?

His wife: after a day of rare good fares he brings back the soup she had begged for, too late, just as Gi-hun returns with his winnings to find his mother gone.

The doll's sing-song chant in Squid Game's first game refers to which flower?

Hibiscus, the mugunghwa or rose of Sharon, is South Korea's national flower: the doll chants 'the mugunghwa flower has bloomed', and players may move only while she sings.

The finalists' candlelit dinner in Squid Game echoes which artist's installation?

Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party, a triangular table laid for 39 women from history, was the model: Chae Kyoung-sun wanted the show's circle, triangle and square at the finalists' last meal.

What does gganbu, the word Il-nam teaches Gi-hun in the marbles game, mean?

Gganbu means a trusted neighbourhood friend: Il-nam uses the word as he lets Gi-hun, who has been cheating him at marbles, take his last one and survive.

Squid Game's first season was accused of copying which 2014 Japanese film of deadly children's games?

As the Gods Will opens with a deadly Daruma doll game much like the show's first round; Hwang answered that his own notes date from 2008 and that he freely drew on Japanese comics.

Which YouTuber staged a real-life Squid Game in 2021 with 456 contestants and a cash prize?

MrBeast's November 2021 video put 456 contestants through bloodless versions of the games for $456,000, each wearing a device that popped to mimic a gunshot when they were out.

Which Bond-villain actor hosted SNL in October 2021 and sang its Squid Game country parody?

Rami Malek, then in cinemas as the villain of No Time to Die, joined Pete Davidson as two broke men who sign up for the games, to the tune of a country track called Turn Up on the Weekend.

Roughly how much did Squid Game's first season cost Netflix to produce?

Bloomberg put the budget at about $21.4 million for nine episodes, roughly $2.4 million each, against an internal Netflix 'impact value' of nearly $900 million.

In Squid Game's second season, the Recruiter offers rough sleepers a choice between bread and what?

A lottery ticket is what many of them take; the Recruiter then stamps the uneaten bread into the ground in front of them as a punishment for choosing to gamble.

In Squid Game, the Recruiter forces Mr. Kim and Woo-seok into Russian roulette combined with which game?

Rock paper scissors, played 'minus one' with both hands: the loser faces the Recruiter's revolver, and Mr. Kim throws the last round on purpose to spare his partner Woo-seok.

Under what false name does the Front Man pose as Player 001 in season two?

Posing as Oh Young-il, Player 001, the Front Man casts the deciding vote to continue after the first game; in the finale, masked again, he executes Jung-bae before a Gi-hun who does not yet know him.

Which game replaces dalgona as Squid Game season two's second round?

Six-legged pentathlon: teams of five, tied at the ankles, must clear ddakji, flying stone, gonggi, spinning top and jegi in five minutes; the game was changed because Gi-hun knew the old one.

In season two of Squid Game, which game has players form groups of a called-out size and rush into rooms?

Mingle puts the players on a spinning carousel; when it stops a number is called, and exactly that many must get into a room together before the doors lock.

In season two, which two symbols do players wear to mark how they voted?

After each vote the players wear O and X badges, O to continue and X to leave, in blue and red; Hwang used the split to dramatise forced division, and the redesigned dormitory is divided by the same colours.

Who kills the rapper Player 230 during the bathroom brawl in season two?

Myung-gi, Player 333, stabs Thanos with a fork during the bathroom fight; the rapper had hounded him all season over the crypto coin Myung-gi promoted, which wiped out Thanos's savings.

Choi Seung-hyun, who plays rapper Player 230, found fame as T.O.P in which boy band?

BigBang made him a star, but a 2017 marijuana conviction left his casting so touchy in Korea that a morning show blurred his face in a report on the series.

How does Sang-woo cheat Ali out of his marbles in season one?

Sang-woo persuades Ali to let him hold both bags 'for safety', then swaps Ali's bag of marbles for stones, handing back a pouch of pebbles and walking off; Ali, Player 199, is shot.

A line praising Dae-ho's soldier father drew a backlash against Squid Game's second season in which country?

Vietnam: Dae-ho says his father fought in the Vietnam War and another player praises him for it, which many Vietnamese viewers took as an insult to their own history.

Which Britain's Got Talent star sings 'Nessun dorma' in Squid Game's second-season premiere?

Paul Potts, who won the first Britain's Got Talent in 2007 with this very aria, is the voice the Recruiter puts on during his roulette game with Mr. Kim and Woo-seok.

Jo Yu-ri, who plays pregnant Player 222, found fame in which girl group?

Jo Yu-ri placed third on Produce 48 in 2018, earning her place in Iz*One; she went solo after the group disbanded in April 2021.

Before playing the crypto scammer Player 333, Yim Si-wan sang in which boy band?

ZE:A debuted in 2010, after Star Empire scouted Yim Si-wan at a song festival in Busan; he then moved into acting with The Attorney and Misaeng.

What is the first game of Squid Game's final season, fought with keys and knives?

Hide-and-seek, in a maze: one side carries keys to its doors, the other carries knives, and anyone with a knife who fails to kill is eliminated instead.

Which player stabs her own son to stop him killing the new mother in the maze game?

Geum-ja stabs Yong-sik in the back when, having failed to kill anyone else, he turns on the new mother; the guards shoot him, and she does not survive her grief.

What is the final game of Squid Game's third season, a shoving contest on high platforms, called?

Sky Squid Game is fought across three towers shaped like a square, a triangle and a circle; on the last, Gi-hun throws himself off rather than sacrifice the baby.

At the very end of Squid Game, In-ho brings Gi-hun's bloodied tracksuit to his daughter in which city?

In-ho flies to Los Angeles to hand Gi-hun's daughter Ga-yeong the tracksuit and his prize money; moments later he spots an American recruiter playing ddakji in an alley there.

Which first did Squid Game's third season claim in its opening week on Netflix?

No. 1 in every ranked country, all 93 of them, in its first week: no show had managed it before, and both earlier seasons climbed into the same week's top 10 alongside it.

What cash prize did the 456 players of Squid Game: The Challenge compete for?

$4.56 million was the pot, built up $10,000 at a time as each of the 456 contestants was eliminated; at its 2023 launch Netflix called it its largest cash prize for a reality show.

Who won the first season of Squid Game: The Challenge?

Mai Whelan, Player 287, arrived in America as an eight-year-old refugee, served twenty years in the Navy and at 55 outlasted 455 other players to win it all.

Where was the first season of Squid Game: The Challenge filmed?

England: the giant doll game was shot at Cardington Studios in Bedfordshire, a hangar built for airships, in such cold that three players needed treatment for what Netflix called mild conditions.

How did O Yeong-su, Squid Game's Il-nam, make history at the 2022 Golden Globes?

First South Korean actor to win a Golden Globe, as Best Supporting Actor in a Series; there was no speech, because that year's Globes were held in private with no telecast and no star presenters.

Lee You-mi won an Emmy for playing Squid Game's Ji-yeong in which category?

Guest Actress in a Drama: Lee You-mi was the first Korean actress to win it, for Ji-yeong, who throws the marbles round on purpose so that Sae-byeok can go on living.

Anupam Tripathi, who plays the Pakistani migrant Ali, was born in which country?

India: born in New Delhi, Tripathi acted with a theatre group there until 2010, then moved to Seoul on an arts scholarship and learned to perform in Korean.

Wi Ha-joon, who plays detective Jun-ho, grew up on an island where his family farmed which prized shellfish?

Abalone: Wi grew up on his family's farm on Soando, an island in South Jeolla, and says he was surprised to find people in Seoul paying good money for sashimi.

Lee Byung-hun, the Front Man, played which G.I. Joe character in Hollywood?

Storm Shadow in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) was his Hollywood debut, won after he played his first villain in the Korean western The Good, the Bad, the Weird.

What colour does Gi-hun dye his hair at the end of Squid Game's first season?

Red: Hwang said he asked what Gi-hun would never get at a salon, and chose it to show his rage and that he can no longer be the man he was.

Which luxury house named HoYeon Jung its global ambassador weeks after Squid Game's premiere?

Louis Vuitton had used her as a runway exclusive in 2016; after the series took her Instagram following from about 400,000 to over 12 million in a month, the house made her a global ambassador.