All Squid Game Season 2 Games: The New Games and Their Rules, Well Explained
Squid Game Season 2 has certainly captured the attention of fans thanks to a fundamental narrative novelty: almost all games are new. Most probably expected to see the same evidence of the first season even if from a different angle and with a more relaxed mood, given that Gi-hun had now acquired the knowledge necessary to overcome them without problems, at least in theory. On the contrary, however, the second participation of the protagonist in this ruthless competition is made even more complex compared to the first time, due to all the new game modes introduced by its creators. One of the most engaging and suspenseful elements of Squid Game Season 2 is the succession of games for children of the South Korean tradition that become mortal in the context of the series. From the great classics such as the Un, two, three, and star with the Giant Doll to the unpublished all to be discovered, here is the complete list in chronological order and the explanation of each game.
The Explanation of Squid Game Season 2 Games
1. Ddakji
The first game of Squid Game Season 2 is the Ddakji, typical of the South Korean tradition, used by the recruiter (Gong Yoo) already in season 1 and now re-proposed also in the first episode of the second. The Ddakji sees two opponents compete through paper tiles.
The goal is to try to turn the tile of the player against whom you compete by throwing your own over the other so that the latter’s tile turns upside down. Whoever succeeds wins the round.
In Squid Game, the Ddakji is played on the subway only by the recruiter, who approaches an indebted person and challenges him.
The challenged player will have to choose between a red and a blue envelope. If he manages to flip the recruiter’s envelope, he will earn one hundred thousand won; on the contrary, if he loses and does not have the money to pay, he will be slapped in the face by the recruiter. When the loser wins, the recruiter offers him to participate in the games of that year by giving him a business card with a contact number.
2. Bread and Lottery
Bread and Lottery is the title of the first episode of the second season of Squid Game and introduces the new game of the recruiter, who buys 100 brioches and 100 lottery tickets, offering homeless people the opportunity to choose one of the two offers.
Many accept the lottery ticket and scratch it immediately, only to find that they have made the wrong choice since their ticket is a loser.
Faced with this, we see the recruiter going on a rampage and destroying the croissants left in the first episode of Squid Game Season 2, disappointed by those who preferred the uncertainty of the lottery ticket to the certainty of a hot and edible meal.
About this choice, the creator of the series explained:
I think Gong Yoo’s character lived a complicated life, marked by challenges and difficulties, just like the homeless in the scene in question.
He is an extremely self-injurious individual who expresses his emotions through the hatred he has towards other human beings. Hating them makes him feel different from them. His contempt for those who choose lottery tickets instead of bread seems almost like an attempt to escape its self-destructive nature.
3. Stone, Paper, Scissors, Minus One!
The third game of the second season of Squid Game takes place towards the end of the first episode when the recruiter forces Mr. Kim and Woo-Seok (who were following him as per Gi-hun’s order) to play Chinese Morra (better known as Sasso, paper, and scissors) to determine who among them will survive: paper covers stone, the stone breaks scissors and scissors cut paper.
However, the recruiter adds a variation to the classic rules. Players must make a version called “Stone, Paper, Scissors, Minus One!”, in which they start playing with two hands simultaneously and must remove one of their choices at each turn. What remains leads to a tie or an advantage over the choice of the other player.
All hybridized to Russian Roulette: after each turn, the recruiter pulls the trigger of a gun with a shot in the magazine (which then becomes five to increase the difficulty of survival) and whoever loses naturally dies.
Tragically, Woo-seok beats his boss, Mr. Kim, and this leads the recruiter to kill him.
4. Russian Roulette
The first episode of Squid Game Season 2 ends with Russian Roulette played by Gi-hun and the recruiter.
The two opponents take turns shooting themselves in the head with a 6-gauge revolver with a single loaded bullet and five out of six chances of getting out alive.
As the game continues, the odds of the gun being loaded increase when the recruiter chooses that there are five out of six ammunition and no longer one.
The two opponents play following the rules, without cheating even when they could, but in the end tick it and Gi-hun, who thus has the opportunity to get in touch with the Front Man through the business card at stake in the pocket of the recruiter.
5. Red Light Green Light
The first real game of Squid Game Season 2 is one, two, three, the deadly star that we already knew from the first season.
Again it is the first skimming for players unaware of what awaits them.
The rules are very simple: players must advance from one side of the perimeter to the other while the giant doll plays the classic melody of the game. When the chanting voice stops, players must stop and remain completely still to continue playing. Those who fail are killed by snipers in pink suits. A motion detector in the doll scans the players and determines who is still moving, thus eliminating those who do not stop in time.
6. Six-legged Pentathlon
One of the unpublished games of season 2 of Squid Game is a six-legged pentathlon that features several mini-games. Players must form teams of five and designate one player for each mini-game as they continue the journey to cross the finish line linked to each other. Each team has five minutes to complete all five pentathlon mini-games, while the loser is killed.
- The first game is the aforementioned Ddakji.
- The second is called Flying stone and consists of overturning a stone positioned on the ground vertically with another from a distance of about 3 meters.
- The third game is Gong-gi. The player must throw and grab pebbles through a series of levels, first two, then three, then four and so on, until he finishes taking them all on the fly to complete the game.
- Game number four is the top, which requires the player to wrap a thin rope around a metal top and release it on the floor. You win if the top turns.
- The fifth and final game is called Jegi and consists of kicking a pom-pon in the air and making five consecutive dribbles.
7. Mingle
Mingle is the third official game of season 2 of Squid Game. The rules, like most other games in the series, are quite simple. Players get together on a giant carousel until it stops and a number is called through the intercom.
At this point, players divide into groups according to the number announced and seek refuge in the various small rooms surrounding the room. Those who fail to reach a door or who do not meet the exact numerical requirements for each round are killed on sight by the pink guards.
8. Special Game
The night before the vote to determine whether or not to stop the games, the so-called Starts Special game, the massacre among the competitors that remained alive until then. When the guards break in to tidy up the carnage, Gi-hun leads a riot against the game organizers.
Squid Game Season 2: The New Games and Their Rules
In the First Episode Between “Bread and Lottery” and Jokenpô
Squid Game Season 2 starts with a game called “Bread and Lottery” in which the recruiter offers the homeless and people in serious financial crisis two options: take a loaf of bread and eat it immediately or take a lottery ticket that may or may not be successful. It is the simplest play mechanism of all and also the one capable of teaching how human beings can risk everything if deluded to be able to get out of their misery by winning the amount necessary to free them from need. From that moment on, the series enters the reign of evidence that puts participants’ lives at risk.
The first of this kind is called Jokenpô, or “stone, paper, scissors”. However, the rules are completely different from what we all followed as children. In this case, at the beginning, both hands are used and then one of the two is chosen; the result of the choices of both people will determine who wins, while the loser will be destined to make a further game, notoriously deadly: Russian roulette, remembering one of the most iconic and frightening scenes of the Hunter.
The Six-Legged “Pentathlon” of Episode 4 is Actually Six Games in One
After the classic One, two, three, and Star are simplified to “green light, red light”, the games of Squid Game Season 2 increase their degree of difficulty. We forget the Dalgona candy, the marbles, and the bridge and go directly to the “six-legged pentathlon”.
The Main Challenge
Remember those races where you had to tie one leg to another person’s and try to run in the most coordinated way possible? Well, that’s the same thing but with a team of five people who will also have to pass 5 small tests proposed by the race, which is mostly a timed test. So if they don’t pass them within a certain time, they are all destined to die.
The Return To The Scene Of The DDAKJI
The first is the DDAKJI, which we saw the recruiter use in the first season to recruit new potential participants, is a traditional South Korean game played with folded paper envelopes, also called DDAKJI, if you can flip the envelope on the ground with the one you hold in your hand you can continue.
The Throwing of the Stone Requires a Precision Shot
Follows the stone-throwing, which we could understand as a mix between bowling and bowls. The player must break down one stone by throwing another and, if he fails, everyone must start over, wasting precious time.
The Stones of The Gong-Gi Represent an Impending Test
The gong-gi, or “Gongs”, has five levels of increasing difficulty. First, you have to throw a stone into the air, collect one from the ground, and repeat the operation until all the stones are collected. The second level requires collecting two stones simultaneously. On the third, three stones plus a separate one must be collected, while on the fourth, all four stones must be collected in one movement, keeping the fifth suspended in the air. At the last level, the player must throw all five stones into the air, turn his hand upside down, and catch them on the top of the hand. Then, the stones must be raised to be captured before they hit the ground. It seems easy but the series shows that it is not, especially if you have little time and around it, some are ready to cool you if the time available has expired.
The Top Is Not The Simple Thing It Seems
Traditional games continue with the top: the participants must spin it and, if they fail, they must go to the point where it fell and started over. Then there is the jig, which is one ball with which to dribble five times, but it is more like one badminton feather.
The Deadly Merry-go-Round of Episode 5
Finally, we see the so-called Mingle, a mathematical game in which participants are told a number, and they must collaborate by creating a small group to reach the required amount and run in a small room before the time runs out. If you are alone, or in any case within a group made up of a greater or lesser number than that of the call, a barrage of machine guns arrives on time to decree the defeat. And here we stop, because the contest takes an unexpected turn that we don’t reveal to you in case you haven’t seen it yet. Let’s see what it holds for the third season…
