Every Game In Squid Game Season 2, Ranked

Spoilers for “Squid Game” season 2 follow.

“Squid Game” season 2 is finally here with seven new episodes, and perhaps the biggest surprise of the new season is that … well, there aren’t many games this time around. Once Lee Jung-jae’s main character Seong Gi-hun returns to the island where the official games are played, he and the new players only end up playing three games total (although one of those games is made up of five mini-games). This might come as a surprise to some viewers, as the deadly childrens games are what made that first season so memorable. To be fair, season 2 ends on a cliffhanger (season 3, which will be the final season, is due out next year), which means we’ll likely get even more games in season 3. All that said, there are three other games that are played before the new season returns to the island, so if we want to break down all the games played in “Squid Game” season 2, we can include those as well. Which we do, below, as we rank every game in “Squid Game” season 2. 

Coming in last is a game that will be familiar to anyone who has seen “The Deer Hunter”: Russian Roulette. The highly deadly game usually involves players loading one bullet into a revolver, spinning the chamber, and then placing the gun up to the side of their head and pulling the trigger. There’s a one-in-six chance that the player will end up shooting themselves. In the first episode of “Squid Game” season 2, Gi-hun comes face to face with the mysterious Recruiter, played by Gong Yoo. The Recruiter has a revolver on hand and suggests they play Russian Roulette, but he adds a twist to the game: instead of spinning the chamber each round, the two players will simply go back and forth pulling the trigger. This increases the odds of being shot, and means that at the very least, if the gun comes up empty five times in a row, the final round will ensure a bullet is fired. Gi-hun, who is trying to get back to the island and shut down the games once and for all, agrees to play. 

The two players go back and forth, with the chamber empty each time. FInally, there are two chances left. One of the two remaining trigger pulls will fire the bullet. Gi-hun has the gun, and could easily cheat by pointing it at the Recruiter and pulling the trigger twice — one of those shots is guaranteed to be a kill shot. By Gi-hun plays fair: he puts the gun to his head and fires. This round is empty, which means that the last round is the one with the bullet in it. The tables are turned: the Recruiter could simply use this oppertunity to simply shoot and kill Gi-hun. Instead, he also plays by the rules, and ends up shooting himself to death in the process. It’s a disturbing scene overall, but it’s the least “exciting” game this season. 

“Squid Game” season 2 jumps forward two years since the last season, and we learn that during those two years, Gi-hun has hired a team of men to help him find the Recruiter, all in the name of getting back to the island to stop the games. For two years, these men, lead by Mr. Kim, have combed through the subway system trying to find the Recruiter, but have come up empty. Finally, one day, Mr. Kim and his employee Choi Woo-seok spot the Recruiter and follow him. During their reconnaissance mission, they witness a strange sight. First, the Recruiter goes to a store and buys a bunch of bread rolls and a bunch of lottery tickets. Then, he goes to a public park, where he approaches a group of homeless people. The Recruiter offers them a choice: they can either take the roll or the scratch-off lottery ticket. Most people take the ticket, and promptly lose. Rather than give the players the remaining rolls out as compensation, the Recruiter proceeds to dump them on the ground and stomp them into mush. It’s a darkly amusing moment, and yet another example of the show’s running theme of down-on-their-luck people being desperate for money, but it’s not the most interesting game. 

One of the new games played this season is called Mingle. The players enter a large, round room, and have to step on a spinning platform in the center. As the platform spins, a number is called out. The platform then stops spinning, and the players have to quickly assemble into groups that correspond to the number. So, for example, if the number “10” is called out, players have to form groups of 10. They then have to run into one of a series of smaller rooms and close the door. Players who don’t do this on time are eliminated — which means they’re shot to death. Players also have to stick to the rules: if the number 4 is called, and a group of only 3 people enter one of the rooms, all three of those people are shot to death. It’s brutal and chaotic.

The first game the players participate in is a familiar one: Red Light, Green Light. Once again, the players have to try to make it across a finish line while a creepy, giant doll watches over them. When the doll has her head turned away, the players are free to move. When the doll turns her head to look at them, they have to freeze in place. Anyone who fails to remain perfectly still is shot to death. While the rules of the game are the same as season 1, season 2 throws a twist into the proceedings: Gi-hun has already played this game once, and survived. Because of this, he’s able to warn the other players that they’re about to be killed. However, his warnings fall on deaf ears … at least at first. The new players think Gi-hun is full of it … but once the bullets start flying, everyone is quick to follow his lead. 

Another game played before the show returns to the island is Rock-Paper-Scissors Minus One. After the Bread vs Lottery Tickets incident, Mr. Kim and Choi Woo-seok continue to follow the Recruiter. Unfortunately for them, he gets the drop on them and takes them captive. He proceeds to tie the two men to chairs and forces them to play a game he calls “Rock-Paper-Scissors Minus One,” which is a combination of Rock-Paper-Scissors and Russian Roulette. Mr. Kim and Choi Woo-seok must play Rock-Paper-Scissors with two hands, and then when the Recruiter yells out “Minus One!”, they must take one of their hands away. Whichever remaining hand beats the other remaining hand wins — at which point the Recruiter puts a revolver loaded with one bullet against the head of the loser and pulls the trigger. 

This is understandably stressful and disturbing to the two men being forced to play, and just to make things worse and more harrowing, the Recruiter eventually decides to change things up. Rather than use a gun with five empty chambers and one bullet, he switches to five bullets and one empty chamber. This, of course, increases the odds of one of the men being shot. After several lightning-quick rounds in which the terrified Mr. Kim and Choi Woo-seok end up coming up tied every time, Choi Woo-seok ends up holding out both his hands as “Paper,” while Mr. Kim throws out “Paper” and “Scissors.” The implication is clear: all Mr. Kim has to do is remove his “Paper” hand and keep “Scissors” out, and he’ll win. Which means that Choi Woo-seok will almost certainly die. However, after a long, painful beat in which both men look at each other, Choi Woo-seok takes away one of his “Paper” hands while Mr. Kim opts to keep both his hands in — which means that Mr. Kim is automatically disqualified. The Recruiter promptly puts the gun to Mr. Kim’s head and pulls the trigger. There’s a live bullet in this round, and Mr. Kim is killed, much to Choi Woo-seok’s horror. It’s a bleak, heartbreaking moment: Mr. Kim could’ve easily saved his own life and sacrificed Choi Woo-seok in the process, but he opted to forfeit his turn so that his employee and friend could live. 

The biggest game of “Squid Game” season 2 is actually five mini-games. After the deadly round of Red Light, Green Light, Gi-hun assumes that the second game will once again involve trying to cut shapes out of dalgona cookies, just like in season 1. However, the people running the games have changed things up. Instead, the second game ends up being a Six-Legged Pentathlon. The players must split into groups of 5 and have their legs fastened together. They then must move along a circular track, taking turns playing mini-games. If they complete all the games and cross the finish line on time, they win. If they don’t, they’re killed. The five mini-games include ddakji, the game the Recruiter usually plays that involves trying to flip over one envelope with another; Flying Stone, which has a player try to knock over a rock shaped like a tiny tombstone with another small rock; gonggi, which involves trying to pick up little pieces of plastic with one hand and is a lot like jacks; spinning top, where the player has to spin a small top with a rope; and jegi, where someone has to try to keep a shuttlecock-like object in the air with their foot, kind of like hacky sack. This ends up being the most memorable game of the season simply because it’s so time-consuming and there are so many moving parts — which means there are so many chances players can screw up and seal their fates.

“Squid Game” season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.