Every game in Squid Game Season 2, ranked

Spoilers for Season 2 of “Squid Game” follow.

Season 2 of “Squid Game” has finally arrived. Seven new episodesAnd perhaps the biggest surprise of the new season is that… well, there aren’t that 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 end up playing only three games (although one of those games consists of five mini-games). This may come as a surprise to some viewers, as the children’s deadly games are what made this first season so memorable. To be fair, season 2 ends with a cliffhanger (The third season, which will be the final season, is scheduled to premiere next year), which means we’ll likely get more matches in Season 3. However, there are three more matches to be played before The new season returns to the island, so if we wanted to detail all the matches played in Season 2 of “Squid Game,” we could include them as well. Which is what we’re doing below, as we rank every game in Season 2 of “Squid Game.”

Coming in last is a familiar game to anyone who has watched it “deer hunter”: Russian roulette. The highly lethal game typically involves players loading a single bullet into a gun, rotating the chamber, then placing the gun to the side of their head and pulling the trigger. There is a one in six chance that the player will end up shooting themselves. In the first episode of “Squid Game” Season 2, Ji Hoon encounters a mysterious recruiter, played by Gong Yoo. The recruiter has a gun in hand and suggests they play Russian roulette, but adds a new twist to the game: instead of rotating the chamber each round, the two players will simply move back and forth and pull the trigger. This increases the odds of firing, and means that at a minimum, if the gun goes empty five times in a row, the last round will ensure the bullet is fired. Ji Hoon, who is trying to return to the island and stop the games once and for all, agrees to play.

The two players move back and forth, and the room is empty each time. Finally, there are two opportunities remaining. The bullet will fire one of the remaining two trigger pulls. Ji Hoon has the gun, and he can easily cheat by pointing it at the recruit and pulling the trigger twice – one of those shots is sure to be a fatal shot. Ji Hoon plays it fair: he puts the gun to his head and shoots. This round is empty, meaning the last round is the one that contains the bullet. The tables are turned: the recruit can simply use this opportunity to shoot and kill Gi-hun. Instead, he also plays by the rules, and ends up shooting himself to death in the process. It’s an annoying scene overall, but it’s the least “exciting” game of the season.

Season 2 of “Squid Game” jumps forward two years from last season, and we learn that during those two years, Ji Hoon hired a team of men to help him find a recruit, all in the name of returning to the island. To stop games. For two years, these men, led by Mr. Kim, combed the subway system trying to find the recruit, but came up empty. Finally, one day, Mr. Kim and his employee Choi Woo-seok spot the recruit and follow him. During their reconnaissance mission, they witnessed a strange scene. First, the recruiter goes to the store and buys a bunch of bread rolls and a bunch of lottery tickets. He then goes to a public park where he approaches a group of homeless people. The recruiter offers them a choice: They can either get on the lottery list or draw a lottery ticket. Most people take the ticket, and immediately lose. Instead of giving the players the remaining shots as compensation, the recruiter proceeds to throw them to the ground and trample them into mush. It’s a very entertaining moment, and another example of the show’s theme of down-on-his-luck people desperate for money, but it’s not the most interesting game.

One of the new games played this season is called Mingle. Players enter a large circular room, and must stand on a rotating platform in the middle. As the platform rotates, a number is called. The platform then stops rotating, and players must quickly gather into groups that correspond to the number. So, for example, if the number “10” is called, players must form groups of 10. They then have to enter one of a series of smaller rooms and close the door. Players who do not do so within the allotted time are eliminated, meaning they will be shot dead. Players also have to abide by the rules: if the number 4 is called, and a group of only 3 people enter a room, those 3 people will be shot dead. It’s brutal and chaotic.

The first game that players participate in is a familiar one: Red Light, Green Light. Once again, players have to try to reach the finish line while a giant, creepy doll watches over them. When the doll turns its head away, players have freedom of movement. When the puppet turns its head to look at them, they should freeze in place. Anyone who failed to remain completely still was shot dead. While the rules of the game are the same as those of Season 1, Season 2 brings a change to the proceedings: Ji Hoon has already played this game once, and survived. Because of this, he is able to warn other players that they are about to be killed. However, his warnings fall on deaf ears…at least at first. The new players think Ji-hoon is full of it… but as soon as the bullets start flying, everyone rushes to follow in his footsteps.

Another game played before the show returns to the island is Rock-Paper-Scissors Minus One. After the bread-for-lottery-ticket incident, Mr. Kim and Choi Woo-seok continue to pursue the recruiter. Unfortunately for them, he falls upon 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”, a combination of rock-paper-scissors and Russian roulette. Mr. Kim and Choi Woo-seok must play Card Rock with both hands, and then when the recruiter shouts “Minus one!”, they must remove one hand away. Whichever remaining hand beats the other wins – at which point the recruit places a gun loaded with one bullet to the loser’s head and pulls the trigger.

This is understandably stressful and upsetting for the two men forced to play, and to make matters worse and more terrifying, the recruit eventually decides to shake things up. Instead of using a gun with five empty chambers and one bullet, he switched to five bullets and one empty chamber. This of course increases the chances that one of the men will be shot. After several very fast rounds, where a terrified Mr. Kim and Choi Woo-Seok end up tied up each time, Choi Woo-Seok ends up raising both hands in a “paper” shape, while Mr. Kim throws a “paper.” ” and “scissors.” The implication is clear: All Mr. Kim has to do is remove his “paper” hand and put away his “scissors,” and he will win. Which means that Choi Woo Seok will definitely die. However, after a long and painful blow in which both men look at each other, Choi Woo-seok takes one of his “paper” hands while Mr. Kim chooses to keep both hands – meaning Mr. Kim automatically becomes disqualified. The recruit immediately puts the gun to Mr. Kim’s head and pulls the trigger. There is a live bullet in this round, and Mr. Kim is killed, much to Choi Woo-seok’s horror. It’s a bleak and heartbreaking moment: Mr. Kim could have easily saved his life and sacrifice Choi Woo-seok in the process, but he chose to abdicate his role so that his employee and friend could live.

The biggest game in Season 2 of “Squid Game” is actually… five Mini games. After the fatal 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 the first season. However, the people running the games have changed things. Instead, the second match ends up being a six-legged pentathlon. Players should be divided into groups of 5 and have their legs held together. They must then move along a circular path, taking turns playing mini-games. If they complete all the games and cross the finish line in the allotted time, they win. If they don’t, they will be killed. Includes five mini-games Dakjia game typically played by a recruiter that involves trying to turn one circumstance into another; Flying Stone, in which the player attempts to hit a small tombstone-shaped rock with another small rock; gonggiwhich involves trying to pick up small pieces of plastic with one hand and is very similar to cranes; spinning top, where the player has to spin a small top with a rope; and Gigiwhere someone has to try to keep a feather-like object in the air with their foot, like a tacky sack. This game ends up being the most memorable game of the season simply because it takes so long and there are so many moving parts – meaning there are plenty of opportunities for players to get messy and seal their own destinies.

Season 2 of “Squid Game” is now streaming on Netflix.