Warning! This article contains spoilers for Squid Game season 3.Each Squid Game season has featured a series of deadly and often unpredictable games, but season 3 further raises the bar with its familiar but disturbing line of childhood classics. Squid Game season 1 began on a strong note with its portrayal of Korean games, like Ddakji, Red Light, Green Light, Dalgona, Tug of War, Marbles, Glass Stepping Stones, and Squid Game. While the ones in season 1 had their own cultural charm, season 2 attempted to appeal to wider audiences with games like Russian Roulette, Six-Legged Pentathlon, Mingle, and Light Out.
Unlike its predecessors, Squid Game season 3 does not feature any mini-games and primarily focuses on the main games from the central venue. Owing to its limited runtime, the final installment of the series is only able to accommodate three more games. However, all three are jam-packed with well-timed twists and turns that keep viewers white-knuckled as they unfold. Although all three games in Squid Game season 3 seem relatively simple in rules, they are layered with brutal consequences and moral ambiguity.
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Hide-And-Seek
Begins In Season 3’s Episode 1 & Ends In Season 3’s Episode 2
Rules: Before beginning the game, the players were divided into two teams using a gumball machine. The balls in the machine were equally divided into two colors. Each player had to turn the handle on the machine to extract a random ball, which determined the team they had to play for. The ones with the blue balls were the hiders in the game, while the ones with the red were the taggers. Each hider also got a key, which would allow them to unlock doors in the game’s arena. A hider’s role was to make their way to the arena’s exit to avoid getting killed by a tagger.
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It is also later revealed that hiders have three types of key shapes: square, circle, and triangle. Each door in the arena can be opened only through one of the three keys, while the exit door requires all three key shapes to be inserted simultaneously for it to unlock. Owing to this twist, some players end up collaborating with one another, while several others try to steal keys from their fellow players. To “even” the playing field, the guards also give knives to the taggers, who have to kill the hiders before the 30-minute countdown hits zero.
Each tagger has to kill at least one hider to be able to qualify for the next round. Some taggers only stick to the basic rule of killing one hider. However, others see the game as an opportunity to eliminate their competition and go on a murderous rampage. Before the game begins, players from each team are given the opportunity to switch places only if they can convince someone from the opposing team to take their place. The hiders are given two minutes to hide in the arena before the taggers enter to hunt them down.
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2
Jump Rope
Begins In Season 3’s Episode 3 & Ends In Season 3’s Episode 4
Rules: The rules of the Jump Rope game are fairly simple. All the remaining players in Squid Game find themselves in a new arena, where the female Young-hee doll holds one end of the rope, while her robotic brother holds the other. Players are expected to walk across a narrow ramp while maintaining their balance and jumping every time the rope swings towards their feet. The rope, too, is more like a steel rod that gradually gains more speed with each rotation. If a player loses balance on the ramp or fails to jump on time, they will stumble into the deep pit below and die.
The VIPs agree to have Jun-hee’s baby as a separate player in the game. After Jun-hee dies, the baby replaces her as Player 222.
The players are also expected to reach the other end of the ramp in a 20-minute timeframe to avoid elimination. Nam-gyu is the first player to walk down the ramp, but he fails to reach the other end. Gi-hun goes second and finishes the course, which gives other players the confidence to complete the game. One player tries to cleverly hack the game by reaching the other end and pushing off every other player who tries to cross the ramp. However, Gi-hun threatens to push him over if he does not let others play fairly.
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Sky Squid Game
Begins In Season 3’s Episode 5 & Ends In Season 3’s Episode 6
- Time Limit: 15 minutes on each pillar after a button is pressed.
Rules: The final game’s arena consists of three high-rising pillars. While the first pillar is square-shaped, the second and the third are triangular and circular, respectively. The remaining eight players are first sent to the top of the square pillar through an elevator and asked to eliminate one or more players. Only after at least one alive player has been pushed off the pillar can the remaining contestants move to the triangular one. The same rule applies to the triangular pillar, where another player needs to be pushed off before the rest can move to the final level.
The games end with Gi-hun sacrificing himself to let the baby win.
The players also get access to a button on the ground, which they must press to begin the game. As soon as they press the button, a 15-minute countdown begins, showing the remaining amount of time they have to knock a player off the pillar. The first pillar also has a steel rod that Myeong-gi weaponizes to push Min-su and protect himself. After Min-su’s death, Gi-hun finds himself cornered on the triangular pillar. However, he soon wields the knife the Front Man had given him and turns the tides in his favor until only he, the baby, and Myeong-gi are left as the final survivors.
In the game’s final moments, Gi-hun and Myeong-gi fight on the circular platform without pressing the start button. Myeong-gi ultimately falls off, leaving Gi-hun and the baby as the only two survivors. The games end with Gi-hun sacrificing himself to let the baby win.
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