I can't stop thinking about how smart the set up of Squid Game was. Not the show, but the games themselves.
Red Light, Green Light was to get rid of people that would panic or couldn't follow instructions. It culled out the majority, while leaving those that could really handle the stakes of the games alive. It's also the game that would collect the most money, therefore tempting the players to stay if they're desperate enough.
The Voting was to give the illusion that the players could leave, that they have an out and if they come back, they're participation going forward is their choice, their fault. It gives the idea of democracy but we all know that the players don't really have a choice. (Especially when the deciding factor ended up being the person behind it all.)
Honeycomb is about skill more than it is about luck. If you can win the game no matter how difficult of a shape you get (the skill ceiling is the umbrella) then you'll live. If you want something bad enough then you have to work hard for it. It also brings their executioners closer to them, its the guards now instead of a faceless sniper that they can't see. The leash of fear has tightened and if you fuck up due to that fear (breaking the honeycomb) then you pay with your life.
Lights Out establishes animosity and distrust. If the people around you are given the opportunity to kill you for a better chance at winning, they will. You shouldn't trust others here because they'll betray you. And if you're weak enough to die here, then you shouldn't have move forward. The guards also return, but as saviors this time, even if they were too late to save everyone. So now the other players are your enemies instead of them.
Tug-Of-War is testing to see if you're willing to kill other people just so that you survive. Even if you didn't participate in the massacre of Lights Out, you can't sit idle here. For any stragglers in the "its me or them" position, this removes the option of being a pacifist while making that leap toward killing for you. But now we've gotten rid of half of the remaining players in one game, just like the first game, so there's also a large payout attached to killing someone else.
Marbles is to weed out any alliances that have formed at this point. If you're playing a game with one other person and you know that the people around you aren't trustworthy, then you pick someone that won't screw you over. The only other group game so far included working together, so why would it be any different here? Now you're forced to take the life of someone that you've grown to trust. Not just another player or someone that wants to kill you, but someone that you have a connection with. And once again, we're down by half, so you're rewarded generously for doing so.
Glass Stepping Stones heightens this idea while getting rid of the majority of other players. No one wants to be the person that tests the glass, no one wants to take that final step toward death themselves, but are you willing to let their hesitance get you killed? Are you willing to push them, to kill them --even though they're just as scared as you are-- just so that you can move on? But now you're in front and you only have a tiny chance of winning. Will the people behind you have to push you or will you risk it? The players that win are the ones that either chose to kill someone or followed someone that did.
The Dinner is a last meal after a few days of having dwindling amounts of food. You've made it this far, the piggy bank is almost full, and look at the kind of food that that money can buy you. This isn't beer and an egg, this isn't a pre-packaged pastry and some milk or a cob of corn, this is a whole steak dinner. Surely you don't wanna go back to what you had to eat before? If not, then end the games yourself. We'll even give you a knife to do so.
Squid Game was always meant to be a culmination of everything the players learned hashed out in a 1v1. It was never about the actual game even if the guards would enforce the rules. You've killed people that you didn't know and people that you trusted, you've pushed people to their deaths with your own hands, you've taken out any stragglers besides you and the person across from you and you still have that knife from dinner. Whether you chose offense or defense throughtout this entire gauntlet, you're going to have to kill this last person if you want to live. They've gone through everything that you have, they've killed and they've survived just like you did, they've gotten a taste of the good life at dinner just like you did. They have a knife just like you do.
stormborns
vaporwave
janainaart
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