We are all hoping for a second season of Netflix’s hit show; Squid Game.
While we doubt it could be as surprising as the first, we would all be happy to get proven wrong.
It’s hard to imagine what could possibly top the 6 lethal rounds
that were featured in the first season. But we’d love to try our hand at it anyway.
Hi, I’m ________ from WickedBinge and today we’ll be pitching 6
Children’s Games that we feel should be featured in Season 2 of Squid Game.
RULES
In honor of the 6 rounds, we have chosen 6
children’s games that we feel could be a good basis for this competition.
We will include a bit about how the game is normally played and then how we think it
should be altered for higher stakes and greater cinematic quality. As a final touch, we will be
ranking them and presenting them to you in the order we consider to be brutal to most lethal.
In this version of Season 2 we’re going to address the theoretical American Games. Yes yes, we all
know the Korean games are the best. There are potential Korean games left as well, Dabanggu,
Biseokchigi, Dankatsu, Gonggi, Elastics and Why Did You Come to my House were all considered.
But we will be focusing on American games so that our American writing staff can personally vouch
for the danger levels of the following choices. (And plus, we love the idea of seeing an American
Season, if only because it would confirm the fan theory that the games happen world wide.)
So with all that out of the way, let’s jump right into our picks.
LIST
Kicking things off we have a classic; Hide and Seek
We probably don’t have to explain the rules of this one to you, but we did promise.
In this children’s game one person closes their eyes,
counts to 100 while all the other players hide. If you’re found, you lose.
Only in this hypothetical version, if you’re found, you’re shot.
We think Hide and Seek would be a great opportunity to show off the unique set
design of an interior arena. It would have to be a large enough room that was well
furnished and complex enough to give players plenty of options to hide from the staff in.
This also has the potential to be a cinematic scene that would be high tension
and in all likelihood, claustrophobic. There’s the challenge of not only finding
a hiding spot but staying in it and staying quiet, even once the gunshots start going off.
We also think there’s a good dynamic to it. If there is one staff member (or maybe a small
group of up to 5 staff members) inside a large arena looking for players over the course of a
few minutes, there are a lot of tactical decisions that would have to be made by the people hiding.
If you stay close to the center you can quickly find one of the better spots,
but this comes with the danger of knowing the staff will be starting their search there.
Since statistically the staff members won’t reach everyone,
you could use your time to run to the edge of the arena, but risk
not being properly hidden, or having to move around and evade the armed staff.
There would be a lot of deaths in the first few minutes,
but with a stricter time limit this may be one of the easiest games to survive.
Moving into our second slot for most survivable pitch is Freeze Tag.
We feel this would be the American response to Red Light Green Light.
In the original game one player, or one team, is considered “it.”
They have to go around and tag people who are not it shouting “freeze!” Frozen players can be
rescued by a member of their own team by being tapped with a shout of “unfreeze!”
It could take place in a similar enclosed Arena to the first round of the Korean games,
and much like that round, players would have to freeze in whatever position they
were in when they got tagged. Moving while frozen means being
shot. Being frozen at the end of the 10 minute game also means being shot.
What we like best about this idea is the dynamics of being able to
save another player from elimination, while potentially risking your own life to do so.
This would be a great test of team loyalty and morality in general for the participating players.
In the center we have Paintball.
Bear with us a moment.
As a kid you were probably more likely to have played laser tag than paintball. And
lasertag would also be an option. We’ve chosen paintball specifically not only because of the
popularity and dedication of participants, but also because we like the optics of it.
The game involves running around with paintball
guns in teams and trying to be the last ones to survive.
While a very easy lethal version could just feature real guns,
we think a more tense version of this actually operates like regular paintball. The color-coded
teams would each have their own color of paintball ammo, and the frivolity of the vibrant fake
wounds would excellently juxtapose the real shots that were coming.
Because of course, if you get paint on you in the arena, you’re not leaving it alive.
It would be an interesting way to bring some of the bright colors we saw from the Korean sets
into an Americanized arena. We also think it would be a great way to build more tension.
Moving into the more dangerous games we offer, for your consideration; The Floor is Lava.
This is a children’s game with one pretty consistent rule; the floor is lava. That means
you can never, under any circumstances, touch the floor. Furniture is fine.
Playground equipment is fine. Dangerously unstable makeshift rafts are fine. Just never the floor.
I actually remember when I used to play this as a kid, we also had one player who
was the designated “lava monster” and had the ability to tag people, forcing them to go into
the lava pit. I guess that was a regional twist though because I’ve never heard of it since then.
A more popular version involves someone inside yelling “the floor is lava”
and giving everyone 5 seconds to get off the ground in whatever way they can.
In our proposed squid game version, it’s more like an obstacle course. The floor isn’t so much lava
as what it’s covered in a corrosive acid that you definitely don’t want to get on your skin. Players
have a set amount of time to move from one side of the arena to the other without burning themselves.
There are no teams in this one, so theoretically everyone could live. We
doubt that would be the case, however, since the time limit would exacerbate whatever
tensions already existed between players. Without a lot of room to pass one another,
one person stumbling or causing delays could put a lot of strain on the people in the back,
and the whole thing could start to feel like a free for all.
Taking the penultimate spot for most lethal pitch is actually Chess.
We would lose a lot of time trying to explain all the rules of the board game chess in this video.
It’s a complex strategy game that has been played since the 6th century.
Meaning of course that it didn’t originate in America, but it is wildly popular here.
Most children grow up knowing the basic rules of how to move and capture pieces
without really grasping the intricacies of the tactics involved or the theory behind them.
Despite the fact that this isn’t a game necessarily geared toward children,
it’s one that would feel just as nostalgic as the others listed. It would also cause
an immediate sense of dread for most players upon seeing the board.
After all, most adults haven’t played chess since childhood, and most children are bad at chess.
We also love the idea that it would surprise the audience in one of the
few ways we have left to surprise them; a non-violent game in Round 6. It contrasts
the ultra violent combat from season 1 in a way we don’t think anyone would be expecting.
The rules to our version are simple enough. Two players sit down,
and when one loses their king, they’re eliminated.
We know this doesn’t seem like an obvious (or even
threatening choice) but we think it would be the perfect switch to psychological warfare.
We also have a few arguments to make our case that it’s scarier than it seems at first.
Whether the finale contestants are friends or strangers, the dynamics between them would
undoubtedly impact the game. There could be a large disparity in tactical thinking
or experience. There could be emotional manipulation. Hell, maybe neither of them
are very familiar with the game and one is shot dead before either of them see the checkmate.
If you’re skeptical about the ability of chess to hold the attention of the audience
or seem tense without getting boring for non-chess players, this is actually something Netflix has
experience filming with their 2020 hit, Queen’s Gambit. It’s more entertaining than it sounds.
And on the topic of those non-chess players, they would get extra context
about the moves being played through the commentator hired to speak in the VIP box.
Having an off-kilter and arguably lower energy game like chess in the mix is the perfect time
to see how the American VIPs interact with the games differently. Chess is a perfect metaphor
for the lazy-cat, billionaire stereotype we came to expect of the VIPs from season 1.
They’d be watching a game that is widely considered sophisticated to boost their ego
while also having the unfolding dynamics explained to them. The elegance of the
game itself could be juxtaposed to the crude, violent entertainment
and impending death of one of the players, all of which would of course go over their heads.
While this one doesn’t have the potential for high casualties like some of the other games
on our list, it’s also the only game we've chosen that caps how many people can make it out alive.
Or does it?
We never said what happens in the case of a draw or stalemate… but that’s a question that
would undoubtedly be looming over the players as they approach the end game.
And finally, our most lethal game is King of the Hill.
No, we’re not talking about the show (though that is something we like to talk about on
this channel. If there were a game that just involved binge watching a cartoon,
we think we’d do pretty well.)
We’re talking about the children’s game where each child has to fight the other
children to acquire and retain one spot on top of a small hill.
It involves pushing, shoving, kicking, biting, and would be
the most hands-on violent game in this hypothetical second season,
just as it was the most hands-on violent game in the playground growing up.
When I was little we actually used to play this with the big playground dome.
It’s amazing I never saw anyone killed or seriously concussed.
Despite being the most physically aggressive game on our list,
our lethal version has a psychological twist.
To be crowned King or Queen of the Hill, you only have to maintain your position on top
of the hill for 6 seconds. Once they have been crowned the voice announces they have
passed and they can clear out, leaving their throne open for another person to take it.
There would be enough time on the clock to make sure everyone theoretically could pass
the round. (Or, almost everyone, at the very least.) That would make it all the
more tragic when fighting breaks out and lives are slowly but surely lost to the countdown.
Anyone that hasn’t been a King or Queen when the timer goes off is eliminated.
WRAP-UP
And that’s been it, everyone! Our picks for 6 Children’s Games for
Season 2 of Squid Game ranked from Brutal to Evil. There were a lot of games we
didn’t get to cover in this one like Red Rover and Limbo, so please, PLEASE let us know in the
comments which children’s game you’d be most scared to see a lethal version of.
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And as always, Stay Wicked.