A story of people who fail at life for various reasons, but suddenly receive a mysterious invitation to participate in a survival game to win more than 38 million US dollars.
The game takes place on an isolated island and the participants are locked up until there is a final winner. The story incorporates popular Korean children’s games from the 1970s and 1980s, such as squid game, the literal translation of its Korean name, which is a type of tag where offense and defense use a squid-shaped board drawn in the dirt.
Squid Game is a South Korean survival drama series where 456 financially struggling contestants compete in deadly versions of childhood games for a massive cash prize. The protagonist, Seong Gi-hun, a desperate gambler, joins the contest only to discover its brutal reality—losing means death.
As alliances form and betrayals unfold, players face psychological and moral dilemmas. The game is secretly run by wealthy VIPs, and the mastermind is later revealed to be Oh Il-nam, an elderly participant. In the end, Gi-hun wins but is left emotionally scarred, vowing to uncover and stop the games.