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Squid Game: 10 things you probably missed in Netflix’s wildly popular K-drama survival series phenomenon

Welcome to Squid Game, where cryptic clues are rife, and you probably missed more than you understood. Photo: Netflix

Netflix’s Squid Game has a wealth of intricate details and nuanced moments that those caught up with the storyline might have missed. Some of the bigger ones even hint at future events, with most of the main characters’ deaths being foreshadowed when the players returned to their everyday lives.

Warning, major spoilers ahead.

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Ddakji is similar to games in other countries

Ddakji, the game Gi-hun plays in the railway station, is pretty simple. The game uses colourful squares of folded paper.

The game uses colourful squares of folded paper. Photo: Netflix

Players attempt to flip their opponent’s folded square of paper over by throwing their own piece at it.

It is similar to the American game Pogs, or milk caps, that was popular in the 1990s and the Japanese game Menko.

Gi-hun’s family photos may be symbolic

Gi-hun’s home has a photo of Ga-yeong by herself, but her mother’s home has a picture of her with family. The photos may symbolise how different Ga-yeong’s relationships are with her parents.

The photos could symbolise how different Ga-yeong’s relationships are with her parents. Photo: Netflix

When Gi-hun returns home after the first round of the game, a photo of his daughter, Ga-yeong can be seen by the front door. In the photo, she stands alone.

In Ga-yeong’s mum’s home, there’s a photo of the child with her stepdad, mum and other sibling.

The differences between the two photos seem to symbolise Ga-Yeong’s connections with each parent – a close relationship with her mother and a strained one with her father.

Did you pay attention to the coffins?

The coffins look identical to the business-card box in In-ho’s room. Both have a grey exterior and pink bow.

Both have a grey exterior and pink bow. Photo: Netflix

When Jun-ho looks through In-ho’s room, he finds the business card for the game in a grey box with a pink ribbon.

The coffins that the players’ bodies are placed in are identical to this, with even the ribbons tied the same way.

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Why didn’t Jun-ho put his phone on silent?

Jun-ho’s phone doesn’t appear to be on silent. His phone makes the camera-shutter noise.

His phone makes the camera-shutter noise. Photo: Netflix

When Jun-ho takes photos of the files he finds, his camera makes a shutter sound.

This sound usually happens when a phone has its ringer on, which seems odd since he should have put his phone on silent to avoid a sudden alert or notification blowing his cover.

Could we have known about Il-nam sooner?

There are a few clues that point toward player one’s true identity as the organiser of the games. Il-nam dropped a few hints about his identity throughout the season.

Ho-Yeon with fellow Squid Game cast members Lee Jung Jae and Park Hae Soo. Photo: Netflix
Oh Yeong-su in a still from Squid Game. Photo: Netflix.

During the deadly first game of Red Light, Green Light Il-nam doesn’t seem fazed or concerned. Instead, he seems delighted to play. We later learn that he thinks playing the games is even more fun than making them.

He also seems to have a lot of knowledge about the games that will be played. He speaks about how familiar he is with marbles and his strategy helps his team win tug of war.

Il nam is also incredibly familiar with the neighbourhood set for the marble game – likely because he helped create it.

In addition, after he loses the marble game, Il-nam is never shown getting killed. Viewers just hear a gunshot off-screen.

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Did you pay attention to the discrepancy in the player files?

Plus player one is not included in the files for the current game. The 1999 binder has a player one, but the 2020 one doesn’t.

The 1999 binder has a player one, but the 2020 one doesn’t. Photo: Netflix

When Jun-ho opens the binder of 2020 player files, the first page is for player 002.

This seems like a mistake at the time but makes sense since 001 is the organiser of the games, Il-nam.

Was Mi-nyeo’s killing strategy foreshadowed earlier?

Mi-nyeo’s method for killing Deok-su is foreshadowed two episodes earlier. Part of Mi-nyeo’s strategy for killing is to lean back.

Part of Mi-nyeo’s strategy for killing is to lean back. Photo: Netflix

While excitedly discussing how her team wins tug of war, Mi-nyeo talks about how she felt “much more powerful” when she leaned back.

Just two episodes later, in the fifth game, she kills Deok-su by grabbing onto him and leaning back, throwing them both off of the bridge.

The most frustrating one: why didn’t the players just look at the walls?

The game-foreshadowing murals in the bunker room have been there the entire time. If the players had moved their beds earlier, they would have known which games they were going to play.

Part of Mi-nyeo’s strategy for killing is to lean back. Photo: Netflix

During the eighth episode, viewers can clearly see giant murals on the bunker walls when the three remaining players return to the almost empty room.

The stick-figure drawings correspond with the games played and they have actually been on the walls the entire time.

Did the jacket loan have a second meaning?

Il-nam gives Gi-hun his 001 jacket, which may foreshadow his win. The jacket may have a deeper meaning.

The jacket might have a deeper meaning. Photo: Netflix

After realising that Il-nam wet himself, Gi-hun ties his jacket around the older man’s waist to stop the other players from seeing what happened.

In return, Il-name gives Gi-hun his 001 jacket, which may have foreshadowed how Gi-hun would become the No 1 player at the end of the games.

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Finally: did you pay attention to their real world stories?

The deaths of Deok-su, Ali, and Sae-byeok were foreshadowed by their interactions in the real world. Ali has his marbles stolen from him, which gets him killed.

When the players go back to their normal lives during the second episode, they each do something that relates to how they’ll die.

Ali has his marbles stolen from him, which gets him killed. Photo: Netflix

Ali steals money from his boss and he’s later eliminated after Sang-woo steals marbles from him.

Deok-su jumps off a bridge to avoid the debt collectors chasing him. He dies when Mi-nyeo forces him to fall off the game bridge with her.

While threatening the man who she’s paying to get her mother into the country, Sae-byeok holds a knife to his throat. She later has her throat slit by Sang-woo.

Though he doesn’t die like the rest, Gi-hun’s future is also sort of predicted. He struggles to spend his prize money at first.

Earlier in the season, he rejects money from his ex-wife’s husband. He later initially refuses to use the money he wins in the game.

There’s a reason that sum of money sounds familiar. Photo: Netflix

Gi-hun asking the banker for 10,000 won in the finale calls back to a moment in the first episode. There’s a reason that sum of money sounds familiar.

During the final episode, Gi-hun asks the banker for 10,000 won. This time, he actually gets it.

He previously asked for the same amount of money from the loan shark during the first episode and didn’t get it.

This article was originally published by Insider.
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Squid Game
  • Did you pay attention to the coffins, or realise most of the characters’ deaths were foreshadowed when the players returned to real life?
  • Why wasn’t there a player one in the 2020 game binder, and – most frustratingly of all – why didn’t the players just look at the walls behind them?