Squid Game: Real-Life Inspiration? Behind the Scenes
When Netflix’s Squid Game exploded onto screens in 2021, millions of viewers were captivated by its brutal yet mesmerizing blend of childhood games and high-stakes drama. The series became a global phenomenon, but beneath the surface of this Korean masterpiece lies a fascinating question: what is Squid Game based on? The answer is far more complex and rooted in reality than many realize. Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk drew inspiration from multiple sources, including real economic struggles, actual children’s games, and the darker aspects of human nature when survival is on the line.
The show’s genius lies in its ability to transform innocent playground activities into instruments of desperation and moral compromise. Each game featured in the series has real-world origins, though Hwang Dong-hyuk reimagined them through a lens of inequality, desperation, and social commentary. Understanding these inspirations gives us deeper insight into why Squid Game resonated so powerfully with audiences worldwide and why it became more than just entertainment—it became a cultural phenomenon that sparked conversations about wealth disparity, debt, and human dignity.
The Real-World Economic Crisis Behind the Story
Hwang Dong-hyuk conceived Squid Game during South Korea’s economic difficulties in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 devastated millions, leaving people with mounting debts, unemployment, and a sense of hopelessness. While South Korea eventually recovered economically, the psychological scars and wealth inequality remained. Hwang witnessed firsthand how ordinary people were crushed under the weight of debt, forced to make impossible choices between survival and dignity.
The debt-ridden protagonists in Squid Game aren’t fictional exaggerations—they represent millions of real people struggling with loan sharks, credit card debt, and the inability to escape their financial circumstances. Main character Seong Gi-hun’s predicament of owing money to loan sharks while unable to provide for his daughter mirrors stories that played out across Korea during this period. The show doesn’t just use debt as a plot device; it’s the fundamental engine driving every character’s motivation to participate in deadly games for a chance at financial redemption.
This economic backdrop makes Squid Game distinctly different from other survival game narratives. It’s not about adventure or thrill-seeking—it’s about desperation. The players aren’t volunteers seeking glory; they’re ordinary people with nothing left to lose, trapped in a system that has already failed them. This grounding in real economic suffering is what elevates the series beyond mere spectacle and into social commentary.
Childhood Games: From Playground to Death Arena
One of the most brilliant aspects of Squid Game is its use of actual Korean children’s games as the foundation for its deadly competitions. These games carry nostalgic weight for Korean audiences while simultaneously becoming instruments of terror. Let’s explore the real games that inspired each challenge:
Red Light, Green Light (Mugunghwa Flower Bloomed) – This is perhaps the most iconic game in the series. In real life, Korean children play “Mugunghwa Flower Bloomed” where one person faces away from others while calling out the phrase. Players must freeze when the caller turns around. The game in Squid Game maintains this basic structure but adds lethal consequences—players who move when they shouldn’t are eliminated by gunfire. This transformation from innocent playground game to execution arena perfectly encapsulates the show’s core concept.
Dalgona (Honeycomb Candy) – The dalgona challenge requires players to carefully carve out shapes from brittle candy without breaking it. In real Korea, children bought dalgona from street vendors and attempted exactly this task. The skill required is genuine, but the pressure is amplified astronomically. What was once a test of patience and fine motor control becomes a test of nerves under mortal pressure.
Tug of War – While tug of war exists worldwide, the version in Squid Game is based on a traditional Korean game where teams pull on opposite ends of a rope. In the show, losing means falling to your death from a massive height. The game itself is authentic; the stakes are the innovation.
Marbles – The marble game featured in Squid Game is based on real Korean children’s games involving small glass spheres. The rules vary, but typically involve flicking marbles to hit opponents’ pieces. In the show, losing your marbles means losing your life. This game is particularly devastating because it forces players to betray those they’ve bonded with.
Glass Bridge – While not a traditional children’s game, the glass bridge challenge draws inspiration from real video game mechanics and puzzle designs that Korean audiences would recognize. It’s a test of probability and luck disguised as a test of courage.
Squid Game Itself – The final game is the namesake of the series. “Squid Game” or “Ojingeori Geimeun” is a real Korean children’s playground game involving two teams—one defending a squid-shaped area drawn on the ground, the other attempting to invade it. The rules are simple but intense, and the show’s final competition maintains this essential structure while elevating the violence and emotional stakes.
By using these authentic games, Hwang Dong-hyuk tapped into something primal and universal. These aren’t abstract challenges—they’re activities that millions of Korean viewers played as children. The juxtaposition of innocent childhood memories with brutal adult desperation creates cognitive dissonance that makes the show deeply unsettling and emotionally powerful.
Character Inspirations and Social Commentary
Beyond the games themselves, the characters in Squid Game are inspired by real social archetypes and circumstances that exist throughout Korean society. Seong Gi-hun represents the struggling working class—a divorced man unable to provide for his daughter, forced to live with his elderly mother while drowning in debt. This character type is tragically common in modern Korea.
Cho Sang-woo embodies a different kind of desperation: the privileged person who squandered their advantages. A former investment manager facing criminal charges, Sang-woo’s participation in the games is driven by shame and the need to escape legal consequences. His character explores how economic crisis affects people across all social strata, not just the poor.
Kang Sae-byeok, the young North Korean defector, represents the most vulnerable population—those without even basic legal status or social safety nets. Her character arc explores how immigration status and lack of citizenship exacerbate financial desperation. The situation she faces mirrors real struggles of North Korean defectors in South Korea who often work illegal jobs and live in constant fear of deportation.
The VIP characters and game organizers represent the wealthy elite who profit from others’ misery. Their casual cruelty and detachment from the consequences of their actions reflect real wealth inequality and the moral bankruptcy of systems that allow such disparity to exist. These characters aren’t caricatures; they’re disturbingly plausible representations of how power operates in stratified societies.
If you’re interested in exploring how games tackle social themes, check out our guide on the best indie games for PC, which includes titles that explore similar narratives of struggle and survival.
Korean Cultural Elements and Historical Context
To fully understand what Squid Game is based on, one must grasp the specific Korean cultural and historical context that shapes every element of the narrative. South Korea’s rapid industrialization created unprecedented wealth but also unprecedented inequality. The pressure-cooker environment of Korean society—with its intense competition, emphasis on academic and professional achievement, and deep-rooted hierarchies—provides fertile ground for stories about desperation and moral compromise.
The concept of jeong (a deep emotional connection between people) plays a crucial role in the show’s emotional impact. The bonds formed between players are authentic expressions of this cultural value, making betrayals and deaths even more devastating. Korean audiences immediately recognize and feel the weight of these relationships in ways that might be less apparent to international viewers.
The show also draws on Korean cinema traditions of exploring class struggle and social injustice. Directors like Bong Joon-ho (Parasite, Snowpiercer) have established a strong tradition of using genre entertainment to explore economic inequality. Squid Game follows in this tradition, using the game show format to dissect systemic problems.
Additionally, the show references Korea’s history of rapid social change. From post-war poverty to becoming one of the world’s most advanced economies, Korea’s journey is marked by both triumph and trauma. The show’s exploration of how quickly fortunes can change reflects this historical reality where entire families experienced dramatic shifts in economic status within a single generation.
The Psychology of Desperation in the Games
What makes Squid Game different from other survival game narratives is its psychological authenticity. The show doesn’t glorify competition or survival—it explores how desperation erodes morality and human connection. Each game is designed to force impossible moral choices, mirroring how real economic hardship forces people to compromise their values.
The marble game exemplifies this perfectly. Players must betray someone they’ve bonded with to survive. There’s no clever strategy or skill that allows you to win without causing emotional harm. This mirrors real economic desperation where people must sometimes harm others—or themselves—to survive. The show doesn’t judge these characters; it shows how circumstances create these impossible situations.
The psychological pressure in Squid Game reflects real research on how scarcity and desperation affect decision-making. Psychological studies show that when people are trapped in poverty or debt, their cognitive function actually decreases, making it harder to make rational decisions. The show captures this brilliantly—characters often make choices that seem irrational until you understand the desperation driving them.
For those interested in games that explore complex psychological themes, our article on best co-op games on Steam includes titles that challenge players emotionally and morally.
Comparing Squid Game to Other Survival Narratives
Squid Game isn’t entirely original in its concept. Survival game narratives have existed for decades, from The Hunger Games to Battle Royale to Saw. However, what distinguishes Squid Game is its grounding in real economic struggle rather than dystopian fiction or serial killer psychology.
The Hunger Games uses survival games as a tool of authoritarian control in a dystopian future. Squid Game uses them as a response to real, present-day economic desperation. This distinction is crucial—the show suggests that we don’t need a dystopian future to create conditions where people will risk their lives for money. These conditions exist right now.
Battle Royale, the Japanese film that inspired many survival game narratives, uses the games as punishment. Squid Game presents them as a perverse form of opportunity—the only chance these desperate people see to change their circumstances. This inverts the power dynamic in interesting ways; the players are willing participants, even though the system exploiting them is still fundamentally unjust.
If you’re exploring different gaming narratives and experiences, you might also be interested in learning about what is cloud gaming, which represents how technology is changing how we access entertainment.
The comparison to Saw is particularly instructive. Both use games as torture devices designed to test morality. However, Saw is fundamentally about an individual killer’s philosophy, while Squid Game is about systemic inequality and how societies create conditions where people will destroy each other for survival. The horror in Squid Game isn’t from a villain’s twisted games—it’s from recognizing how real economic systems function similarly.
These narrative comparisons help us understand that Squid Game synthesizes familiar genre elements but applies them to real social critique. It takes the structure of survival game narratives and fills them with authentic economic desperation, making it feel more relevant and terrifying than purely fictional alternatives.
For gamers looking to explore more narrative-driven experiences, check out our comprehensive gaming PC build guide which can help you set up the system needed to experience these complex stories at their best.
FAQ
Is Squid Game based on a true story?
Squid Game is not based on a specific true story, but it’s inspired by real economic conditions and authentic Korean children’s games. The individual characters and plot are fictional, but the circumstances they face—overwhelming debt, unemployment, desperation—reflect real struggles that millions experienced during Korea’s economic crises. The games themselves are based on actual playground games that Korean children play.
What real games are featured in Squid Game?
All the major games in Squid Game are based on real Korean children’s games: Red Light, Green Light (Mugunghwa Flower Bloomed), Dalgona (honeycomb candy), Tug of War, Marbles, Glass Bridge (based on video game mechanics), and Squid Game itself. While the show adds lethal stakes, the games’ basic rules and mechanics are authentic to how Korean children actually play them.
Did Hwang Dong-hyuk experience the events portrayed in Squid Game?
While Hwang Dong-hyuk didn’t personally experience the specific events in Squid Game, he lived through South Korea’s economic crisis in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He witnessed the financial struggles of ordinary people and drew on these observations when creating the series. He’s mentioned in interviews that the show was inspired by his own economic struggles during that period.
Why did Squid Game become such a global phenomenon?
Squid Game resonated globally because while it’s specifically rooted in Korean culture and history, the themes of economic desperation, inequality, and moral compromise are universal. Viewers worldwide recognized their own economic anxieties reflected in the characters’ situations. The brilliant use of childhood games also created a nostalgic element that transcended cultural boundaries.
Are there real organizations like the one running Squid Game?
While no organization openly runs deadly games for profit, the show’s exploration of how wealthy people exploit desperate people for entertainment mirrors real dynamics in society. Loan sharks, predatory lending, and the exploitation of vulnerable populations are unfortunately real phenomena that the show critiques through its fictional framework.
What does the squid game symbolize?
The squid game itself symbolizes the final conflict between those trying to escape poverty (the invading team) and those defending their position (the defending team). It represents the fundamental class struggle in capitalist systems where those with resources defend them against those without. The game’s rules—where the defending team has structural advantages—mirror how economic systems are designed to protect existing wealth.
Visit Game Forge Daily Blog for more in-depth analysis of games and their cultural significance. For additional perspective on how streaming services are changing entertainment, check out IGN’s coverage of major releases and GameSpot’s reviews of contemporary gaming and entertainment phenomena. You can also explore Netflix’s official platform to experience Squid Game and understand its cultural impact firsthand.
