As Netflix‘s ‘Squid Game’ Season 2 continues to sweep content charts around the world, global attention is also being drawn to the various Korean games that appear in the show, so-called ‘K Games’.

The game that is receiving the most attention in Season 2 is ‘Air Games’ that appears in Episode 4. In the drama, the video of Kang Dae-ho (Kang Ha-neul), a former Marine and game participant, succeeding in the air play mission with his outstanding skills was produced as a short-form video and has received attention with over 10 million views on the short-form platform TikTok. In addition, the YouTube video ‘How to Play Air Play’, uploaded 6 years ago, has been receiving belated attention and has seen an explosion in views.

Foreign viewers who follow the air play using pebbles, dice, and chocolate are continuing their own ‘Air Challenge’ by continuously posting videos on SNS. There are even people who are making the air play stones that appear in the drama using 3D printers.

Meanwhile, a video of a second-generation Korean-American netizen showing off his mother’s air play skills is receiving a hot response. The video contains the voice of a daughter exclaiming ‘Oh my God!’ at her mother‘s dazzling air skills, and a comment was left saying, “‘Since the release of the Squid Game, each and every Korean mother has been showing off her air skills to her children.”
Air sales have also increased unexpectedly. In particular, online stores have appeared that sell sets of tools that allow you to enjoy the five folk games introduced together, including not only air games but also ttakjichigi, bisokchigi, paengchichigi, and jegichagi.

Prior to this, Netflix collaborated with convenience store GS25 to produce the ‘Folk Games 5-piece set’ as official goods, selling it in a limited edition of 2,700 units. In addition, the ‘Game Tutorial’ video, in which the drama’s signature ‘Pink Soldiers’ explain how to play the five games, was released in Korean and English versions through the official YouTube channel. The Korean video garnered 220,000 views in just three days since its release, and the English video garnered 870,000 views.

The nursery rhyme ‘Round and Round’ used in the matching game that appeared in Episode 6 is also very popular. SNS has been filled with videos of foreign fans partying while listening to ‘Round and Round’, as well as videos of ‘Round and Round’ resonating in clubs in countries such as Thailand. Some foreign viewers and DJs have even released their own versions of ‘Round and Round’.

Meanwhile, ‘Squid Game’ Season 2, which set a record for the highest opening on Netflix ever and ranked 7th in the most-watched non-English series of all time in its first week of release, recorded 904.7 million hours of cumulative viewing and 126.2 million views in just two weeks. This is the second-highest number of non-English series on Netflix, following Season 1, and the fourth-highest number of English and non-English episodes combined.


Reporter Seungmi Lee smlee@donga.com