‘Squid Game’ Season 3’s New Games, Explained

Amanda Bell June 27, 2025, 9:00 am

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[Warning: The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for Squid Game Season 3.]

The teasers and first-look images for Squid Game Season 3 gave us quite a few clues about what to expect from the next round of deadly games, but still, there were some elements we just couldn’t see coming.

With an abbreviated episode count — Season 3 consisted of just six episodes, the series’ smallest season yet — there were fewer new games to be found this time around than usual.

So which new games did Squid Game Season 3 introduce? Here’s a look.

Hide and Seek

The first new game to be introduced after the shuttered rebellion was a gnarly version of hide and seek. First, the players were split into two teams, with members randomly assigned by drawing either a red or blue ball from a giant gumball machine. The blue team was given instructions to hide from the red players, and they were also given keys to unlock the doors. (There were three different types of keys: circle, triangle, and square.) The red team members received knives and instructions to kill at least one member of the blue team before the clock ran out. The players were allowed to swap team colors with someone on the opposite side, but only if both players consented to the exchange. Red team members were expressly forbidden from killing other members of the red team, but blue team members received no such limitation.

Jump Rope

The second new game was one that many fan theories predicted: jump rope. The game involved the two giant robotic dolls, Young-hee and Chul-su, circulating a giant metallic rope above a thin bridge that had a break in the middle. The rope sped up over time. To survive, players had to make it across the bridge before the timer ended.

Sky Squid Game

The final game was a game of pushing. There were three massive platforms, shaped like a square, triangle, and circle, and in order for everyone to proceed, at least one still-alive person had to be thrown from the platform after the game’s timer began. If at least three people died, one on each platform, the game could end. A pole was placed at the center of each platform to make the elimination of another player easier.

Bonus Game

Unbeknownst to the others, before the final game, Front Man a.k.a. Hwang In-ho a.k.a. Player 001 (Lee Byung-hun) gave Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) his own solo test. As the other bloodthirsty competitors slept in the dorms — and were forbidden to commit violence upon one another, which meant the baby would be safe during his absence — Gi-hun was summoned to Front Man’s office and given a dagger with which to assassinate other players of his choosing, including those who were calling for his and the baby’s execution at the final game. According to flashbacks, it was also a game that Front Man once played with very bloody results.

Squid Game, Streaming Now, Netflix