‘Squid Game 2’: What is Gonggi and how do you play it?

As Squid Game returns for its second season, the series continues its tradition of transforming innocent childhood games into deadly challenges. This time, a traditional Korean pastime called Gonggi takes center stage in a nail-biting team competition.

Related: ‘Squid Game 2’s violence feels more brutal. What’s changed, ‘Squid Game’ or me? on The Mary Sue

In episode 4 of Squid Game season 2, contestants face a unique pentathlon where teams of five players must compete while physically bound together. Each team member must master a different traditional game, with no help from their teammates, while maintaining perfect synchronization as they move between challenges. Among these games is Gonggi, an ancient Korean game that combines juggling elements and quick hand-eye coordination. The challenge becomes even more intense as teams must complete their circuit within a five-minute limit, making every second count.

Including Gonggi in the show’s deadly repertoire is particularly significant as it represents one of Korea’s most beloved traditional children’s games. While Western audiences might draw parallels to jacks or marbles, Gonggi has its own distinct rules and cultural significance, having been played for generations across Korean households and schoolyards.

How Gonggi transforms from playground fun to deadly game

In its traditional form, Gonggi is played with five small stones or marbles about the size of grapes. While modern children often use colorful plastic pieces, similar to the ones from Squid Game season 2, the game historically used smooth pebbles called gonggitdol. The game’s widespread popularity has led to regional variations, with different names and slight rule modifications across various Korean provinces. In North Gyeongsang Province, it’s known as jjagebatgi, while South Gyeongsang Province calls it Salgu, and in South Jeolla Province, players know it as Datjjakgeoli.

The game progresses through five increasingly difficult levels, each requiring more precise timing and dexterity than the last. The first level begins simply enough: players scatter the stones on a flat surface and must throw one stone in the air while quickly picking up another from the ground before catching the airborne stone. This pattern continues until all stones are collected. The challenge lies in the physical coordination required and in maintaining a steady rhythm and focus throughout the sequence.

As players advance through levels, the challenge intensifies. Level two requires picking up two stones simultaneously, demanding increased spatial awareness and quicker hand movements. Level three ups the ante by requiring players to gather three stones together and one separately, testing their ability to plan and execute more complex patterns. By level four, players must demonstrate masterful control by collecting all four stones in one swift move while keeping the fifth stone airborne.

The game’s final level provides the ultimate test of skill, where players must toss all five stones into the air, flip their hand palm-down, and catch as many stones as possible on the back of their hand. Then, the player must throw all five stones in the air again and catch them before they fall. Usually, the number of rocks you catch defines your score at the end of the game. However, in season 2 of Squid Game, players must achieve a perfect score to progress. Missing any stone forces the player to start the game from scratch, redoing all five difficulty levels. No wonder this particular game eliminates so many teams from the competition.

Following the pattern of the first season, season 2 of Squid Game has transformed more innocent playground activity into something sinister. Luckily, the inclusion of Gonggi alongside other traditional games helps showcase the rich tapestry of Korean childhood experiences to a global audience, even if it’s through the series’ characteristically dark lens.