Squid Game

Seong Gi-hun is down on his luck, having accumulated enormous debts to loan sharks while becoming estranged from his daughter and ex-wife. In a subway station, a man in a suit and tie invites him to play a game of ddakji for money and offers an opportunity to participate in higher-stakes games. Gi-hun initially declines but reconsiders after discovering that his daughter will leave for the United States with her stepfather if he doesn't make more money. He is sedated and awakens in a dormitory with 455 others, identified only by the number on their dark green tracksuits. A group of masked guards in pink jumpsuits arrive and explain that the players, all in dire financial straits, will be awarded billions of won in prize money if they can win six games over six days. The games are overseen by a masked figure dressed in all black known as the Front Man. Gi-hun befriends Player 001, an elderly man suffering from a brain tumor, and recognizes two of the other players: Cho Sang-woo, a childhood classmate turned investment broker, and Player 067, a pickpocket who previously stole from him. The first game is Red Light, Green Light, where anyone caught moving is shot dead on sight, revealing the sadistic nature of the games. Half of the players panic and attempt to flee upon realizing this and are massacred. With help from Sang-woo and Player 199, Gi-hun and several others just barely make it out of the first game alive.

With over half of the players killed in the first game, many survivors demand to be released. Using the game's third clause, they narrowly vote to end the games and return home, though without any prize money. Back in Seoul, Gi-hun attempts to report the games to the police, but only Detective Hwang Jun-ho, whose brother disappeared after receiving a similar invitation, believes him. The players are invited to re-enter the game, and many return out of desperation. Among them are Gi-hun, whose mother needs surgery; Sang-woo, who faces arrest for financial fraud; Player 001, who does not wish to die in the outside world; Player 067, who wishes to extract her mother from North Korea and bring her brother, Cheol, out of an orphanage; Player 199, a Pakistani migrant worker who violently attacked his boss for withholding his wages; and Player 101, named Jang Deok-su, a gangster fleeing gambling debts and his former bosses. Jun-ho secretly follows Gi-hun when the guards pick him up.

Jun-ho successfully infiltrates the games by disguising himself as a masked worker, discovering that the workers and players are based in a facility on a remote island. The players, now more aware and prepared, begin forming alliances. Gi-hun, Sang-woo, Player 001, and Player 199 team up. Player 067 sneaks into an air vent and witnesses workers melting pots of sugar. The second game, Ppopgi, requires each player to extract a stamped shape from a dalgona (honeycomb candy) under a ten minute time limit. Sang-woo learns of Player 067's discovery and recognizes the game beforehand, but does not warn his teammates and chooses the easiest shape for himself. Gi-hun unknowingly chooses the most difficult shape, an umbrella, but ultimately succeeds by licking the back of the honeycomb to dissolve it. Player 212, a rowdy and manipulative woman, helps Deok-su complete the game with a smuggled lighter. Player 119, about to be executed, takes a guard hostage and forces them to unmask. Shocked to discover the guard is a young man, the player shoots themself; the Front Man then personally executes the guard for revealing his identity.

Player 111, a disgraced doctor, secretly works with a group of guards to harvest organs from deceased players to sell on the black market in return for information on upcoming games. When Deok-su kills a player who accuses him of taking extra food, the guards take no action, and the prize pool is increased. Realizing they can freely kill other players to raise the prize pool, Deok-su and his group instigate a brawl after lights out, resulting in players attacking each other. Gi-hun's group survives and exchanges names to build trust: Player 199 is Ali Abdul, and Player 067 is Kang Sae-byeok. Due to his brain tumor, Player 001 struggles to remember his name. Player 212, named Han Mi-nyeo, has sex with Deok-su in the toilets. In the third game, players are instructed to form groups of ten. For Gi-hun's team, Sae-byeok recruits Player 240, a young woman near her age. The game is revealed to be a tug of war on two raised platforms, where a team wins by pulling the opposing team off the other platform to their deaths. Deok-su, having learned about the game from Player 111, selects only strong men and rejects Mi-nyeo, who joins Gi-hun's team. After Deok-su's team wins their match easily, Gi-hun's team struggles against another all-male team.

Gi-hun's team wins their tug of war match through Player 001's strategy and Sang-woo's quick thinking. Anticipating another riot, they build a barricade and take turns on guard overnight, though Deok-su's team does not attack. Gi-hun reflects on an incident when he and his former coworkers at an automobile factory protested mass layoffs, which was the beginning of the hard times that had befallen him. Player 240 tries to befriend Sae-byeok, but she remains distant. Meanwhile, Jun-ho witnesses the organ harvesting racket and realizes that the guard whose identity he assumed took part in it. Player 111 turns against the racketeers when they refuse to inform him about the next game, and all involved, except Jun-ho, are killed, including Player 111. The Front Man launches a manhunt for Jun-ho, who breaks into his office. There, Jun-ho discovers that the games have been operating for over 30 years and that his missing brother, Hwang In-ho, was the winner of the 2015 iteration.

The players are shown the bodies of Player 111 and his co-conspirators, who were executed for cheating, and are reassured that the games are designed to ensure a fair chance for all participants. In the fourth game, players are instructed to pair up, only to be told afterwards that they must compete against their partner in a marble game of their choice; the goal is to collect all of the partner's marbles within thirty minutes to survive. Sae-byeok and Player 240, Ji-yeong, exchange life stories; Ji-yeong, believing Sae-byeok has more to live for, sacrifices herself. Sang-woo deceives Ali into forfeiting his marbles and wins. Deok-su wins against his partner and henchman, Player 278. Gi-hun exploits Player 001's dementia to win, only to learn that the old man, named Oh Il-nam, was aware of the deception all along. Il-nam, who regards Gi-hun as his gganbu (trusted friend), allows him to win. Gi-hun and Sae-byeok are left devastated by the deaths of their friends.

The players return to find Mi-nyeo, who lacked a partner for the next game, still alive, having been given a free pass to the next game due to Player 111's death leaving an odd number of players. Foreign VIPs, who had been remotely betting on the games, arrive to watch and wager on the remaining rounds live. Jun-ho, disguised as one of the masked servants, is propositioned by a VIP. In a private room, he attacks the VIP and records his confession before escaping the island. Meanwhile, in the fifth game, players must cross a two-panel wide bridge, with panels made of either tempered or regular glass, the latter of which cannot support their weight. Players at the front of the line fall to their deaths as they cross the panels. Deok-su, refusing to move despite the clock ticking, pressures others to test the panels before him. As revenge, Mi-nyeo sacrifices herself to pull him down with her to their deaths. Player 017, a seasoned glass worker, identifies the safe panels until the Front Man turns off the lights, removing his advantage. With time running out, Sang-woo pushes Player 017 to his death, revealing the last tempered panel. Only Gi-hun, Sang-woo, and Sae-byeok complete the game, but explosions shatter the remaining panels, injuring the three players.

As finalists, Gi-hun, Sang-woo, and Sae-byeok are given formal outfits and are treated to a candlelit dinner provided by the guards. Sae-byeok hides a severe stab wound from the glass bridge explosion. Having now witnessed the lengths Sang-woo will go to win, Gi-hun suggests an alliance with Sae-byeok to oppose him. Sae-byeok, however, instead begs Gi-hun to promise that the winner will look after the other's loved ones. Gi-hun goes to kill Sang-woo while he sleeps, but Sae-byeok stops him, telling him he is not a murderer. Sae-byeok's injury worsens, prompting Gi-hun to call for help, but while he is away, Sang-woo stabs Sae-byeok with his leftover steak knife from the dinner, and the guards arrive only to collect her body. Furious and heartbroken, Gi-hun tries to attack Sang-woo but is stopped by the guards. Meanwhile, Jun-ho reaches another island but is quickly tracked by the Front Man, who reveals himself to be Jun-ho's brother, In-ho, and attempts to recruit him. When Jun-ho refuses, In-ho shoots him in the shoulder, causing him to fall over a cliff into the sea.

In the final eponymous Squid game, Gi-hun defeats Sang-woo after a brutal fight but refuses to kill him; instead begs him to stop the game using the third clause. Sang-woo declines, and asks Gi-hun to take care of his mother before stabbing himself, making Gi-hun automatically the winner by default. Gi-hun is returned to Seoul with a bank card to access the prize money, only to learn his mother died some time after he re-entered the games. A year later, still traumatized and unwilling to use the money out of guilt, Gi-hun receives an invitation card from "Gganbu" and is shocked to find a declining Il-nam on his deathbed. Il-nam reveals he created the game to entertain the bored and wealthy like himself, choosing childhood games and participating in Gi-hun's group for nostalgia. As they talk, Il-nam wagers with Gi-hun on whether an unconscious man in the street will be helped before midnight. The man is helped just in time, but Il-nam dies shortly after. Gi-hun retrieves Sae-byeok's brother and arranges for Sang-woo's mother to care for him after giving them a share of the prize money. On the way to the airport to reconnect with his daughter in Los Angeles, Gi-hun sees the same game recruiter playing ddakji with a new player and manages to take the player's invitation card. He calls the card's number before boarding his plane, demanding to know who is behind the games. The Front Man answers, ordering Gi-hun to board his flight, but Gi-hun ends the call and returns to the terminal.