Squid Game: Let the Games Begin (Board Game)

It's a money grab.

Based on the popular Netflix show with the same title, this Squid Game board game has up to six players leading a team of competitors through the six games on the show, usually using a small hand of cards that are reused in most of the games - as is a timer that ticks down and usually kills all remaining people once it hits 00:00.

In Red Light, Green Light you want to get as many people to the safe zone quickly but those that move fast have a bigger chance of getting killed by the doll. Dalgona is all about pushing your luck in drawing cards to push your team along but get a "crack" and its over for one contestant.

Tug of War lets you play cards per contestant you have in that match, whichever side has the highest total wins - eliminating the other team entirely. Marbles becomes a duel of guessing or agility where you have to toss something closer to the target on the table, Glass Bridge is another guessing game where you might want to go slower to let others take the risks (but that time keeps ticking down), and finally Squid game itself is a form of rock paper scissors with a few more rules.

OK components but ultimately each and every game here is really shallow with almost no thinking involved. I think what's happened here is that almost everything is luck based with very little in ways to compensate - and if everything is just luck then ultimately there is very little player agency. Unlike the show, we didn't like this game. Not recommended.