Weber State University’s Korean club hosted a “Squid Game”-themed event for participating students on Jan. 16. Students attending got the opportunity to play games from the Netflix original such as Red Light Green Light, Ddakji and Gonggi.
The activity was held in the Shepherd Union with the Japanese club joining in on the event. Abigail Homer, a communications major and the president of the Korean club, hoped that the event could help build community between the two clubs.
Hope Watts, a social media management major and a student leader for the Japanese club, was excited about the joint activity.
“It’s just really exciting to hang out with each other and experience these fun things together,” Watts said.
The game night followed the format of its Netflix inspiration. The students first played Red Light Green Light. Each player had to cross from one side of the room to the other. The players had to pause when the judge said red light, and they could only move after the judge said green light. All 16 players were able to successfully complete the game.
The students then formed teams of four and prepared to face off in a relay race. Each member had to play one of four different games, and the first team to complete each game won the round.
The first game in the race was Ddakji. Ddakji is featured heavily in “Squid Game” as both a recruitment tool and as a challenge in season two. The player must slam a paper square against another square on the floor until they manage to flip the square on the floor over.
The second game was referred to as Rock Throw. The player had to throw a small stone at another stone from a few steps away until they successfully knocked the rock over.
The third game was Gonggi, and it led to the most eliminations of the event. To win Gonggi, a player must drop five small blocks, throw them in the air and catch them in a specific order. The order that players must throw the blocks changes each round, and there are five rounds total in the children’s game. The event organizers only had the students complete the first round of the game due to its difficulty.
The last game was Jegi, which has the player try to juggle a small weighted object with their feet. The organizers also reduced the number of successful hits from five to three for the players’ sake.
After three rounds of the games, Team Ichiban was declared the winner. Conner Murdock, a marketing major, was one of the winning students.
“It recreated the atmosphere of the show really well,” Murdock said.
Both the Korean and Japanese clubs have social events planned in the future. The Korean club does events ranging from K-pop nights to cultural education. The Japanese club celebrates Japanese holidays and festivals and hosts activities focused more on social interaction such as their upcoming ice skating and Crystal Hot Springs events.