- “Squid Game” on Netflix is about a group of people in debt competing in deadly games for money.
- Some of the characters’ debts revealed in season two are more than a billion South Korean won.
- When converted into US currency, the highest debt represented is just under $7 million.
Warning: Spoilers ahead for “Squid Game” season two.
Netflix’s biggest show, “Squid Game,” is a South Korean thriller series about a group of people who risk their lives in a dangerous competition to pay off their debts.
The largest debts are equal to billions of South Korean won. But in the context of US dollars using the current conversion rates, the largest debt represented is just under $7 million.
The show is set in a dystopian version of the present where people compete in a series of deadly children’s games to win 45.6 billion won (roughly $31.2 million). In the show, the prize fund starts at zero and can rise to 45.6 billion won, however the money only increases if a player dies. Each player’s death adds 0.1 billion won to the prize pot.
In season one, there can be only one winner, but season two changes the rules. After each game, the contestants can vote to leave, splitting the prize money that’s been won so far. If a majority agrees, all the surviving players leave with an equal split of the current prize fund.
By the end of season two, 36.1 billion won (roughly $24.7 million) is in the fund, and 95 players are still alive. If the contestants leave right away, each player would receive 380 million won (roughly $260,000), but this amount is lower than some of the characters’ debts.
Viewers unfamiliar with the Korean won may struggle to grasp the level of debt each player is in. These are the fictional debts converted from South Korean won to US dollars based on current conversion rates.
