Squid Game has taken the United States by storm. The new Netflix show has reached number 1 in the country and is also making waves globally. As entertaining as the show is, you can pick up plenty of Squid Game survival tips, too. These should come in handy in real life. Before you read further, I must warn you there’ll be spoilers. So catch this amazing show from South Korea right now and see if you can pick up some useful Squid Game survival tips yourself aside from the ones we’ve listed down here.
Stranger danger
All his troubles started after Seong Gi-hun, the lead character, was approached by a well-dressed stranger. Well, he had his troubles before that, lots of them, in fact, but his foray into the life-and-death game started because he accepted an offer from a stranger.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsilQqVqAbU&ab_channel=NetflixPub
One of the Squid Game survival tips you can learn here is to be wary of suspicious strangers. You’ll encounter hundreds of strangers each day (unless you’re a recluse) but you shouldn’t randomly point fingers and accuse them of trying to cause you harm. Still, you should know how to spot red flags when you’re dealing with a stranger. When a well-dressed stranger asks you if you want to play a game with them, that’s definitely a red flag. At the very least, that person may be trying to scam you.
In real life, not all strangers are bad. On the flip side, not everyone you know, even your family, is good. According to statistics, children are more likely to be abducted or abused by someone they know than by strangers.
One of the repercussions of the “stranger danger” concept is that children’s freedom and ability to socialize have been curtailed. If you’re a parent, you’ve likely told your kids not to play outside because a stranger might take them away. Some experts believe that this is more harmful to children.
With this in mind, it’s best to always be on the safe side. Watch over your children without suffocating them. Give them enough space to decide for themselves. Just be there when they need you and make sure to teach them the red flags when dealing with people, both strangers and those they know.
In the show, the protagonist understandably took the chance because he thinks he has exhausted all other means to solve his problems. An opportunity came up and he grabbed it. Unfortunately, Gi-hun woke up in a strange place with over 400 other people after accepting the offer. Another Squid Game survival tip you can learn for this is that if the offer was too good to be true, it probably is. Do your research before jumping in.
Establish relations
Early in the show, the participants played a version of “Red Light, Green Light” that’s a bit different from what you may remember from your childhood. In the kid’s game, players that are caught moving during the “red light” are eliminated. Squid Game took things further by eliminating the erring players with real bullets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwksATd9lXU&ab_channel=Fuze
Gi-hun survives the deadly game with the help of a couple of other participants. The first instance was when Cho Sang-woo, his childhood friend, convinced him to play the game so he has a better chance of surviving. Later on, another player named Abdul Ali kept the lead character from falling over right before his movement would’ve been detected.
There are instances that being alone improves your chances of survival. If you’re being chased by a zombie horde, for example, you can move faster if you’re alone since you’re only thinking about yourself. But if you were with somebody else and that somebody tripped or couldn’t get up the fence, you may be forced to stop and help your buddy. That puts you in even more danger.
But if you look at this example from the other side, your buddies’ chances of survival increase because they have you to help them out. Go further and imagine that you’re the one who can’t keep up. You’ll be mighty glad that your friend came back to help you.
There are more advantages to establishing relations when it comes to survival. Aside from having someone who’ll watch your back, you’ll also benefit from other people’s skills and knowledge. A survival group thrives because each member has an important role to play. Also, being in a group helps you mentally and emotionally cope with the stress.
By Episode 3, the players realized the importance of groups. Once they were back in the dorm, many of them started forming alliances to improve their chances of surviving and winning.
Be a quick thinker
In the game mentioned above, nothing came between the gigantic doll and the players so they couldn’t really hide from the bullets. Well… nothing except the players themselves. Cho Sang-woo and Kang Sae-byeok figured out that the doll used a motion sensor to eliminate the erring players. They had the brilliant idea of hiding behind the big-bodied players such as Jang Deok-su. Sae-byeok quickly realized that her small frame allowed her to stay behind the gangster without getting detected. Their quick thinking saved their lives from this horrific kid’s game.
Be aware
In the third episode, the participants had to choose from four shapes – circle, triangle, star, and umbrella. They then received a honeycomb candy with the shape they chose. The task was to cut out the shape from the candy without cracking it. The catch was that you had to accomplish the challenge using a needle while under time pressure. Oh, and there’s a gun to your head ready to blow your brains out if you break the shape.
There are at least a couple of examples here where awareness helped people survive. First, the lead character who was perspiring profusely because of the pressure, noticed that his sweat melted the sugar honeycomb. He realizes that he can use his saliva to melt the candy until he’s left with an intact shape. Aside from noticing the effect of the sweat, being a quick thinker also helped Gi-hun get out of this dire situation.
Second, other players saw what Gi-hun was doing and started licking their own honeycomb candies. By being aware of what was happening around them, the other players managed to finish the challenge and survive.
Situational awareness is a huge thing in the field of survival. People need to be totally aware of their surroundings so they avoid or react to a potential threat properly. Develop situational awareness by regularly practicing all five senses. One way to improve your observational skills is to play Kim’s Game.
With Kim’s Game, you both develop your awareness and memory. The two go hand-in-hand in helping you survive emergencies. This is evident in the game wherein the players had to cross a bridge made of glass panels one by one. The problem was that some of the panels are made of tempered glass which can hold up to two people while the others are just regular glass that will break when someone steps on them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwvBgABbtD8&ab_channel=ImajenThat%21
As the game progressed, some of the players forgot which panels were safe to step on. It’s quite easy to forget important details if your mind is a wreck from too much pressure. However, this will spell your doom. As such, one of the Squid Game survival tips you can learn here is that you need dependable memory to remember vital details that could be detrimental to your survival.
Always be prepared
One of the most important Squid Game survival tips that you can learn is to always be prepared. In the honeycomb challenge, Han Mi-Nyeo, a female participant, happened to have a lighter with her. She used it to heat the needle, thus making it easier and faster to cut through the honeycomb candy without breaking the shape. While she smuggled the lighter and some cigarettes into the game just to have a smoke, this valuable survival tool came in pretty handy.
Sae-byok, meanwhile, smuggled a small pocket knife into the game. She used it to get inside a ventilation shaft so she could investigate the place. She was also able to defend herself with the knife during the riot.
In real life, you should always have your survival gear with you. Your everyday carry (EDC) kit should include the things that you can’t afford to forget such as your wallet (including cards and cash), smartphone, phone charger, powerbank, car keys, and house keys. Pack water and snacks such as energy bars, too.
Your EDC kit should also include a flashlight, collapsible lantern, multi-tool, pocket knife (if legal in your state), and non-lethal self-defense weapons such as pepper spray.
Other items you can put inside your emergency kit include emergency blankets, rain poncho, hand warmer, mirror, whistle, compass, paracord, small first aid kit, important medicines, pen, and notebook.
Run. Hide. Fight
After a fistfight between two participants left one of them dead, the pot money increased. This is when the players realized that the cash total increased whenever one of them died regardless of who killed them.
With the chances of winning increasing with every death, some of the players decided to thin the herd themselves. And so, a riot erupts immediately after the lights go out resulting in numerous dead bodies and higher prize money.
When faced with the prospect of getting hurt or killed, your first course of action should be to escape. Run away from the threat as quickly as possible. Don’t stop running until you’re pretty sure that it’s safe.
In the episode, the players had nowhere to run since they were all kept inside one huge room. The next best option is to hide. The problem here is that you can’t really use the beds as hiding places though at least one person was able to hide under one of the beds.
One thing they could’ve done was to hide under a dead body and play dead. We’ve seen this in some movies where a character plays dead to avoid the killer. This has also happened in real life. During the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, which left 17 students and faculty members dead, one mother told her daughter over the phone to play dead. Fortunately, the student lived to tell her story.
With the sudden and violent turn of events, many of the players had no chance to hide. They were forced to do the last option, which is to fight. In such a situation, it’s good if you know how to fight. Martial arts training will come in handy. Learn how to handle firearms and non-lethal weapons properly.
It was also a good idea to establish a group so they can protect each other. Before the riot, the group of protagonists devised a plan to help ensure that everyone would stay safe. While they encountered a bit of trouble, they managed to regroup and stave off the threats.
Learn survival skills
One of the players, a doctor in the outside world, managed to last long thanks to his professional skills. In exchange for his surgical skills, the doctor got some valuable tips, which helped him survive the challenges. He also bartered his skill in exchange for protection. His skill, of course, is vital in case he or someone else gets hurt.
In real life, you need to learn different skills to increase your chances of surviving a disaster or any kind of emergency. For injuries or other medical emergencies, your first aid training will come in handy. If you’re lost in the wild, many of the skills you learned from your Scouting days will be useful. Such survival skills include starting a fire, building a shelter, using a compass, and learning the Morse code. If there is a threat, you can use your hand-to-hand combat or self-defense skills.
While the Netflix show is one of the most entertaining and thrilling shows we’ve had in quite a while, you’ll surely appreciate the many Squid Game survival tips it has to offer. Some of these tips are easy to spot though it’d do you good if you re-watch it with the purpose of learning some survival skills and hacks. Discover more valuable survival tips over at Gentleman Pirate Club!
