Squid Game Isn’t Fiction – Here’s the Real Game Korean Kids Grew Up With

🦑 Squid Game Isn’t Fiction – Here’s the Real Game Korean Kids Grew Up With

Image from Pixabay

When Squid Game exploded on Netflix, it left people speechless.

But among all those shocking scenes, the one game that stood out most?

“Red Light, Green Light” — or as we call it, “무궁화 꽃이 피었습니다.”

For Koreans, it wasn’t new. It was nostalgia.

You might know the game as “Red Light, Green Light.”

But in Korea, we call it “무궁화 꽃이 피었습니다” — which literally means “The rose of Sharon has bloomed.”

Sounds pretty, right? But in real life, it was all tension and panic.

Here’s how we played it as kids:

The tagger (술래) turns toward a wall or tree and shouts:
“무궁화~ 꽃이 피었습니다!”
At “다!”, they spin around to catch anyone moving.
If you’re caught moving? You’re out — and must stand behind the tagger holding hands.
As more people get caught, the chain behind the tagger grows.
If one of the runners breaks the hand-holding chain between the tagger and the caught players — everyone runs!
The tagger must catch one person before they reach the start. The one who gets caught? New tagger.

No creepy robot doll. No snipers.

But the drama? 100% real.

Especially when your crush was watching from the sidelines.

This wasn’t just something we played —

It was how we connected, how we played, and how we made memories —
every evening, right up until someone’s mom shouted, “Dinner time!”

So yeah, Squid Game isn’t just fiction.

It’s based on real games we played growing up.

No special effects needed — just adrenaline and pride.

K-pop, K-dramas, Squid Game…

They’ve all put Korea on the global stage — and that’s awesome.

But as a real Korean, I’ve seen the everyday side that doesn’t always make the headlines.

The tiny things. The weird things. The warm, hilarious, and sometimes chaotic things.

And that’s the Korea I want to show you.

So stick around.
The real journey into Korea? It starts now.