Summary
- The prize money in Squid Game is a dark trick by the game makers to manipulate players and make the games more exciting.
- The total sum of the prize money doesn't matter, as the game makers want players to believe they can increase the pot by eliminating others.
- The true purpose of the prize money is to create chaos and incentivize ruthless participants to murder their competitors. Nothing in the game is as it seems.
Though the prize money in Squid Game seemingly increases with each elimination, there's a dark reason for the total jackpot. In Squid Game, hundreds of desperate people compete in deadly games for a share of a massive prize. The South Korean drama series sees players recruited because they are deeply in debt. The prize money would change their lives. They don't realize, however, when they're recruited to play in the games that losing is fatal. Each game in the series is inspired by a children's game, and each one eliminates losing players through death. As the games are played and the number of players dwindle, more twists about the games and the prize money are revealed.
According to those behind the games, each player's life was worth 100 million won for the pot. And the players that make it through the games can share the Squid Game prize money. So, with a total of 456 players, the compensation could equate to 45.6 billion won. In U.S. dollars, the prize money in Squid Game equals around $38 million. In the end, Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), known as Player 456, wins the games and takes home the total prize money.
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The Squid Game Prize Money Is A Dark Trick By The Game Makers
Despite the prize money serving as an enticing incentive for players to continue in the games, it also has a secret purpose. In truth, the total Squid Game prize money doesn't matter. Any exorbitantly large sum would've been enough for players to stay in the games. What matters is how the prize money is accumulated. In making players think they can make the pot grow by eliminating others, the game makers further incentivize players to kill one another. This is the true purpose of the jackpot.
The money is just a manipulation to make the games more exciting for the mysterious Squid Game VIPs and the game makers. Though the game makers give players the idea that they can make the pot grow by eliminating players, the number doesn't truly change. The archives show there's always only one winner, so the players aren't actually making the pot grow. In reality, the game makers simply want the games to be as exciting and chaotic as possible. For instance, those behind the game intentionally give the players insufficient food to make them angry and hostile. By making players think they can increase the pot by eliminating others, the game makers create more chaos and incentivize ruthless participants to murder their competitors.
RELATED: Squid Game's Old Man Twist Already Set Up Gi-hun's Dark Turn In Season 2
The Truth About The Money Is Another Squid Game Trick
Nothing is ever as it seems in Squid Game. Throughout the Netflix series, Squid Game reveals several twists, including the Old Man/Oh Il-nam (Oh Yeong-su) being secretly behind the games and a previous winner hiding in plain sight. Hwang Jun-ho (played by Wi Ha-joon), a police officer looking for his brother, gets into the Squid Game archive room and looks through the old files of players. He discovers a list of past winners in the deadly games, which shows the games have only one winner per year. He also learns that his missing brother, Hwang In-ho (Lee Byung-hun), is a past winner. The Front Man, a character running the games behind the scenes, reveals later in the series that he's In-ho, a.k.a. the missing brother.
The money continues that trend of twists. Though players believe that eliminating players adds to the pot, the game makers are simply tricking them into making the games more exciting. Everything related to the Squid Games themselves is manipulation. From the moment players are recruited to their final moments in the games, they are being manipulated for the entertainment of the VIPs. It shows viewers can't take anything at face value in Squid Game, including the prize money.
