Top 20 Smartest Decisions in Squid Game

The twisted games begin with the most intense session of red light green light ever put on screen. Players learn pretty quickly that if a creepy robot lady sees you moving when you’re not supposed to, you’ll be violently eliminated. Fortunately, Sang-Woo and Sae-byeok realize that they can’t be seen if they stand behind another person. This strategy allows both of them to move up in the game with ease. Gi-hun also uses this tip to get ahead too. Without this simple yet reliable strategy, a few of our favorite players may have not made it past the first game.

Gi-hun has lots of money now, but he’s not interested in living a quiet life in Bermuda. He wants to fight the Squid Game, and to do that he needs to prepare. So Gi-hun does quite an ingenious thing - he buys a shady hotel and uses the empty rooms as his base of operations. He lives inside this hotel and he uses its many rooms to both store his black market weapons and practice shooting without the notice of the police. It’s also well protected with security cameras and locked doors, ensuring that no one from the games can, uh, “check on him.” Now that’s how you use your money effectively!

The second game is a six-legged pentathlon involving five mini-games. Players are forced into teams of five and their feet are tied together, forcing them into an awkward waddle. This becomes quite a problem when the stone-throwing game is botched and the team has to both retrieve the stone and walk back to the throwing line. The first team to do this makes a great effort to turn around and walk back normally, losing many precious seconds in the process. But as Hyun-ju acutely deduces, they can simply walk backwards rather than turning all the way around. It’s a little thing, yes, but it’s a very smart thing, and it helps save her team precious seconds - not to mention their lives.

Although the majority of players came into the competition solo, teamwork became vital as the series continued. A few people were smart enough to seek refuge in numbers as soon as they could. The savvy gangster Deok-su formed an evil alliance of rough characters that were mostly loyal and were willing to do practically anything to stay alive. However, Gi-hun knew how to maintain the strongest team. Instead of going for pure muscle, he formed an alliance that had the perfect blend of brains, experience and resourcefulness to work together for multiple challenges. Gi-hun’s sharp team-building skills cannot be underestimated.

Gi-hun and Jun-ho team up to find Squid Game Island, but there’s just one problem - they have no idea where it is! So they devise a very smart plan. Gi-hun decides to re-enter the games and has a tracking device placed inside one of his teeth. Thanks, shady black market dentist! In theory, Gi-hun would be brought to the island and Jun-ho would be able to track him with GPS. The mercenaries would storm the island, save the day, and the Games would be over! Of course, that’s not what happens, as the boat captain gets wind of the plan and betrays the group. So the tracker doesn’t go to the island - it goes into a tub of bait.

During the fifth challenge, the participants had to make it across a bridge that contained tempered or easily breakable glass. Since the panels looked identical, it seemed impossible to tell where it was safe to step. But Player 17 had a huge advantage. Since he had decades of glass-making experience, he could tell the glass apart. Player 17 was so good that he could even distinguish where it was okay to leap to based on sound alone. And to top it all off, he was wise enough to hide his knowledge as long as he could to eliminate the competition. If Player 17 had just been a little more confident in his expertise and not hesitated at the end, he might’ve survived.

Of course, before they can even re-enter the games they have to find a way to re-enter the games! And what better way than to find The Recruiter? Gi-hun knows that he hangs around subway stations playing ddakji, having had some experience with that himself. Kim and his goons search the stations, but their numbers are too small and their span is not nearly wide enough. Luckily, Gi-hun has a ton of money to throw at the problem! He hires more of Kim’s men and has them check every single station at the same time, and Kim further incentivizes the team by offering a huge bonus to the man who finds The Recruiter. And just when all hope seems lost - bang!

Red Light, Green Light goes a heck of a lot better this time around than it did in season one. Of course, that’s thanks entirely to the efforts of Gi-hun, who goes to great and brave lengths to lead everyone to safety. He tells them all when to run and stop, he helps some cross the line, but even more importantly, he covers his mouth. He knows that talking counts as moving, so he continuously poses with his arm over his mouth. This allows him to communicate and strategize with the group, even when he’s supposed to be frozen in place. It’s a genius move, and it undoubtedly saved many lives.

Some of the games are purely physical. Others add a depraved psychological angle. Season one’s main psychological game was Marbles, and season two’s continues the “m” tradition with Mingle. The concept is simple - only a certain number of people are allowed into a door, forcing players to choose their allies carefully while painfully betraying others. Luckily, Gi-hun plays this game to absolute perfection. He and his team of allies get through every round with just one casualty, and it’s mainly thanks to his leadership and very quick thinking. And even then, Young-mi only dies because she collided with someone else, not because she was intentionally left behind.

Once it became clear that wearing a green jumpsuit could lead to an early demise, many people understandably started panicking. Fortunately, Sang-Woo was able to put many of his fellow players at ease by reminding them they have an easy way out. His accurate memory of the rules leads to the contestants holding a very close vote that seemingly brings the games to an end. Although many players decide to play again, the democratic solution was still a smart move. There were a few people that were okay with walking away from the gruesome competition and taking their chances in the real world. While those lucky few might not have easy lives, at least they can live to tell this tragic tale.

Former friends Gi-hun and Sang-Woo are forced into one last face-off in the finale. After picking the right shape in a coin toss, Gi-hun chooses to play offense in a high-stakes Squid Game. Since he has to get past his ruthless and extremely desperate friend, he makes a vital preparation. Gi-hun goes to tie his shoes while secretly grabbing dirt to throw at Sang-Woo’s face right away. This strategy allows the offensive player to save his strength for the much more important fight later on. During the climactic clash, a cornered Gi-hun lets himself get injured and bites and punches his way out of a tight spot. While it wasn’t the cleanest way to win, his tactics eventually led to a somber victory.

Jung-bae and The Front Man, posing as Player 001, find themselves in a unique situation. They were told to group into teams of two, but they find another man inside their door, thereby breaking the rules and bringing the total number to three. And that’s when The Front Man acts quickly and does something highly intelligent, albeit highly immoral. That being, you know, murder. With time quickly running out, he grabs the man and snaps his neck, bringing the total living players back to two. It’s a clever twist on the rules of the game, and one we admittedly never thought of. Granted, the guards wouldn’t have killed The Front Man, but still, very perceptive on his part…

Detective Hwang Jun-ho had to continuously improvise clever ways to stay ahead of the shadowy figures behind the games. His most brilliant decisions revolved around how he kept his identity a secret. After his cover is nearly blown, Jun-ho trades in his circular mask for one with a square symbol instead. His new covering grants him additional privileges and slightly more freedom to move around. But Jun-ho also keeps and utilizes the circular mask to blend in with certain workers and uncover more dark secrets. Although the constant switching isn’t a foolproof plan, it does keep the detective from meeting certain death several times. Jun-ho’s opponents were never truly sure what mask he’d sneak around in next.

If the Front Man handed out awards for nicest person, Ali probably would’ve gotten a gold medal. Unfortunately, his nice personality led to his downfall when he played marbles against his constant ally Sang Woo. When Ali was on the verge of winning a deadly game of marbles, his friend/opponent convinced him to stop playing. Sang-Woo insisted there was an extremely complex and guaranteed way that they can both get out of this deadly challenge alive. While most players probably would’ve declined, Ali is gullible enough to believe in his friend’s plan. Sang-Woo is able to steal all the marbles and leave the nice man with nothing but rocks. It’s a plan that was every bit as cruel as it was clever.

Throughout season two, we see numerous players smuggling makeshift weapons. Geum-ja has a small blade hidden inside her hair clip, and while we haven’t seen what comes of this, chances are that Chekhov’s Knife will come into play in season three. Furthermore, Myung-gi uses a metal fork to kill Thanos, having stolen it from dinner and smuggled it in his jumpsuit. Granted, these weapons are allowed by the guards. Chances are they know about Geum-ja’s knife but allowed her to keep it, and we know from season one that using utensils to kill other players is both allowed and encouraged. Still, it doesn’t make their smuggling any less intelligent and forward thinking.

Sae-byeok decides not to return to the games empty-handed. Since she knew the organizers rendered the competitors unconscious with gas on the car ride there, she wisely covered her face. This move allows Sae-byeok to pretend to be knocked out and smuggle a knife into this competition. She later goes on to use this sharp tool to sneak into a vent and get vital intel about the second game in advance. Although Sae-byeok doesn’t figure out everything, she gives the information to Sang-Woo and follows his lead. And if all that wasn’t enough, she also uses the knife to defend herself during a chaotic fight. Sae-byeok’s smart move to avoid sleep made her a cut above the rest of her opponents.

It would be very easy in the climactic gunfight to kill every single guard, with passion clouding logic. Unfortunately, this would leave them completely lost in the labyrinthian complex. Luckily, Gi-hun and his team of rebels are smart enough to avoid this. They leave one guard alive, which not only gives them a hostage, but it allows them to navigate the Escher staircase and find the control room. And not only that, but they learn through this guard that a mask is needed to pass through the door’s security system. The rebellion doesn’t work, but if it did, it would largely be thanks to this one intelligent move.

One of the most suspenseful tasks came when people had to get a shape out of a honeycomb without cracking it. We have to give a lot of credit to Gi-hun for making the unconventional yet brainy choice to lick the sweet treat to make the challenge easier. However, Mi-nyeo came up with an even more brilliant strategy. After smuggling a lighter into the competition, she secretly used it to heat up her needle. Once she was done using the hot item to complete the tense task in a safe manner, she’s savvy enough to hand her lighter to Deok-su. So not only did Mi-nyeo’s lighter get her through a game, but it helped her form a temporary alliance with the most intimidating player.

Gi-hun has been here before, so he knows how it all works. He knows that murder is allowed. He knows that once this knowledge is revealed, one faction will try killing the other. He correctly deduces that the Os will attack the Xs at night. And he knows that the guards will eventually stop the fight and scan the dead. Thankfully, he takes all this knowledge and puts it to use while planning his uprising. Hiding under the beds, emerging after the fight, and posing as the dead was an especially smart move, as it was this that allowed them to pounce on the guards and steal their weapons. As we see, the rebellion itself was quite well planned. Too bad it had a mole.

Since Gi-hun and Sang-Woo’s tug of war alliance wasn’t full of the physically strongest players in the game, they needed an intelligent strategy to overcome their tough opponents. Team member Oh Il-nam is full of helpful hints that his allies use to excellent effect. Unfortunately, his old tricks aren’t enough to secure the victory. When the team is close to falling to their doom, Sang-Woo makes the bonkers suggestion that they should all move closer to the edge. This risky move throws their opponents off balance and allows the team to make an epic comeback. Sang-Woo’s genius tug-of-war strategy gave us the best and most brilliant game ending in the series.

What other moves did you think were particularly smart? Let us know in the comments below!