Red Or Blue? “Squid Game” Director Ends All Theories About The Ddakji Game

Netflix‘s bloody, new K-Drama, Squid Game, has inspired theories about the characters and the games.

In a new interview with The Chosun Ilbo, director Hwang Dong Hyuk answered fans’ burning questions about this red hair, the Salesman, and more. When the Salesman (played by Gong Yoo) meets the main character, Seong Gi Hun (Lee Jung Jae), he challenges him to a traditional Korean game.

The game, ddakji, involves putting a folded paper tile on the ground and trying to flip it over by throwing another tile at it. In Squid Game, one tile is red and the other is blue. Seong Gi Hun chooses the blue.

The Squid Game workers, who keep the players in line, have red jumpsuits that match the red tile. The players have green tracksuits that could reference the blue tile. Does that mean the people who choose red tiles become workers and the people who choose blue tiles become players?

“I know there are a lot of theories going on about the Salesman,” Hwang Dong Hyuk said. “These viewers are definitely more creative than I am.” He went on to explain the real meaning behind the tiles.

The colors come from an urban legend about a restroom ghost, who offers red toilet paper or blue. It’s a trick question: both choices lead to a painful death. In some versions, the person is strangled if they choose blue or stabbed if they choose red.

Throughout Squid Game, the players face similarly impossible situations where the odds are stacked against them and all roads lead to death. In that way, red and blue was the perfect choice for ddakji!

Find out more about Squid Game here:

10 Things You Might Not Know About “Squid Game” (But Really Should)