Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’ Visited the Heart of Koreatown, Los Angeles

Since its debut on Netflix last month, the Korean survival drama Squid Game has become an obsession for everyone. With over 142 million households viewing the series, which helped Netflix add 4.38 million new subscribers, Squid Game‘s cultural phenomenon is not slowing down anytime soon.

Many of the Korean childhood games shown in the series experienced a surge on search engines and social media, including recipes for dalgona candy and how to fold origami ddakji. Promo stunts began popping up, including in Los Angeles, New York City, Manila, and Seoul.

In Los Angeles, in the heart of Koreatown, on October 23, a pop-up hosted by Netflix took over the parking area of Love Hour. Filled with creepy pink game workers monitoring the area, the space was meant to look like the field area in the film — including the giant creepy robot, Younghee. There were players in track suits roaming around as they rested in bunk beds and prepared for a game of Red Light, Green Light every few minutes or so. In another section, there were well-dressed men with briefcases trying to get people to play ddakji and giving winners a mysterious business card to obtain dalgona candy.

Fans of the series were free to come and participate in the games and offered a variety of photo ops. Although there was no prize money to be won, participants were given free food for their time and the experience of being part of Squid Game.

With the excitement over the series, there may be more pop-ups and events in major cities. Many unofficial events have been seen from restaurants and event companies trying to profit off the Squid Game Immersive experience. Whether official or not, it seems like experiencing Squid Game isn’t going away anytime soon.

Squid Game is available only on Netflix.