This article is about the Netflix television series. For the Korean children's game, see Squid (game) . For the video game, see Squids (games) . Squid Game (Korean : 오징어 게임 ; RR: Ojing-eo Geim ) is a South Korean survival drama television series on Netflix created by Hwang Dong-hyuk , who wrote and directed all nine episodes. Its cast includes Lee jung-jae , Park Hae-soo , Wi Ha-Joon , Jung Ho-yeon , Heo sung-tae , Anupam Tripathi , and Kim Joo-ryoung . The series revolves around a contest where 456 players, all of whom are in deep financial debt, risk their lives to play a series of deadly children's games for the chance to win a ₩ 45.6 billion prize. The title of the series draws from a similarly named Korean children's games . Hwang had conceived of the idea based on his own economic struggles early in life as well as the class disparity in South Korea and capitalism . T...