How to play Squid Game's Gonggi and where to buy stones

After all, ddakji has already featured in Squid Game repeatedly and throwing game Flying Stone is self-explanatory, as is spinning top and jegi (the latter of which being very similar to the Americanised "hacky sack").

Therefore, of the five tasks, gonggi is most likely to leave viewers scratching their heads about exactly how to play, given how quickly players are constantly throwing, catching and dropping the five dice or stones.

If you'd like to have a go yourself and are wondering what to do, read on for your guide on how to play gonggi, as seen in Squid Game season 2's Six Legs challenge.

How to play Squid Game's Gonggi

As demonstrated in Squid Game season 2 and in the helpful YouTube tutorial above, gonggi is a playground game of five rounds, each one played differently.

They break down like so:

• Round 1: Drop the stones and pick them up* one-by-one.
• Round 2: Drop the stones and pick them up two-by-two.
• Round 3: Drop the stones, pick up three at once, then pick up the remaining one.
• Round 4: Throw one stone in the air, drop the remaining stones, catch the airborne stone and then pick up the other four at once.
• Round 5a: Hold all five stones in the palm of your hand, carefully throw them and flip your hand over so that all of them land on the tops of your fingers.
• Round 5b: Continuing from the position at the end of 5a, throw and catch all five stones in your hand.

*Every time you're picking up, remember that you need to throw however many stones are already in your palm in the air as you do so, and then catch them again. This makes gonggi a particularly challenging exercise in hand-eye coordination.

Where to buy Gonggi stones

The great thing about Gonggi is its accessibility: you don't actually have to buy a specific set in order to play.

The game can be played with stones, pebbles, dice, beads or any other small round objects – in the case of Squid Game character Geum-ja, she even claims to have played it using bullets during the Korean War.

That said, as the game is most often played by children, colourful sets do exist that offer an aesthetically pleasing way of learning the rules. Several of these can be found by searching for 'gonggi stones' on Amazon, although some have lengthy delivery times.

If interest surges in the wake of Squid Game season 2, it may be that gonggi sets become more readily available in 2025.

Squid Game seasons 1-2 are available to stream on Netflix.

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