Woo! I didn’t die so I can finally bring you my Squid Game Live review that took place in Blackpool yesterday.
Based on the hit Korean Netflix show Squid Game Live chooses members of public at random from a ballot list and invites them to take part in their games with a cash prize of £500 on the table for one lucky winner.
This gaming experience started very mysteriously indeed as you dial a number and get the creepy Squid Game voice setting up your game.
You’re then emailed a meeting point and that’s it. No more details are shared.
Be here at a time and place and away you go.
That location for us was Blackpool North Train Station and instantly it piqued my curiosity as just down the road is the beautiful Winter Gardens event space.
It had to be in here, right?
It turns out my suspicions were correct but before we got there we were patted down by Squid Game staff and picked up in a double-decker bus with a blacked-out top deck.
Immersed in darkness we went on a little drive before arriving at the Winter Gardens.
We must have gone round in circles as you can see Winter Gardens from the train station but the disorientation that the black-out curtains brought to proceedings was a fun intro.
Music and instructions for the event came over the bus speaker system and guards were on the top deck to keep an eye on us.
This was such an epic start to the event.
Some guards at the train station were sadly not wearing their masks down for whatever reason so this was quite sad to see but all staff on the bus were taking their roles very seriously.
Once inside we were given our outfits.
Instead of the trademark green jumpsuits, we were kitted out in dust / protective overalls with numbered stickers on our chests.
Not exactly the uniform I had in mind when envisioning this £45 experience but never mind.
Our first game was around the corner inside the wonderful Winter Gardens and lighting/smoke machines added a nice eerie effect to the straight corridor that lay in front of us.
Red lights greeted us at the end of the corridor and a lady dressed as a doll stood at the far end. We knew what was about to go down.
A nice game of red light, green light.
Red Light, Green Light
Thankfully I’m quite good at keeping still and found this particular game very easy indeed but a large number of people were quickly eliminated from this opening game.
The suspense was most definitely there and I was dreading what befell those who failed the game.
Staff told us (even though they shouldn’t have really been speaking) that we’d be sent to a punishment room if we failed a challenge.
The punishment room consisted of a shipping container where everyone was huddled together (with masks on of course) and then had pigmented paint tipped all over us!
With me successfully winning the first game I avoided this punishment but I was soon to become quickly acquainted with this unpleasant experience.
Up next was a game very similar to the marbles game in the TV show but instead of marbles, we had beans.
In pairs we had to come up with a game of choice to win beans, the person with the most beans after 5 minutes would be the winner.
We played a simple game of rock, paper, scissors to win beans and I was obliterating my opponent until he upped the ante with an all or nothing bean bet.
Being the adventurous soul that I am I fell for his tricks and lost in quick succession as my beans left my body as fast as a five-bean chilli from Wetherspoons.
Off to the punishment room I went.
It wasn’t pleasant as I emerged from this shipping container as an extra from the Smurfs movie.
The games that followed included an inflatable assault course racing against a random opponent (I lost) followed by a very sketchy tug of war game.
Tug of War
Two raised scaffolding planks had two ropes across them as it was a 1 V 1 tug of war battle with the loser falling onto the crash mat below.
Unfortunately, the platforms were a little slippy (from the powder paint) and weren’t as long as they should have been as many people were hitting their backs on the metal poles and trying too hard to win.
The competitive nature of the game had us gasping at every fall and slip as none of the scaffolding was protected and it looked a little unsafe, to say the least.
We quietly snuck around this particular game as the war-wounded contestants who had taken part were nursing rope burns (standard tug of war injuries) and impact injuries from trying way too hard.
Whilst no one was seriously hurt it certainly looked like the only game out of the bunch where an injury could have been possible and it just wasn’t something I wanted to risk nor do I have the strength or balance (medical reasons) to win against a 5-year-old kid let alone a full-sized adult.
Egg Carving
Substituting the honeycomb challenge for an egg involved contestants carving a shape out of an egg.
Thinking I had done this to perfection I was disqualified after a hairline fracture was spotted on my egg.
Such fine margins from certain members of staff yet a friend of mine who had destroyed his egg was passed!
I’m ever so glad I wasn’t shot for this, I’d have been one disgruntled ghost.
After this game had finished we were able to purchase merchandise including guard costumes and logo printed hoodies and apparel and the two contestants with the most points stayed behind for the semi-final as they advanced one step closer to winning £500.
It would have been nice to see what their next game was though that’s for sure!
Squid Game Live Review
Overall Squid Game Live was a well-run event.
There were numerous staff members on hand to help, a good 30-40 staff members to be exact which was more than enough for an event of this size.
The Winter Gardens is a beautiful location to host something like this but after Red Light, Green Light I felt the effort quickly diminished in terms of creating the mood/atmosphere.
Not much went into theming of the games in particular and it did look done on a budget in parts but the friendliness of the staff, the location it was taking part in and the people who I was with made the event a fun one albeit an expensive one.
Not having a proper uniform or meal (as promised via the original press releases) was a real shame and the beans game and giant inflatable game just felt a little pointless with zero theming or immersion around them despite the latter being quite fun.
No free merchandise was given to us at the end of the day and suddenly the £45 started to seem VERY expensive indeed.
We walked down a corridor, sat playing with beans, hopped over an inflatable obstacle course, pulled some rope (well the others did) and played with an egg for £45.
When put like that it seems very expensive indeed.
The bus taking us to the event was genius, the guards who had their masks down the entire time were intimidating and you can see a lot of effort has gone into organising the event but once again the price for me, didn’t justify the experience.
For £45 I would have expected much better theming and immersion.
Overall a fun event for fans of the TV show I just would have priced it a good £20 cheaper.
Considering the number of staff members, the venue/bus company hire couldn’t have been cheap the cost certainly makes sense from a business point of view but from a guest point of view, you just didn’t get that value for money whatsoever.
The staff members certainly made this event special as they seemed to be having just as much fun as we were. Before we even got into the event, we stopped at some red temporary traffic lights with the Squid Game Guard which I found hilarious.
If you’re a diehard fan you won’t care about the cost and only the experience and for that reason alone (money aside) I’d recommend you go and check it out and make your own minds up.
