Netflix hit streak: Playing like in “Squid Game”

Resourceful small business owners in Southeast Asia are capitalizing on the enormous success of the Netflix series. So café visitors can feel like they are in the “Squid Game” – thrills included.

Zhang Qi looks at her Dalgona biscuit, a Korean specialty made from melted sugar that is mixed with baking powder and then hardened in a silicone mold. Your task is to use a toothpick to poke a star out of the hard biscuit without breaking it.

An edge jumps off at the first attempt – Zhang Qi has lost. The consequences are not as dramatic as in the Korean Netflix hit series “Squid Game”, from which this game comes. There the cracked biscuit means certain death; here, in the “Brown Butter” café in Singapore, they just say that Zhang Qi is not getting free coffee now.

“Squid Game” – deadly children’s games

The streaming series “Squid-Game” is a surprise success worldwide. More than 111 million viewers watched the dystopian Korean series in the first month. According to the streaming giant Netflix, this makes it the most watched series on the portal. The concept is simple: Highly indebted people voluntarily take part in a competition on a remote, mysterious island. Guided by masked overseers, you have to successfully survive six games, then a million-dollar prize awaits. There is, however, a catch: if you lose, you don’t just drop out, but pay with your life.

The games are all well-known Korean children’s games: tug-of-war, shooting marbles and cutting out cookies. But “Squid Game” is certainly not an enjoyable evening program, the series is far too brutal for that – not only because of the premise of the game, but also because of the depiction of an inhuman society in which people fight desperately for wealth to the point of death.

All of Southeast Asia is in the “Squid Game” fever

Entrepreneurs in Indonesia and Malaysia have also discovered the games from “Squid Game” as a business idea. In the “Strawberry Café” in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta, guests play another game from the “Squid Game”. It’s called “Red Light, Green Light” and the rules are simple: if you move when the game master turns, you lose. When the supervisor in the red costume aims a game machine gun with a red laser point at the temple of the 16-year-old café visitor Jennifer Susanto, you feel very much immersed in the oppressive atmosphere of the series. Jennifer holds her breath so as not to move. Unsuccessful – a shot is fired and Jennifer is “dead”. However, she laughs and says, “It’s so exciting. I can really feel now how tense the show is.”

Cafe owner Putra Priyadi went to great lengths to design her cafe. Your game supervisors wear the same red suits with black face masks as in the series. There is a loud bang when the players are “shot” with deceptively real machine guns. It’s certainly not a relaxed café atmosphere, but for the fans of the series it is special fun that they like to spend their money on.

More than 200 guests have been visiting the “Strawberry Café” every day since the campaign. A blessing for Priyadi, because like everywhere else in the world, she has suffered a lot from the pandemic restrictions in her country. “After we introduced the Squid Game activities, our attendance increased immediately,” she says.

Companies suffered greatly from corona restrictions

Restaurants and beauty salons were hit hardest by the corona pandemic, as they had to close quickly and for a long time due to the high risk of infection. Since the number of infections in Southeast Asia is now stabilizing again, most stores are allowed to open – and they are trying to compensate for the losses of the past few months with imaginative business ideas.

Small businesses in particular like to jump on the “Squid Game” platoon. A nail salon in Malaysia’s capital Kulala Lumpur is also boosting its business with the help of the series. Lim Pei Xin designs artificial fingernails to stick on, which are painted with typical “Squid Game” motifs. Her boss, nail salon owner Chin Kwan How, is proud of his idea and emphasizes that he has even received inquiries from abroad.

Pearlyn Tan from the “Brown Butter” café in Singapore has also had difficult economic times. Restaurants in Singapore had to close again and again due to the corona measures in the past year, and until recently, only two people were allowed to visit a restaurant. But now Squid Game fans line up outside Pearlyn’s Café every day, and the Dalgona game has just extended it indefinitely. Cafe visitor Zhang Qi can hope to get a simpler shape to cut out next time.