SQUID GAME
Top shelf series, bottom shelf game
Designer: Nicholas Cravotta, Rebecca Bleau, Skylar Cravottableau | Publisher: Mixlore
Basing a game on a popular intellectual property is difficult, translating that property’s reflection or incitement of a cultural moment is even more challenging. But in a completely un-satirical leap of opportunism, Netflix sanctioned the production of a number of licensed board games to capitalise on – including Squid Game. With the show – and its stylishly violent critique of class inequality and rampant capitalism – coming out amidst a near universal haze of post-lockdown public cynicism, the question is, how much of this does it capture, and at the very least, is it any good?