The Korean Student Association hosted a Squid Game themed event on April 1. This event gave the organization an opportunity to educate A-State students about traditional Korean games and foods. The games featured were game of statues, marbles, ddakji, hopscotch, gonggi, yut nori and omok. Traditional and commercial Korean music was played to accompany the activities.

“Squid Game” is a 2021 South Korean Netflix show where deeply indebted players compete in deadly children’s games to win ₩45.6 billion. It was met with critical acclaim and massive International attention, as well as being Netflix’s most-watched series in 94 countries.

Hyesun Choi, the president of the association and junior criminology and political science major from Seoul, South Korea, said “We were really excited to host this event because we don’t do a lot of public events and we’re trying to do more of that in the future. It’s been really fun because people are learning about my culture and it appeals to everyone because Squid Game was so popular. We are also happy that we were able to serve food.”

The food they served were kimbap, yakgwa and sotteok sotteok. Kimbap is a dish made from rice, vegetables and meat rolled in dried seaweed and served in bite-sized slices. Yakgwa is a fried, wheat based cookie made with honey, cheongju, sesame oil and ginger juice. Sotteok sotteok consisted of skewered and fried vienna sausage with sauces like mustard and spicy gochujang sauce. 

The game of statues features one person assigned as a ‘curator’. The ‘statues’ attempt to race across the designated area without being caught by the curator. The person who is caught is out. Ddakji involves folded paper tiles where opposing players throw their tile at the other’s to flip their tile over. In hopscotch, the player calls a number and throws a pebble at the number they called. When it lands on the number, the player must hop on the numbers and back, grab the pebble, and start again. 

Gonggi requires the player to have 5 or more stones called jackstones where a player must throw them in the air individually and catch them with one hand. In yut nori, the player uses wooden sticks as dice and rolls them to move different spaces around a board. Omok is a strategy board game where a player must form a chain of five stones on a board with graph lines.

Upon entry to the event, each participant was given a slip of paper. If the individual won a game, a shape was drawn. After three games were won, the participant could pick out a traditional Korean bookmark as a token to remember the event. 

While participants learned about Korean culture, members of the association learned how to convey their culture. Eunji Seong, a freshman nursing major from Gyeonggi Do, South Korea, who assisted in teaching the attendees the games, said “I didn’t realize how hard it was to explain traditional Korean games to Americans, especially in English. I’m glad everyone liked the food and had fun playing the games.”

The event was open to all A-State students and more than 70 students were in attendance.

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