Squid Game Season 2's Best New Game Will Keep You Holding Your Breath

Contains spoilers for Season 2 of "Squid Game" on Netflix.

"Squid Game" is back, which also means we're about to get introduced to a whole slate of new games in truly horrific fashion (and that those same games will now surely be replicated — in the same horrific fashion — by various YouTubers and Twitch streamers, as well as Netflix's reality series spinoff). The first season brought universal classics like Tug-of-War and Red Light, Green Light back from our collective grade school memories, but it also showcased the titular playground game and introduced the sweet but deadly Dalgona to fans around the world.

In "Squid Game 2," a few of these games make return appearances in some fashion, but there are surprisingly few new contests for the series' cast to survive in their quest for the ₩4.56 billion cash prize. Undoubtedly the most memorable among them is Mingle, a spectacular addition to the series' assortment of challenges that forces alliances to come into direct conflict with their fellow competitors.

For the uninitiated, Mingle is best described as a cousin to the children's party game Musical Chairs. In the series, all contestants are led into a large, spinning room built around a carousel that rotates at a seemingly disorienting pace while an eerily innocent song plays. When the song stops, one of the game's announcers calls out a number — it could be as small as two or as large as 10 (and, likely, even larger). The contestants are then compelled to gather into groups of these numbers as quickly as possible.

From the start, it's obvious that this is a perfect "Squid Game" contest. In addition to being deceptively simple, it continuously forces the players to make life-or-death decisions about their relationships, thus revealing who they are in the deepest ways. In several instances, players who previously allied with one another will ostracize their companions if the chosen number requires them to be excluded. Then, should the excluded players survive, they may find themselves forced to return to their traitorous friends to secure a spot during a round requiring larger groups. Power dynamics are never more clear than in this deadly merry-go-round.

This game also has a final layer where the competitors need to move their group safely behind one of the automatically locking doors that spin around the room in opposition to them. Even a full group left outside is subject to elimination, and — as players realize toward the challenge's end — the game's architects have intentionally provided a limited amount of doors to ensure enough competitors are killed. Terrifying, stylish, and narratively rich, Mingle stands as one of "Squid Game" Season 2's high points.