How to say green light in Korean

Whether or not this was intentional on the creators' part, kicking off Squid Game with "Red Light, Green Light" contributed immensely to the show's broad international appeal. It's a game that most people can identify, and raising the stakes with a deadly penalty for getting caught added just the right amount of shock value to an otherwise universal and innocuous children's game.

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Of course, the game is played a little differently in other countries. While the rules are identical across the board, the phrase that the lone player says varies greatly.

Take the South Korean phrase featured prominently in Squid Game,for example. The Korean name of the game does not directly translate to "Red Light, Green Light." Thus, their version of the game is not played by saying those exact words in Korean.

The exact Korean phrase is "Mugunghwa kkoci pieot seumnida,"which translates to "the hibiscus flowers bloomed."

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The phrase itself sounds slightly more poetic and playful than the strictly literal "Red Light, Green Light" version of the game that Westerners are used to. Other than that, the game is played exactly the same.

Source: Netflix

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Different countries have their own "Red Light, Green Light" phrases.

South Korea is far from the only country with its own unique phrase for this game. As the Western translation indicates, we know it as "Red Light, Green Light." Though the more traditional phrase (at least the one that I grew up with) is "red light, green light, 1, 2, 3," the English dub for Squid Game only has "red light" for stopping the players and "green light" for letting them advance.

Fun fact: In Japan, there was a manga in 2011 called As the Gods Will involving people playing a series of deadly children's games, much like Squid Game. The very first game they played was, in fact, "Red Light, Green Light."