Where was the game Squid filmed? Every Major Place, Explained

“Squid Game” is more than just the most exciting competition on TV – he also wears his cultural identity on his sleeve. Although it deals with universal themes like the skewed distribution of wealth, the series is deeply and unashamedly South Korean. In fact, Hwang Dong-hyuk's survival thriller revolves heavily around a deadly series of Korean board games that the country's desperate and poor people play to entertain the jaded global elite.

One of the things to remember about “Squid Game” is that he thrives on carefully chosen places and impressive pieces, but rarely overexplains them. While the show does a great job of depicting the daily lives and deep financial woes of the Squid Game participants and explaining each game to viewers who aren't familiar with them, it's often content to leave their spots impressive without addressing. However, it doesn't hurt to learn more about the regions where the events of the show take place, so let's make the viewing experience even more immersive by taking a look at where “Squid Game” was filmed.

The games of season 1 of “Squid Game” that do not take place on the mysterious island where the titular games are played invariably happen in the capital of South Korea Seoul or in another big city, Incheon. In-universe, all the contestants the show explores come from this region – even Kang Sae-byeok (Jung Ho-yeon) and Ali Abdul (Anupam Tripathi), who are from North Korea and Pakistan respectively, operate in the area Sightseeing viewers are no doubt excited to hear that the city scenes were shot on location.

Major Seoul locations making an appearance in “Squid Game” include high-profile destinations such as Gangnam District's Yangjae Citizen Forestry Station, where Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) plays a game fatal of Ddakji with the Salesman (Gong Yoo). and the imposing and elegant IFC Mall, which hosts her showdown with Oh Il-nam (O Yeong-su) in the season finale, “One Lucky Day.” We also saw the famous Namsan Park, where Gi-hun and Sae-byeok ended up in episode 2, “Hell,” after their brief exit from the competition.

Seoul's neighboring city of Incheon features heavily during Gangster Deok-soo's (Heo Sung-tae) episode 2 storyline, which takes him to Wolmido Island's Wolmi Theme Park outside the city. Another prominent Incheon location in the show is Incheon International Airport, where Gi-hun almost boards a flight in “One Lucky Day” before deciding to challenge the people behind the game. Incidentally, if you think that filming in a huge and active airport can be complicated, you are absolutely right. In 2023, the creators of the show had to apologize when people filming an escalator scene of season 2 of “Squid Game” at Incheon International Airport drew complaints about the patronage of passengers around.

Our unwitting tour guide to Seoul's darker side is once again Gi-hun, who is so openly proud of his roots in the city's comparatively gritty Ssangmun-dong neighborhood that “Ssangmun-dong” becomes his serial nickname. Cho Sang-woo (Park Hae-soo) also has roots in the same area, which makes Ssangmun-dong a prominent “Squid Game” location that we see many times in the show.

Other districts of Seoul we see include Daeheoung-dong, where Gi-hun's friend Jung-bae (Lee Seo-hwan) operates a bar. In episode 1, “Red Light, Green Light”, the couple visits the city center when they bet on horses at the Sangbong Intercity Bus Terminal, with Sae-byok later stealing the winnings. There's also the Chang-dong district, where Gi-hun visits the Pokopang arcade, and the Baegun Market in Gileum-dong, where Park-soo reveals his dire financial situation to Gi-hun.

The deliberately muted color schemes of the darker city locations of “Squid Game” are a stark contrast to the luxurious cityscapes of Seoul, not to mention the elaborate, colorful sets of the Squid Game itself. This plays well into the show's overall theme of socioeconomic disparity, of course. Sometimes the series can play the viewer's emotions like a violin with its scene design game alone, and it's no surprise that the best episode of the first season of “Squid Game”, “Gganbu”, unleashes its harrowing horrors in an idyllic simulated village.

While the show's city scenes took place in Seoul and Incheon, most of Season 1 of “Squid Game” — that is, the scenes that take place in the game's compound — was filmed in a completely different city. The show relies heavily on physical sets and practical effects, and as such, the show's creators actually build the play's many elaborate full-size sets. All these interior scenes were filmed in a studio in the city of Daejeon. When the series actually shows us the deserted island on which the Squid Game compound is located, the scenes are from a small, appropriately desolate island called Seongapdo – one of many in this particular area slightly west of the mainland.

Interestingly, the island the characters discuss the most in the series isn't actually the one the games take place on. After all, the player characters have no way of knowing they are on the island in the first place. In “Gganbu,” Sae-byeok and Ji-yeong (Lee Yoo-mi) spend some time crafting a cocktail-fueled fantasy vacation to an island called Jeju. While the location doesn't make an actual appearance in the show, Jeju is actually a real island in the South Korean province located about 60 kilometers south of the mainland. Although Sae-byeok and Ji-yeong have never visited, the island does have some great beach resorts and plenty of attractions – and, no doubt, a Mojito or two on offer.