Shows like Squid Game: eight games with rules you cannot afford to lose

Squid Game was never really about the games. It was about rules everyone knows are rigged and players who cannot afford to lose - which is why it became the biggest show on earth. These eight hit the same nerve from different angles; some play the games straight, some swap blood for money or zombies, all of them understand the assignment.

The eight

Alice in Borderland (Netflix, Japan)

A gaming-obsessed slacker and his friends wake in a Tokyo where districts are arenas and survival depends on clearing numbered games - each testing a different vice. The closest thing to Squid Game's actual format, with bigger set pieces and a ruthless streak of its own.

The 8 Show (Netflix, 2024)

Eight players, eight floors of a sealed tower; the money stacks by the minute and the higher your floor, the more you earn - and the more you can buy from the people below. Squid Game's class rage in a single building.

All of Us Are Dead (Netflix, 2022)

A zombie outbreak seals a high school with the students inside. The game here is survival politics - alliances, sacrifices and who deserves the last energy bar. Renewed for a second season; the first is a complete juggernaut.

Sweet Home (Netflix, 2020-2024)

Residents of a condemned apartment block hold the doors as neighbours turn into monsters shaped by their own desires. Three seasons of siege logistics and moral rot - the game is holding the line without becoming a monster yourself.

3% (Netflix, 2016-2020)

In a divided future, every 20-year-old gets one chance to pass the Process and join the 3% who live on the good side of the wall. Brazilian, four seasons, and the closest in spirit: the competition is the social order itself.

Kakegurui (Netflix)

A academy where hierarchy is set by gambling, and a transfer student bets her life for fun. Anime or the live-action version - both are unhinged. The games are wagers, but the stakes curve bends just as hard.

Liar Game (2007, Japan)

A penniless student is drafted into a televised game of manipulation where every round can drown her in debt. The thinking person's death game: no gore, pure psychological judo, and a hero who wins by trusting people.

Snowpiercer (2013 film; TV series 2020-2024)

The last humans live on a train frozen in class order - tail to front. Start with the film, then the series runs the premise for four seasons of revolution. The rules are rigged here too; the passengers simply stop agreeing to them.

Where to go next

The 2000 film Battle Royale is the genre's granddaddy - one class, one island, one survivor, and every death game since owes it rent. For what is hot this month, the sixty-second answer; for dates ahead, the 2026-27 calendar. The full catalogue with verified trailers waits on the browse desk.