Google Has a Hidden 'Squid Game' You Can Play Right Now

Squid Game is coming back for a second season—whether it needs one or not. And as with many of its high-profile series, Netflix is readily promoting the next installment ahead of its Dec. 26 release date. It seems the streamer tapped Google for one of those promotions, to run a "hidden" Squid Game on the search engine. And it's actually pretty fun.

How to play Google's "hidden" Squid Game

"Hidden" is in quotations here because the game really isn't hard to find. In fact, if you have any passing interest in Netflix's hit show, you easily could stumble upon it yourself. All it takes to trigger the game is to search "Squid Game" on Google. When you do, you'll get the usual results for Squid Game, including the cast, season two release date, and an endless array of articles and coverage.

But in addition to these standard results, you'll notice a Squid Game glyph appear at the bottom of the screen, containing the show's three iconic shapes: circle, triangle, and square. Click this glyph, and you'll launch a game of "Red Light, Green Light" overlayed on top of your search results.

Whether or not you've seen the show, the rules are simple: You control a small group of six players who all need to reach the giant robot doll at the top of the page. When the doll isn't looking, you walk towards it; when the doll turns around, you stop moving. If you move while the doll is looking at you, you "lose." Unlike the show, however, your character will simply walk away with an anxious expression on their face, and won't be brutally shot to death. (At least, not on-screen.)

There's a green button that lets your characters advance, and a red button that stops them in their tracks. The doll will "sing" the same, short song, and will turn around as soon as it's done singing, but will sing at different intervals, so it can get difficult to judge. I actually found it easier to mute the doll, and just watch for its movement instead.

The funny thing is, even when you "win," your characters turn around with the same anxious expression on their face as when they lose. These games, man. They're not for the weak.

This is far from the first time Google has rolled out a hidden game or feature in its search engine or web browser. The most famous, of course, is the "Dinosaur Game," which appears in Chrome when you don't have an internet connection. But there are tons of games and experiences baked into Google. (Go ahead and search "do a barrel roll.")