Rose and Bruno Mars' song "APT." is inspired by a Korean table game.
The drinking game called “Apartment Game” became the idea for the Blackpink member. According to Korea Boo, Korean drinking culture is quite popular, especially among office workers. Therefore, “Apartment Game” became a game that connects people at the party table.
Because the participants would put their hands on top of each other to form a stack like a tall building, the game was named “Apartment”, which means apartment in English.
The gesture of stacking hands and shouting "apateu" (Korean pronunciation) has been spreading for many days and has become a trend that young audiences are responding to.
On social networks like TikTok, X, many people post videos instructing and playing this game and attract millions of views.
Along with movies, music, and variety shows, traditional Korean games are gradually becoming popular with global audiences.
In 2021, "Squid Game" became a phenomenon on the Netflix platform. Not only did it become a hit, the film also created many crazes at the same time, from costumes, music to children's games that are "survival" in nature.
One of the most talked about details in the film is the dalgona candy box with thin candy made from sugar, carved with funny shapes.
Players need to separate the shape inside without breaking the candy. In South Korea, dalgona candy was commonly sold outside school gates until the early 2000s, but has since declined.
According to KBS, not only the candy splitting game, "Squid Game" also promotes "Red Light Green Light", Ttakji (paper flipping), marbles, and tug of war - familiar and simple games for Korean children.
"Thanks to the drama, all the games became very familiar, the event scene was like a 'village party', promoting Korean culture," KBS commented.
Nancy Wang Yuen, a sociologist in Hollywood (USA), said: "Dalgona candy represents the admiration for Korean music and movies. Through those famous movies or music products, Korean culture will be promoted everywhere, so that everyone in the world can happily exclaim: "Oh, I have a new discovery about Korean culture."
Games with simple rules now offer a prize of 45.6 billion won, and the penalty is death, putting viewers in a suffocating, tense atmosphere.
"A survival game is both entertaining and a depiction of human tragedy," director and screenwriter Hwang Dong Hyuk told Variety. "The fact that the game is portrayed in a very easy-to-understand way helps viewers focus on the characters, rather than being distracted by having to understand the rules."
Mr. Hwang Dong Hyuk said that the stadium is painted with three symbols, a circle, a triangle and a square, which contain messages about life. The film reflects many social situations such as the desire to get rich quickly of a part of the Korean people, the high rate of bad debt or the moral decline of the wealthy.
Over the years, games familiar to Koreans have been incorporated into many TV shows, movies, and creative content on social networks.
Some games like Cham-cham-cham, submarine (Korean style of mixing wine and beer), Nunchi game, Babo game, Bunny game... have been played in famous variety shows like "Running Man", "Infinite Challenge", "2 Days 1 Night".
