The most hyped slot machine at G2E is Squid Game. The Netflix blockbuster series is making its debut as a slot on Tuesday, with superstar DJ Steve Aoki taking the inaugural spin at 12 noon. 

Light & Wonder (formerly Scientific Games) will be showing off their new game on the floor of 2023 Global Gaming Expo, the world’s largest gaming conference, going on all week at the Sands Convention Center in Las Vegas. 

Aoki is reportedly a huge fan of Squid Game, and in 2021 produced a notable remix of the theme music. Before that, he launched a real-money casino skill game called Steve Aoki’s Neon Dream. 

Squid Game will be the first Netflix franchise to be reimagined as a casino slots game. 

"[We’re] proud to be the first slots gaming company in the industry to partner with Netflix’s Squid Game," Light & Wonder CEO Matt Wilson said. "We’ve seen how combining fan-favorite shows with immersive gameplay can resonate with audiences both digitally and on casino floors.”

Bet Your Life?

Don’t worry, this game will not kill you. For all the technology involved, there are no bullets involved, and the only fall you risk is from your chair to the floor. But for a slot narrative, it does offer the thrill of survival. 

The Squid Game slot features familiar characters from the show as well as some of the favorite children’s games that this dystopian fantasy turned into life-or-death challenges. “Red Light, Green Light,” “Tug-of-War,” and “Glass Bridge” all make up bonus rounds – for decidedly much lower stakes than what Squid Game players in the show had to risk. 

While there will be an online and mobile version of the game for jurisdictions with legal online slots, much of the appeal, Wilson says, is in the experience the big screen, jumbo cabinet offers on casino floors. 

Big Names, Big Games

Light & Wonder is using the game to introduce their new Horizon cabinet display – featuring a 75-inch screen with 600,000 individual micro-LED pixels, creating an immersive 90-inch display area. The touch-screen component for various in-game interactions is 27 inches. The game also offers dual play buttons (allowing you to spin multiple reels) and comes with a phone charger – something to ease the anxiety of a device losing power when you’re chasing the next Red Light, Green Light bonus round. 

While these jumbo-cabinet games are more costly and take up more casino floor space, the use of a branded game – a well-known entity that comes with its own following – makes it easier for casinos to take the gamble. 

Squid Game follows in the path of successful Hollywood-inspired slots such as Justice League, Game of Thrones, Mulan, Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Lord of the Rings, Goonies, King Kong, Planet of the Apes, Family Guy and Willy Wonka. 

These branded games have grown in popularity on casino floors in recent years, and have helped operators connect with different generations of casino customers.

Las Vegas-based slot maker Aristocrat Gaming, a competitor to Light & Wonder, in August introduced NFL-themed slots, ahead of the NFL season. 

The Squid Game slot coincides with the highly anticipated Netflix release of season 2, on Nov. 22. Also, on Dec. 6, “Squid Game: The Trials” opens in Los Angeles, an immersive pop-up experience in which participants compete in non-fatal versions of competitions on the show.

Squid Game is expected to hit casinos around the US and rest of the world in 2024.