‘Squid Game’ Invitation Phone Number Was Real — and It Changed 1 Man’s Life
Ever since the ‘80s hit song “867-5309,” the entertainment industry should know better than to publish real phone numbers in songs, TV shows, and movies.
That’s why you see so many “555” digits. However, some productions love to add realism with actual phone numbers. Enter Squid Game, one of the most popular shows ever to premiere on Netflix.
‘Squid Game’ offers contestants a chance to win $38 million
Hundreds of people receive invitations from a secret corporation in Squid Game. Anyone who responds to the phone number can sign a contract to participate in a series of games. The winner earns $38 million.
It sounds like an awesome opportunity for the poor and desperate people who respond to the invite. Then hundreds of contestants get gunned down in a gigantic, horrific game of “Red Light, Green Light.”
One man received 4,000 phone calls a day due to ‘Squid Game’
Insider reports that Squid Game Season 1 was the most popular show on Netflix in 83 countries. In the first episode, the series protagonist Ki-hun shows both sides of a simple card. One has a series of symbols similar to a Playstation controller. The other side showcases the phone number to call.
Of course, Squid Game fans tried calling the number. Surprisingly, the original eight-digit phone number belonged to a real person in South Korea.
This person received 4,000 calls a day. Even worse, people with similar numbers were getting prank calls, too, including the businessman’s wife. She had a cellphone number that’s one digit off from his and received calls as well. They both lost sleep over the issue.
A South Korean politician offered to buy the phone number for $85,000. In early October 2021, just three weeks after the series premiered, the streaming service edited the number to just six digits, according to News24. Now when people call the phone number, it says “The number dialed is not in service.”
Lesson learned, even if a bit late.
How could ‘Squid Game’ producers have handled the phone number differently?
This fake phone number could’ve been managed in many other ways. Producers could have used a completely fake number with the wrong prefix (like 555) or utilized some unintelligible script. They could have blurred it out or just changed the shot and not shown the phone number at all.
Producers could have done what Star Trek: Picard accomplished in Season 2. Adam Soong (Brent Spiner) receives a metallic card from Q (John de Lancie). A phone number appears on one side of the card. It’s a real number, and fans can call it to listen to a voice message from the omnipotent being himself, reports Gizmodo. That number is (323) 634-5667. You can still call it today.
The future of ‘Squid Game’ looks promising
Squid Game Season 2 is in the works. Showrunner Hwang Dong-hyuk said the sophomore season could appear sooner than 2024. The creator also promised new and better games in future seasons.
Until then, fans can relish the upcoming Primetime Emmy Awards. The dystopian thriller received 14 nods in a wide range of categories.
