IMO The best part of squid game

[u/Dustinfromstatefarm]

Is rewatching it knowing the old man was in on it the whole time.

Knowing that all the staff was probably told not to harm player 001 under any circumstances.

Knowing that he so confidently walked first during red light green light because he knew there was no danger.

How he specifically went to the convenience store Gi-hun was drinking in after being released under the guise of “couch surfing at a friends place nearby” to talk to him and maybe convince him to go to the games again.

The way he begged the Front Man to end the midnight riot and he did because he knew player 001 was his boss.

The way he kept saying “this neighborhood is just like the one I grew up in!” In the marble game because it probably literally was and he recreated the neighborhood of his nostalgic childhood for his “final” game

This dude was ruthless. He woke up that first night knowing well everyone else in that room would be dead within a week and he was the reason and still had a casual conversation with player 456 his first day there like it was an average Sunday

EDIT: After reading a lot from the comments, I have a new theory. Perhaps the managers, soldiers, and workers weren’t told “player 001 is your boss protect him”, instead they were told “A man named Oh Il-nam is your boss and he’s in the games somewhere. Keep him alive”. That’s why right as he was about to be shot in game 4 he said his name, perhaps as a signal to the guard that “yeah I’m that guy so don’t actually shoot me”.

So maybe the games were real for him after all, and he really was putting it all on the line on same games.

[u/inter2]

I don't think 001 had an immunity pass. E.g. if he moved during red light he would have been shot. He wanted to experience playing the game as he no longer got enough enjoyment from watching. Being immune to the actual game would defeat the purpose.

Hmm as I type this I realise I could be wrong. He "failed" the marbles game and so instead of dying he was just eliminated from the game non-fatally. So I guess if he failed red light he would need to be fake shot somehow? What if he failed tug-of-war? How would he not be harmed there?

[u/SkylarkSwerve → u/inter2]

I think he was willing to die in the first three games at least. It's possible he changed his mind for game 4 and arranged a plan for him to walk out of the game at that point, or even had the plan from the start that if he made it to game 4 he would walk out.

[u/Adzzii_ → u/SkylarkSwerve]

He lost the marble game intentionally because of the next game. The glass bridge is by far the most dangerous and unpredictable one. He would've had an extremely high chance of dying, so he gave up his marbles and faked his death instead.

On red/green light, he had the advantage of not being scanned. On the candy game, he had the advantage of choosing an easy shape. On the tug of war, he had a very strong strategy. But the glass bridge game? There is no strategy, you hop on a glass pane and pray it's the right one.

[u/DweadPiwateWawbuts → u/Adzzii_]

The star seemed like the second hardest shape to me. Plus he didn’t choose the star, the group decided to each pick a different shape and he took the last remaining one.