Squid Game: The Experience
Bringing Squid Game to Life: The Holovis Touch
Netflix’s Squid Game captivated audiences worldwide with its high-stakes competition and psychological tension. Now, fans can step into this thrilling world themselves through Squid Game: The Experience. Holovis played a crucial role in making this immersive experience a reality by integrating cutting-edge technology to bring the games to life with interactivity and gamified payoffs - just like the show, but without the infamous deadly endings.
Expanding the Experience to New York
Following its success in Los Angeles, Squid Game: The Experience made its way to New York. Holovis led a full tech refresh, software rebuild, and lighting design upgrade to elevate the experience for a new audience.
Key improvements included:
Full game backend development, integrating updated media, graphics, and assets from Netflix.
Installation and commissioning of a new show control system upgrading the tech for improved management and host operations.
Upgraded host tablets, improving performance and allowing them to focus on the guests rather than the tech.
A Unity-based frontend rebuild to optimize performance and responsiveness.
Enhanced game controllers for Red Light, Green Light and Marbles for more accurate play.
Hardware upgrades for Red Light, Green Light, improving motion detection and responsiveness.
A brand-new Finale game, a Jack-in-the-Box showdown, for a high-tension surprise finish.
Technical Integration at its Finest
Holovis specializes in complex technical integration, and this project leveraged the expertise of our multidisciplinary team, including Show Control Engineers, Game Developers, Automation Engineers, AV Engineers, Lighting Designers, Network Engineers, and BIM Engineers. The experience required a seamless blend of traditional show control techniques and cutting-edge game development, integrating heavy duty cycle industrial hardware and programming.
A core part of our work focused on developing an integrated system architecture. We utilized robust show control hardware, commonly used in the attractions industry, and combined it with customized real-time game development principles. The result? A high-performance, durable, interactive experience that operates well under heavy usage – one that encourages guests to touch and play.
Behind the Scenes: The Technology Powering the Games
Each room in Squid Game: The Experience features sophisticated technological integration, including:
Bluetooth communication and accelerometer-based motion detection for detecting the slightest of movement.
Industrial scanners and hidden sensors for real-time interactivity
Customized software development for each game
A centralized game control system to manage scores and outcomes
Show control systems for triggers, lighting and effects
A robust network design integration for wireless connectivity for each host backed up by a robust hard-wired game controller
Reactive lighting and moving set pieces for added immersion
All of these elements are designed to work invisibly, ensuring the games take center stage while the technology remains in the background, enhancing immersion.
Intelligent Network Design for Roaming Operation
One of our most important implementations was designing a robust network that allows the host to control the experience wirelessly via tablets from around the attraction. This wireless system ensures the host remains engaged with guests while a separated, fixed network line with a greater amount of controls enables the Technical Director (TD) to assist in case of any disruptions. Our priority was to ensure the system fails elegantly (because let’s face it, sometimes it will!) allowing quick and hidden intervention without impacting gameplay.
The system supports up to six individual games running simultaneously, accommodating up to 24 players per game - up to 144 players at any given moment, with each guest doing different things. Each player is assigned a player number, just like the show (but we’re sorry – you can’t play as player 456!), and scores are meticulously tracked. The system dynamically adjusts based on the number of participants and guests with disabilities too to make sure they have a great experience, maximizing throughput without requiring manual intervention from the host or TD.
The Power of Bluetooth Beacons in Red Light, Green Light
Rather than traditional RFID tracking, Holovis utilized Bluetooth beacons with built-in accelerometers to detect motion during the Red Light Green Light game. Each beacon, housed in a wristband, measures movement rather than location. If a player moves at the wrong moment, the system registers an elimination - delivering a lightweight yet precise alternative to large-scale tracking solutions. And to boot, it doesn’t need charging either, the battery in the bands will last well beyond the intended operation of the attraction
Refining the Experience Post-Launch
After the experience’s launch in October, Holovis collaborated closely with Netflix to analyze how the system was being used. This iterative process led to refinements that improved guest engagement and reliability. With daily sell-out crowds, ensuring the system ran seamlessly was paramount to the experience. As always, no matter how well something is designed, guests will find ways to test its limits – so we remained on hand to respond to these limits and upgrade, change and adjust the system as necessary, with large elements and updates being implemented at the start of 2025 for guests to enjoy.
Lighting and Atmosphere Enhancements
A major focus in the New York installation was improving the immersive atmosphere through lighting. The Holovis team:
Designed all lighting for the Night Market shopping and bar area, enhancing the experience’s vibrancy and initial impact.
Developed dynamically lit lamps for the Finale room, adding tension and ambiance.
Synchronized lighting effects with game mechanics, reinforcing the show’s signature suspense.
Creative Engineering Challenges and Final Touches
Every major attraction build presents challenges. Fine-tuning the finale required precision engineering to ensure a perfect suspenseful moment before the surprise moment. Optimizing Red Light, Green Light’s movement detection involved adjusting beacon placements for ideal sensitivity. Integrating lighting effects with game mechanics added an additional layer of realism, requiring precise programming and testing.
With a fully rebuilt software system, hardware enhancements, and an all-new finale, Squid Game: The Experience in New York delivers an even more immersive, high-intensity adventure. Every element - from gameplay mechanics to lighting design - works in harmony to transport guests deeper into the world of Squid Game while optimizing efficiency and throughput. Whether stepping onto Memory Steps, navigating Warships, or anxiously awaiting the Jack-in-the-Box finale, players are in for an unforgettable thrill. And after all of that, there can only be one winner!
Welcome to Squid Game: The Experience - where the stakes are high, and the games are as intense as ever!
Holovis integrated many products into Squid Game: The Experience including products from the likes of; Alcorn McBride, Q-Sys, ETC Lighting, Beckhoff Automation, Lightware, and Beetronics.