Puzzles in Alice in Borderland

Although Squid Game took the world by storm over three seasons, I think the better show in the genre is Alice in Borderland, which just wrapped up its third (and apparently final) season.

Both shows are very similar; they have players competing in childhood games and logic puzzles, which end in death if players lose. They’re both quite violent, which makes it all the more difficult to watch when well-written characters that draw you to them inevitably meet their untimely demise.

The Korean entry Squid Game encourages viewers to think about financial inequality in society, as players are motivated to play for money in order to pay off crippling debts, with the game itself financed by the ultra-wealthy who callously bet on the fates of players for their own sadistic entertainment.

Alice in Borderland has a long-running Japanese manga as its source material, and follows a group of friends, led by Arisu (which is pronounced the same as “Alice” in Japanese), who mysteriously find themselves in a hauntingly empty Tokyo, forced to complete and survive in deadly games every few days or be killed. I can’t reveal the core theme here, as part of the ride is understanding exactly what is happening and why.

As a game lover and escape room enthusiast, the thing that sets Alice in Borderland apart for me is that, as a viewer, you can try to solve the puzzles in real-time as the characters do, and try to see if you can also outwit the game. Although a few of the games are more physical (like in Squid Game), many of them revolve around understanding logic puzzles or using probabilities to survive.

Our escape room workshops at Teamwork Unlocked are thankfully not lethal, but do provide a number of great puzzles for you and your team to solve. Even better, you learn more about the strengths and gaps in your team, and we provide real takeaways you can apply to improve your team in a business context, with six months of follow-up to help form long-term habits.