All contestants eliminated in Squid Game Season 3 episode 1 Hide and Seek

Squid Game Season 3 premiered with a nightmare-inducing Episode 1, titled "Hide and Seek." The players participate in a test of survival that's simpler than it seems: get into hiding in a black arena and remain hidden within a hard deadline. No warning—be evicted at once.

After the episode, 35 players were eliminated from the game. No appeal, no second chance—just disappearance and silence. Below, we set out the precise rules of this fatal round and identify which player numbers were eliminated.

Game format: Hide and seek rules of Squid Game

Based on the official Netflix source for Episode 1, here are the essential rules:

Teams assigned

Contestants are assigned at random to hiders and seekers through a gumball machine random draw.

Role swapping option

Players may switch sides before the game begins if both groups are in agreement, but once the round has started, there may be no switching.

Head start for hiders

Hiders get a brief head start (a few minutes) to seek out locations in a maze of rooms and corridors.

Keys and doors

Each hider is assigned a key of one of three shapes (triangle, square, circle) to unlock doors within the maze. Doors once unlocked stay open, exposing possible hiding spots.

Seekers' objective

Seekers have to identify and eliminate at least one hider in 30 minutes. They are equipped with knives and sensors. If no hider is killed, the seekers become endangered.

Objective of hiders

Hiders stay alive either by not being discovered for the entire 30 minutes or by making it out of the exit, which can only be opened with all three varieties of keys together.

No door re-locking

Doors remain open once they are unlocked, exposing which paths have been taken.

Eliminated player numbers in "Hide and seek" of Squid Game

Even though a total of 35 players were eliminated during Episode 1—as reported at the end of the show—only 16 player numbers appeared or were reported on screen or announced throughout the episode. The complete number was revealed after the round was over, but not all of the eliminated players were individually named on screen.

The following are the 16 player numbers that were officially reported throughout the episode as being eliminated:

The other 19 eliminated contestants were not mentioned individually. Their elimination was only hinted at through visual cuts or validated by the final tally read out at the end of the round.

Episode 1’s “Hide and Seek” round is a stark reminder: in Squid Games, survival hinges on discipline and decision-making under duress. With thirty-five eliminated based only on the rules above, the game wastes no time in defining its stakes.