zinema · series · what age

SearchAll guides

What it's about

Hundreds of cash-strapped players accept a strange invitation to compete in children's games. Inside, a tempting prize awaits, with deadly high stakes.

Why 17

• The official rating, firstRated TV-MA in the US (mature audiences only). zinema never goes below the country's rating: it explains it.
  rule
• Mass executions, filmed up closeFrom the first game, hundreds of players are gunned down under a giant doll, and every following episode eliminates the losers with a bullet to the head: the fall from the glass bridge, the jump rope, hide-and-seek with knives. Blood fills the center of the frame for more than a minute and a half in total, and the dead are characters you have learned to love. Twenty-one episodes out of twenty-two kill someone.
• Cruelty between players, worse than the guards'An old man betrayed at marbles by his friend, a night riot with knives in the dormitory, organ trafficking on the bodies, a vote to keep going when half the people are dead. The third season goes further: a baby is born inside the game, its mother dies, and adults vote to eliminate it. I killed my son, says a father. These scenes, more than the blood, set the age.
• An implied sex scene, alcohol, swearingIn the first season, two players lock themselves in the toilets for a scene that is implied rather than shown. The rest is ordinary adult register: soju, cigarettes, strong language in every episode.
• Constant dread, and suicidesSound tension in every episode, more than a third of the frames in darkness, screams, pleading (Please don't kill me, I have a wife and a child). Several characters choose to die to save someone else, or because they have no reason left to get out. It is a series about despair, not only about violence.

Season by season

the reading per season, episode by episode · expand

Season 1 · 9 episodes, 55 min on average · zinema reading 14, 13 with a parent · France 15 · the gentlest

3 episodes out of 9 at the top of the series. What's in each episode, without telling the story:

Episode	What's in it
1 · Red Light, Green Light	Blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; frightening images; scary music; fights; lots of weapons; a scene of cruelty; some swearing; alcohol; and a lot of laughs, 15% of the episode.
2 · Hell	Many dark scenes; deaths told; frightening images; scary music; fights; bullying; some swearing; alcohol.
3 · The Man with the Umbrella	Many dark scenes; deaths told; frightening images; lots of weapons; meanness; some swearing; alcohol; and a lot of laughs, 16% of the episode.
4 · Stick to the Team	Blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; frightening images; scary music; fights; meanness; some swearing; alcohol.
5 · A Fair World	More than half the episode in the dark; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; frightening images; scary music; fights; lots of weapons; meanness; some swearing.
6 · Gganbu	Deaths told; frightening images; fights; lots of weapons; meanness; some swearing.
7 · VIPS	Many dark scenes; deaths told; frightening images; scary music; lots of weapons; bullying; a lot of swearing.
8 · Front Man	Many dark scenes; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths told; scary music; lots of weapons.
9 · One Lucky Day	Many dark scenes; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; frightening images; scary music; fights; meanness; alcohol.

Season 2 · 7 episodes, 61 min on average · zinema reading 14, 13 with a parent · France 15

2 episodes out of 7 at the top of the series. What's in each episode, without telling the story:

Episode	What's in it
1 · Bread and Lottery	Many dark scenes; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths told; frightening images; scary music; fights; lots of weapons; a scene of cruelty; some swearing.
2 · Halloween Party	Many dark scenes; deaths told; frightening images; lots of weapons; some swearing; alcohol.
3 · 001	Blood on screen; deaths told; frightening images; scary music; fights; lots of weapons; bullying; some swearing; drugs mentioned; alcohol.
4 · Six Legs	Blood on screen; deaths told; frightening images; scary music; fights; bullying; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned; alcohol.
5 · One More Game	Blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; frightening images; scary music; fights; meanness; some swearing.
6 · O  X	Blood, for a long time on screen; deaths told; frightening images; scary music; fights; lots of weapons; bullying; some swearing.
7 · Friend or Foe	Blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; frightening images; scary music; fights; lots of weapons; a scene of cruelty; some swearing.

Season 3 · 6 episodes, 61 min on average · zinema reading 14, 13 with a parent · France 15 · the hardest

5 episodes out of 6 at the top of the series. What's in each episode, without telling the story:

Episode	What's in it
1 · Keys and Knives	Blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; frightening images; scary music; fights; lots of weapons; a scene of cruelty; some swearing; alcohol.
2 · The Starry Night	Blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; frightening images; scary music; fights; lots of weapons; a scene of cruelty; a lot of swearing.
3 · It's Not Your Fault	Many dark scenes; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; the monster in plain sight; scary music; lots of weapons; a scene of cruelty; a child put in danger; some swearing; alcohol.
4 · 222	Many dark scenes; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; frightening images; scary music; lots of weapons; a scene of cruelty; a child put in danger; some swearing; drugs mentioned; alcohol.
5 · ○△□	Many dark scenes; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; frightening images; scary music; fights; lots of weapons; a scene of cruelty; a child put in danger; some swearing.
6 · Humans Are...	Many dark scenes; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; frightening images; fights; lots of weapons; a scene of cruelty; a child put in danger; some swearing.

See the facts

For the same age, on zinema

• The Highest Stakes 17
• Pinocchio: Unstrung 17
• Shameless 17
• The Shards 17, 16 with a parent

The latest guides

• Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story 17, 16 with a parent
• The Gentlemen 17, 16 with a parent
• MobLand 17, 16 with a parent
• UNABOMBER 17, 16 with a parent

A zinema reading from September 17, 2026 · the 22 episodes of 3 seasons, watched one by one · the age by zinema's rules for the US and France, and a human reading · report an error · how this guide is made