Foreign countries are also hooked on five stones…Squid Game 2, “Playing Air”. A to Z

Gong Ki nori

With the release of “Squid Game Season 2,” interest in “Gonggi” is hot. Postings and videos on overseas social media explaining how to play “Gonggi” are lined up. The so-called “Genius Air,” “Baekdu Mountain Air” and “New Air” irregularities are also drawing attention. A master of “Speed Air” who finishes 1st to 5th steps in as short a time as possible has also been named.

The release of the Netflix drama “Squid Game Season 2” is once again creating a “K-play” craze. Season 2 has maintained its No. 1 position in the global top 10 series for three consecutive weeks since its release. With its three-week record, it became the third most-watched production in Netflix’s history (Squid Game Season 1 ranked first). Visitors also visited the pop-up store of “Squid Game,” which was operated until the 12th. In particular, young people took photos while enjoying air play, spinning tops, and hitting gravestones.

If playing ttakji and dalgona in the previous episode attracted attention, this season’s biggest interest is playing with air. Posts such as “Anyone know where to buy air” and “Who is playing gonggi?” are constantly posted on overseas social media such as the U.S. online community Reddit. The number of video views of actor Kang Ha-neul throwing a ball into the air and catching it with his flashy hands has exceeded 10 million times on TikTok. As the air play challenge using gravel, dice, and even chocolate spread like a trend around the world, soccer players Hwang In-beom (Feyenoord) and Baek Seung-ho (Birmingham) who are active in Europe also joined the scene. Videos of Newzins and other K-pop stars playing with air are also belatedly “excavated” and gaining popularity. The review of purchasing cosmetics with the logo of “Squid Game” as a free gift reads, “I wanted more of the gift.”

Factors of popularity in foreign countries

The backstory of the shooting also draws attention. Park Jong-nam, who plays the role of Kang Ha-neul, who plays the role of “Playing Air with Air” in the drama, posted on his Instagram account on Dec. 26 last year, “I got a call in the evening, two days before my wedding in October 2022. … “I can’t reveal it, but I need a scene of hands in the air on Global OTT, and they asked me if I could appear on it. It’s a day before the wedding, so I decided to appear on a vacation.”

Just as a reclusive master appears in martial arts or fantasy movies, there is a master of jaeya, which is still unknown in the airplay world. Lim Gwang-taek, 58, who lives in Mokpo, South Jeolla Province, is the hero. He started playing airplay about 15 years ago, and finishes the entire process from 1st to 5th steps in 6 seconds. He is No. 1 in ranking in the speed air competition hosted by the World Speed Air Association.

They don’t use special airstones either. They also use the so-called “crystal air” made of plastic that they often saw when they were young. They just add or remove small iron beads inside to adjust the weight. Recently, various types of airstones modeled after chocolate and dice are being sold in online shopping malls. Some masters use 3D printers to create the “Squid Game” airstones.

What do you think of the recent “air fever”? This is what Lim said about the basics of “air play,” various anomalies, and the secret and philosophy of ranking No. 1 in speed.

Foreigners’ challenges to playing air are also posted on the video platform under titles such as “Gonggi game” and “Gonggi challenge.”

■”How do you play with air?” If a foreigner asks

The reason why gongnori, which is familiar to Koreans, arouses curiosity abroad is because of the attractiveness of the “simple but complex” rule. Even those who have played gonggi since they were young are not as easy as they think to explain to beginners with words.

Lim said, “If you are a foreigner who is new to playing with air, try to simplify and practice as much as possible.” Lim said, “If you are a foreigner who is playing with air for the first time, try to repeat from the first step by holding the airstone one by one.” “When you get used to the first step, it is the fastest and easiest way to practice by cutting it by continuing the second step,” he said.

Airplay consists of repetition of “throwing up” and “picking up.” The basic movements are to sprinkle five stones on the floor, then pick up one stone and throw it up, and pick up the falling stone quickly. The entire process is done using only one hand. If you do not receive falling stones or touch another stone while holding the other stone, you are out. If there is someone who is playing with you, the next person will go. Until a mistake is made, scores are scored by repeating the steps from first to fifth.

It is intuitive to distinguish stages from 1st to 5th staves. First staves need to be held on four occasions, one for each level, and second staves need to be held on two occasions, two for each level. Third staves need to be held on three and one for each level, while fourth staves need to be held on four occasions at once. Fifth staves need to be scored. The five stoves need to be slightly thrown, placed on the back of the hand, and then snatched again to score points. This process is often described as “ageing.” When they caught all five, they shouted, “Five years old!” Some of the “little masters” in the classroom even made no mistake and made it to the age of 50.

Basic rules for playing with air. The traditional cultural portal’s website

a world of infinite air

This is not the end. The infinite world of air will unfold from now on. There are numerous abnormalities such as “genius air” that requires people to throw all the stones in their hands whenever they catch a ball, “Baekdu Mountain air” that requires the stone to be raised higher than the height of their head, and “new air” that puts down the stones in their hands whenever they are newly picked up. The names are slightly different from region to region. “I don’t like names that are too mingy,” Lim said. “When I was a kid, (genius air) was called “twisted air” and (new air) was called “ground air.”

There are many ways to add fun and increase difficulty, but Lim chose to increase the play speed to the maximum. If you look at the video he posted on YouTube, the whole process from 1st to 5th steps continues like a “one movement.” Lim said, “The key is to lower the height of throwing the ball, and to make sure that it leads to one without giving any gap in the whole process of throwing, picking up, and spraying.”

Lim ranked No. 1 in July last year with 6.57 seconds at the Speed Air Competition organized by the World Speed Air Association. Comments on YouTube video he posted were followed by comments such as “What did I see,” “Isn’t it a fast cold?” “I turned it on to watch it while eating, but it ended when I held a spoon,” and “Does this make sense?

Air play is international

With the release of “Squid Game Season 2,” interest in “Gonggi” is hot. Postings and videos on overseas social media explaining how to play “Gonggi” are lined up. The so-called “Genius Air,” “Baekdu Mountain Air” and “New Air” irregularities are also drawing attention. A master of “Speed Air” who finishes 1st to 5th steps in the shortest time possible has also been named. Reporter Jeong Ji-yoon

“Speed air” does not stop at speed. It has its own rules. First, you need to prepare a smartphone or tablet PC and use the official stopwatch. Press the stopwatch with your hand holding the five stones and start. If there is a mistake, you can start over from that step and time until the fifth step is completed. If you make a mistake at the first step, you can start from the first step, and if you make a mistake at the second step, you can start from the second step. This is the same as the rule of “Squid Game.”

The World Speed Air Association was formed by teachers from Korea including Park Dae-hyun (Jinyoung Jungang Elementary School, Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province). The organization aims to promote “air play” in classrooms. It started the program for children, but added “world” to add “tragedy” to the group because it hoped that “air play” would spread widely. Currently, 10 teachers including Park are serving as the management team. In summer 2023, the group held a one-time speed air competition only for students, and expanded the scope of participation to the general public last year.

Park said, “I thought that the air game could be a medium for family conversations,” adding, “I opened the competition with the idea that there is a world competition (sports stacking).”

■Can Air Play Be ‘New Sports’

Lim Kwang-taek, who ranked first with 6.57 seconds in the “Speed Air” competition organized by the World Speed Air Association.

Lim started playing with gongnori about 15 years ago. Lim, who is in the livestock distribution business, said that he often injures his wrist while cutting meat and removing bones. “Originally, people who distribute meat have bad wrists and fingers all the time. There was a time when I had to rest for two months due to a stretched arm ligament. I tried “jaw-hanging” hard to exercise (in the process of recovery), but I got hurt again where I was injured. I played gongnori because I thought I should exercise my fingers first instead of overdoing it.”

That’s how Lim’s life began. As he felt insignificant about finishing the 1st to 5th grades at an easy speed, he accelerated his speed. He said that speed air can be an exercise in itself. “I sweat for 20 to 30 minutes in summer, and I get fever all over my body even in winter.” He practiced alternately with his right and left hands until he reached the point where he played with the airstone with both hands at the same time. “It’s really hard to spray the airstone with both hands at the same time, but you can do it again,” he said.

To him, playing with air was also a kind of stretching to start full-fledged exercise. “You have to eat ‘big heart’ to do something like chin-ups. If you stretch a little, you don’t want to do it. I want to move more when I play with air because I don’t want to work out. My heart that I didn’t want to work out disappears.” Lim’s biggest wish in life is to live a ‘healthy and healthy’ life, neither money nor honor.

Lim Kwang-taek, who ranked first with a record of 6.57 seconds in the “Speed Air” competition organized by the World Speed Air Association.

His hope is that more people will enjoy the game on a daily basis. In order for the game to become popular for a long time, he stressed, “We need to hold speed competitions often and develop into new sports.” When asked if he would like to participate in the competition again this year, he said, “If I have a chance, I will go out, but if young people come out after practicing hard, I am not confident of winning.”

It is not known exactly when gongnori began. However, in the encyclopedia <Oju Munjang Jeonsango> written by scholar Lee Kyu-kyung in the early 18th century, it is introduced as gong (拱), which means to lift a stone in the air, and gi (棋), which means to lift it up, and gi, which means to throw a stone. Other historical sources suggest that there has been a game of throwing and receiving stones since the Three Kingdoms period or even earlier. Some opinions infer its origin from the tomb murals in Susan-ri, Goguryeo, which show people throwing stones and performing tricks. There is a mention of gongnori in the records of poets in the Greek and Roman period, and a game called knucklebones, in which sheep’s foot bones are thrown as airstones, is said in Europe and elsewhere.

I heard that only women play with air, but it’s so fun to play. It’s one of the games that disappears in Korea, although I did it a lot when I was young.