Alice In Borderland is a show following Arisu through his journey of making teammates and friends along with his struggling to survive in Borderland, a play-to-live world they have been transported to. In this world, they have to complete daring and witty games in order to earn visa days so they can stay in the land and stay alive. As it is themed around the House of Cards in Alice in Wonderland, the games all are ranked based on the numbers and suits in a card game. The higher the number, the more difficult, and each suit means that the game has a different challenge. Games of spades entail athletic ability, those of diamonds involve critical thinking, clubs are usually team work games and have a mix of elements in diamond and spade games, and lastly game of hearts are emotional and often mentally challenging. In addition, the face cards are the hardest of all the games. They are the final games players have to play therefore making it harder to succeed. I ranks these games as the most difficult ones to complete from all the games in the series.

5. Hide and Seek, 7 Of Hearts

*Spoiler Warning* This game is regarded as one of the most heartbreaking games of the show. In this episode, the main character loses his two best friends and is completely changed. To win this game, you must be the wolf. Upon entry, players must put on a headset that determines whether they are a sheep or a wolf. At the beginning of the game, the first wolf is chosen at random, but can be given to another player by making eye contact. The players scrambled to be the wolf and hide from the rest of the players. But, in the end, the players who are the sheep discover how awful it actually is the be the wolf. The wolf is the only one who will survive, and the guilt that it comes with may drive them insane. Games of hearts are meant to tear apart the players emotionally, and this game does just that.

4. The Beauty Contest, King of Diamonds

This game is based on mathematics and is extremely difficult to win. Running through rounds. players must pick the correct number or closest to the correct number within the one minute time limit of the round. The correct answer is all of the numbers chosen by people in the round multiplied by 0.8. Those in the game who lose a round will be deducted a point. Players who reach -10 points are eliminated. After one player is eliminated, a new rule is introduced making the game harder. This game seems to be based mostly on luck rather than correct answers, making this game one of the hardest to complete in the show. In the end, it all comes down to emotional manipulation rather than an actual mathematics. 

3. Solitary Confinement, Jack of Hearts

In this game, all players have to put on a collar with a screen on the back. The screen could display one of four images: a heart, diamond, spade, or club. Each round, players must try to figure out the suit that is projected on the screen behind them. At the end of each round, players must go into a jail cell and say which suit they believe they are. If they guess incorrectly, they are eliminated. No players can use reflections in order to figure out their suit and it therefore becomes a game of trust. Each round the player suit changes and more players are eliminated leaving less players to trust in the game. In the world the games take place everyone is trying to survive, so this game makes it difficult since you have to rely on others that may be against you. 

2. Survival, King of Spades

This game started from the first episode of season 2 and followed the players throughout the whole season. Unlike the other games, there was no registration and no visas were awarded for completing the game, players had no choice but to participate. The King of Spades is a daunting and strong man who has unlimited access to weapons and seems to almost be indestructible. This man roams the streets of Borderland to eliminate any players that he comes across. There is so much strategy to this game and leaves the players feeling confused and hopeless. This game is considerably one of the hardest seen in the show and brought the most eliminations out of the games in Borderland.

1. Croquet, Queen of Hearts 

*Spoiler Warning* While this may seem like a simple game, I rank this the hardest out of all the games in Borderland due to the manipulation and complexity of the Queen herself. In the beginning, the Queen explains in order to win, all you must do is complete three games of croquet. It doesn’t matter who wins or loses said games, as long as Arisu, the main character playing, participates and completes all three games, they win. The game starts out smooth, but after the second round, the Queen calls for a tea break. During this tea break, she makes up lies to tell Arisu about Borderland, all believable yet untrue. She makes up a few different lies to tell the two players to confuse them into what is real and what is not. But, the last and final story she tells is so convincing that it brings Arisu to believe it is truly happening. The Queen of Hearts manipulates Arisu into believing that he is in a mental hospital being treated for witnessing the death of his friends that he lost in the 7 of hearts game. Mira manipulated the two players trying to prevent them from being able to finish the last round of croquet. This game is so complex and so convincing that players may not even realize what they are doing and lose sight of how to complete the game. 

If this article was interesting enough, I definitely would recommend watching the show. You can stream it on Netflix and is definitely thrilling enough to keep one entertained, but not too scary like most shows and movies are in recent years.