Jimmy Donaldson, better known by his online moniker MrBeast, has made quite a reputation for himself with his high-stakes YouTube videos where he offers people a chance to win ridiculous amounts of money. That includes an infamous contest based on Netflix’s squirm-inducing series “Squid Game,” where people competed for a massive cash prize (minus the risk of death, of course). Now, he’s taking that idea to the next level with a full-fledged Amazon Prime Video TV series called “Beast Games.”

There was already a shady side to “Beast Games” before it even came out, with the fact that it was a non-union production raising eyebrows. However, nothing could stop the hype: The biggest cash prize in game show history is on offer, after all, with 1,000 people competing in the hope of winning $5 million. It’s a little bit like “Squid Game,” but instead of critiquing capitalism, it’s all about making people give into their basest impulses for monetary gain. Here’s your guide to every game featured on the show so far.

“Beast Games” begins with a ton of people talking about what they plan on doing with the $5 million prize. Some want to help disenfranchised children, while others want to buy jet skis for themselves. But MrBeast isn’t stopping there, because he also offers up a private island and Lamborghini to a lucky few. What can you say? MrBeast always ups the ante, whether that’s offering a plethora of fabulous prizes or getting Hans Zimmer to score one of his YouTube videos. 

Before the first official challenge even begins, MrBeast gives everyone a chance to go home with some money by bringing out $1 million and offering people the chance to self-eliminate right then and there. The caveat is that the $1 million will be split amongst everyone who gets out of the game, meaning the more people who choose to leave, the smaller the jackpot becomes. Plenty of competitors are adamant about making it all the way to the $5 million game, but others are clearly happy just having some money to take home. 

When all is said and done, 52 people walk away and split the prize, meaning they each leave with about $19,230. It’s not a bad payday, but it’s a far cry from the $5 million prize. As it turns out, they may have been the lucky ones, because things become cutthroat shortly afterward. 

There’s something to be said about taking a guaranteed amount of money (albeit small) versus a minuscule chance of getting a ton of money. After all, out of 1,000 people, only one can get the $5 million prize. And it doesn’t take long before some people face elimination, walking away with absolutely nothing. 

For the next game, MrBeast divided the contestants into their respective rows. The challenge is one person has to voluntarily eliminate themselves from the competition and go home with nothing. By eliminating themselves, everyone else in the row can keep playing. Such decisions must be made quickly, as the final three rows without a volunteer will see everyone go home. 

It’s an emotional test, as people start crying after deciding to quit. It’s somewhat of an honorable showcase of people getting rid of themselves for a “greater good.” 243 people got eliminated in this game, leaving only 705 at this point to keep striving for those millions of dollars.

At this point, “Beast Game” starts looking a lot like “Squid Game” in that it utilizes children’s games to determine eliminations. Every contestant has a narrow red block on their podium and an assortment of other blocks in various shapes. The goal is to stack the blocks onto the starting piece without it tipping over. The first 100 players to lose control of their towers will exit the game. 

This one’s a bit odd. There’s a time limit, and only the first 100 players to have their towers fall go home. That means, theoretically, you could just … not do the game. If you sat there, not even risking stacking the blocks, you could in theory make your way to the next game. At the very least, it makes sense to wait until there are only a couple of minutes left before stacking to hedge your bets. 

But we suppose in the heat of the moment, many players probably aren’t thinking logically. More than 100 contestants wind up with fallen towers, so even some individuals who lost theirs end up advancing. Consider this one a good parallel to “The Tortoise and the Hare.” Slow and steady sometimes does win the race. 

From the first episode, it’s clear “Beast Games” is more about human psychology than anything related to physical strength. The final challenge for this episode is another bribe. MrBeast divides contestants into more rows, and he offers an increasing bribe for every turn. One person from each grouping can accept the bribe, but if they do, their entire row is eliminated. One person gets to take home some money while those who were perhaps a bit too trusting leave empty-handed.

No one takes the initial $10,000 offer, but once that increases to $20,000, someone takes it to the dismay of their teammates. The bribe then increases to $50,000 and then $80,000, with more and more people taking the offer as it keeps getting higher. The final offer is $100,000, and by the end of it all, 112 people leave, bringing the total number of remaining players to 493. Over half of the players who were there at the start of the episode are now gone.

It’s a fascinating social experiment, especially with the final row to get eliminated. The episode really hones in on one particular row made up of people who appear to trust one another completely. However, someone on that team betrays that trust. These people probably didn’t know each other before the games started, and at the end of the day, you can’t really blame people for prioritizing themselves when potentially life-changing money is on offer.

Episode 2 opens with the remaining players moving into Beast City, a custom-built neighborhood specifically designed to house people and play games. And things get brutal quickly. People must choose tokens that dictate what kind of game they’ll play. The first one involves everyone with that particular token getting divided into groups of two. Each group goes into a room where a ball is dropped. If said ball hits the floor, that entire group gets eliminated, and there’s actually a bit of controversy with this game. 

It goes by quickly, with one group dropping the fourth ball that comes down. However, MrBeast and the guards review the footage and discover that the team they thought had won the match-up actually allowed a ball to drop the very first try. With cameras everywhere, nothing escapes MrBeast’s watchful eye.

The joy from the initial “winning” team quickly changes to dismay as they realize one contestant messed up. It’s a reversal of fortune and a good demonstration of how anything is possible on “Beast Games.” At the end of this game, 62 people are shown the exit, leaving 431 contestants still in play.

The next game follows the contestants who had the token with the phrase “Less is more.” Surprise: It’s another self-elimination challenge, something MrBeast seems particularly fond of. Players get divided into two teams — the Green Team and the White Team — and the group with the fewest people remaining through others eliminating themselves gets to move on. The team with the most players left goes home.

Neither team knows how many players the other side has let go, but MrBeast makes sure each group has a phone so they can call each other to talk things over. Manipulation is the name of the game here, as both sides reach a tentative agreement to end in a tie and bring it to a tiebreaker match.

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, both sides decide to drop more people after the compromise has been reached. The White Team has four people leave, with three individuals leaving the Green Team. That means 65 people exited the game at this point, leaving only 366 competitors in play.

The next token reads “Get ready to throw down.” We’re back to actual games as the two teams must play a giant version of beer pong (sans any beer). Each individual player gets a huge ball to throw into a giant red cup. Each successful throw results in one point for the team, and the team with the most points by the end advances to the next round. 

It sounds easy enough, but MrBeast brings another social experiment into the mix. After a few tosses, he rolls out a gold cup. Players can now either aim for the red cup to score a point for their team or try to get it into the gold cup, which won’t give them a point, but the individual contestant will win $250,000. It appears as though a few contestants try to aim for the gold cup (although they would never admit that or risk the wrath of their teammates). 

The Pink Team emerges victorious, with the 61 players on the White Team going home. This brings the remaining count to 305. 

The challenges so far in “Beast Games” Episode 2 have dealt with luck and physical strength. The final group must use their intellect, as this challenge involves trivia. Once more, people with specific tokens get divided into two groups and are further segmented into pairings that go down to MrBeast to answer a trivia question. A correct answer nabs the entire team a point, and the team with the most points by the end wins. 

Both teams are pretty smart, and there are numerous rounds where they each get the correct answer, but the White Team makes some pretty egregious errors. When asked what two planets don’t have any moons, they list “Pluto” as one of them, despite it not being classified as a planet anymore. A few more mistakes like that, and all 63 members of the White Team wind up going home. 

“Beast Games” is left with 242 contestants remaining, now less than a quarter from where it started. And while four intense games may have been enough for one episode, MrBeast has one more surprise for everyone.

By the end of Episode 2, there are four teams who have already survived one match-up. Next, MrBeast asks each of those four teams to select a captain. He’s going to offer each captain ridiculously high bribes. If they take the bribe, they go home with some money, but everyone else on their team goes home with nothing. Again, it’s an exercise in trust, especially since the teams decide who the captain is, meaning they have to select a stranger they find trustworthy. 

It’s incredibly interesting to hear the potential captains put themselves forward, explaining to the others why they wouldn’t stab their teammates in the back. At this point, people should really anticipate MrBeast throwing wrenches into the plans, because after the captains assume their positions, he lets them know that if they choose to take some money, they won’t be eliminated, just everyone else on their team. So, theoretically, they could go home with a bunch of money automatically and still fight for that $5 million prize. 

The episode ends before reaching the conclusion of the challenge, but, remarkably, no one ends up taking the bribe, which reaches $1 million. It’s an incredible demonstration of integrity, and no players get eliminated.

Putting your fate into someone else’s hands is undoubtedly stressful, so MrBeast offers a reprieve for the first challenge of “Beast Games” Episode 3. Everyone divides up into groups of three. While no team gets eliminated in this challenge, the winning team gets some perks, namely a chance to stay in the much nicer T-Mobile VIP house during their stay in Beast City, as well as a secret gift that would only be revealed after the race. 

It seems like a lot of people just kind of goofed around with the potato sack race since nothing was (seemingly) on the line. However, there was naturally a victorious team consisting of players 351, 435, and 514. Staying in a VIP house is nice, but the real joy is them learning they have immunity in the next challenge. The idea of immunity should be old news to any “Survivor” fans out there, as winning immunity has resulted in some of the best “Survivor” moments of all time. 

The hammer comes down after the race when the players learn they’ll have to say goodbye to at least some of the friends they’ve made. The potato sack race was just a ploy to get people to form teams of three with whoever they liked most, and that makes the next challenge one of the most painful of the series so far.

Immediately following the sack race, the guards escort the teams to a room filled with red cubes. Each team is led into a cube where they must decide who from their group of three must go home. In the event they can’t determine which one person will go home, then all three become eliminated. The cube contains a phone allowing them to request “any item in the world” and a pair of handcuffs for the eliminated player to chain themselves to the inside.

This is when “Beast Games” becomes almost unbearable to watch. Some contestants start crying right away, forced to choose between themselves and the people they’ve grown close to over the course of the competition. For most, it’s an impossible decision, so many resort to requesting games like Monopoly and Jenga to make the decision for them, with the loser staying behind. For others, they decide to have a bit of fun before saying goodbye to their buddies. Some of the more outrageous requests include a horse, puppies, a tattoo artist, and princess dresses. 

But the fun could only last so long. Some groups resort to cheating and manipulation, and even one of the captains who turned down $1 million in Episode 2’s challenge ends up getting handcuffed. 94 contestants go home. That means just 148 people are left with a shot of nabbing the $5 million prize. 

Following the cubes, MrBeast brings out a gold box, with whatever’s inside going to whomever touches the box first. Many of the players believe it’ll be something bad. On the contrary: It’s a ticket to go to Beast Island. The guy who takes a chance and touches it (player 406) gets to take five other people with him to the $1.8 million island, including his brother and a captain who turned down $1 million previously. 

There are 54 more spots on the island. After the one that was in the aforementioned box, MrBeast announces that the next ticket is hidden somewhere in Beast City, and whoever finds it first will also go to the island with five more people of their choosing. Everyone starts scattering, but the episode ends before there’s any resolution, meaning viewers will need to tune in for Episode 4 to see who the lucky scavenger is.