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K-Drama Bingo — OK, it's not really bingo — is a review and rating site for Korean dramas. It is designed to offer you a calibrated metric to see just how 'K' your K-dramas are. We often write ongoing commentary while watching the series, but in the end we produce a final rating score based on how many classic K-drama scenes we could find. Version 1 of the rating scheme includes 23 categories worth a total of 35 points (if you include all bonus points).

The current highest-rated K-drama is My Roommate is a Gumiho, with 21 points.

Want to participate?
You can download your own K-Drama Bingo Card from the drama display page. Keep score while you're watching your favorite show! Then contact us, introduce yourself and we can set you up with an account to submit your rating!

I'm a sucker for a good Korean drama — the sappy, romantic ones especially. There are webtoon adaptations, remakes of American shows, straight-up rom-coms, period pieces, science-fiction sagas, and fantasy epics. The best K-Dramas are like the offspring of a cheesy Hallmark romance movie that encountered an existentialist French new wave film in a darkened Seoul alleyway. Draw that out to 16 full hours through endless stoic stares, very pregnant pauses, and a haunting pattern of repetition and flashback. Even the dystopian horrors are utopian manifestations of K-Dramaland.

The recurring tropes are uniquely Korean. Sure, American TV has some classic tropes: the Gay Best Friend, the New Job as the Plot Demands, etc, but how often do we see Piggyback Rides, or Bodily Possession? Never enough.

The Bingo Spaces, Explained

Learn to recognize the key components to a proper K-drama, with visual aids!

(Dis)possession (2 pts)

Screen Shot 2022 04 03 At 1.53

Ghosts, spirits inhabiting bodies, or body- or identity-swapping

Childhood friends forgotten (2 pts)

Korean Forgotten Childhood

Characters knew, or at least encountered, each other in childhood, but somehow forgot

Vehicular tragedy (2 pts)

Korean Vehicular Death Crazy Love S01E06

Someone is/was hit by a car, truck, bus, or motorcycle

Bullying (1 pt)

Korean Bullying 1

Be Best, Korea

Cartoony FX (1 pt)

Korean Animal Fx

Animal or cartoon visual and sound effects to reinforce behavior or mood

Chicken & Beer (1 pt)

Korean Chicken And Beer My Roommate Is A Gumiho E08

치맥, anyone?

Cramped quarters (1 pt)

Korean Cramped Quarters Cinderella And The Four Knights

Sleeping in a repurposed closet, or on a balcony, or in insane tiny student housing

Crushing Debt (1 pt)

Korean Crushing Debt 1

Characters are motivated by their debt (or a family member's), including the threat of foreclosure

Finger hearts (1 pt)

Korean Finger Hearts

Any use of finger hearts by a character

Korean Standoff (1 pt)

Korean Conversation Let Me Be Your Knight E11

Two principal characters have a serious, sometimes emotionally confrontational, conversation while standing at least 1m apart

Memorial service (1 pt)

Korean Memorial Service School 2022 S01E08

Funerals and memorial services

Middle-of-the-Road Soliliquy (1 pt)

Korean Soliloquy

Verbal musings on deep existential questions and/or tragicomic situations while in the middle of the street

Piggyback (1 pt)

Korean Piggyback My Roommate Is A Gumiho E01

Someone gives someone else a piggyback ride

Pinky swear (1 pt)

Korean Pinky Swear

Two characters doing a pinky swear

Touching thumbs at the end is not a thing in America (based on my terrible polling), so that gets an easy bonus point for any wannabe K-drama.

Rumble tummy (1 pt)

Korean Rumble Tummy Crazy Love S01E07 1

Audible stomach rumbling to indicate hunger

Shamans & Talismans (1 pt)

Korean Talisman All Of Us Are Dead

Yellow paper talismans, written in calligraphic red ink; visits to a shaman for fortune-telling or body transfers

Son Hyeung Min (1 pt)

Screen Shot 2021 03 26 At 11.42

Mentions of Son Hyeung Min, or staying up to watch Tottenham Hotspur play

The Playground (1 pt)

Korean Playground Let Me Be Your Knight E01

Any scene taking place in a neighborhood playground

Thumbs up (1 pt)

Korean Thumbs Up

Two thumbs up for "Good job!"

Wrist grab (1 pt)

Korean Wrist Grab Whats Wrong With Secretary Kim S09

Dramatically grabbing someone by the wrist as they walk away

강한나 (Kang Han-Na) (1 pt)

Screen Shot 2022 02 08 At 1.08

The presence of Kang Han-Na makes everything at least 1 point better

내 친구 ("My friend…") (1 pt)

Korean Friend My Roommate Is A Gumiho E05

A character tells a story about "My friend" that is actually about themselves

한국어학교 (Language lessons) (1 pt)

Korean Language School

Specifically linguistic wordplay, discussions about spelling, pronunciation, or Chinese root words

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