Deadly Game: Difference between revisions
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[[File:pic-katniss-jennifer-lawrence-hunger-games-602x450 1749.jpg|link=The Hunger Games (film)|frame|[[Gil Scott-Heron|The lacerations will be televised.]]]]
{{quote|''"The ultimate game show would be one where the losing contestant was killed."''
|'''[[Chuck Barris]]''', creator of ''[[The Gong Show]]'' among others.}}
The [[Game Show Appearance]] from Hell. The characters are forced to compete in a dangerous contest where assault, battery, and even murder are either encouraged or actually the objective of the game. Tends to lend itself better to film than television, since a filmmaker can kill off characters with impunity.
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{{examples}}
== [[Anime]]
* Episode 2 of ''[[Weiss Kreuz]]'' does this with a game of "Human Chess" that doesn't particularly resemble chess, but which does involve forcing competitors to fight one another to death.
* [[Manipulative Bastard|Kabuto]] pulls this in one chapter of ''[[Naruto]]''. Basically tells a bunch of random ninja in his prison to kill each other and whoever's alive at the end goes free. He was lying though, as his plan was to quickly find who was strongest and [[Grand Theft Me|Orochimaru steals the winner's body]].
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** In the novel and ''real'' manga, it's ostensibly a "military experiment", so the Defense Forces of Greater East Asia will study the strategies and improvisations used by civilians under stress. Not much of the Program is revealed publicly apart from causes of death and the bloody, smiling winner; and parents are encouraged to view it as an unique form of military conscription and a patriotic duty. In the end, Sakamochi/Kitano says that this is all bullshit and the Program just a way for the dictatorship to terrorize their population into obedience.
* ''[[Deadman Wonderland]]'' is based around this.
* Played with in an issue of an early ''[[The King of Fighters]]'' manga. [[Power Trio|Kyo, Daimon and Benimaru]] have to battle [[Amazon Brigade|Mai, Yuri and King]] in the streets of Tokyo not to save their own lives, but {{spoiler|to save Kyo's kidnapped girlfriend Yuki, locked in an hotel room that contains a time bomb.}} The only way {{spoiler|her kidnappers will tell Kyo and Co. where poor Yuki is before so they can rescue her before she's blown into
* ''[[Underdog (manga)|Underdog]]'' features a year-long tournament, wherein the goal is to be the sole survivor of the 200 participants that initially entered. In each round, a player wins by killing their opponent through indirect means only (meaning that they can't directly injure their opponent, confine them in a way that causes their death, or hire others to kill them.) Otherwise, anything goes.
* The manga ''[[Enigme
* The manga ''[[Cry Eye]]''.{{context}}
* The manga ''[[Btooom!]]
* In the MMO game ''[[Sword Art Online]]'', players can't log off once they are in the game and they have to win in order to survive.
* In ''[[Eden of the East]]'', Akira, along with 11 other people, become players in a game where the goal is to {{spoiler|"become the savior" of Japan}}, armed with ten billion yen, a strange cell phone and a mysterious woman named Juiz who can make anything happen for a price. {{spoiler|If someone uses their money in a way that is deemed "unfit" to saving Japan, they end up dragging their feet and being too passive, or if the player runs out of money, then they are "eliminated" from the game.}}
** Subverted {{spoiler|when it's revealed the players aren't actually killed but have their memories erased. The Selecao that actually did die was a coincidence due to [[Death by Woman Scorned]].}}
* Similarly, ''[[Mirai Nikki]]''. 12 people have magic diaries that can predict the future. The winner gets to become god. The winner wins by being the last person standing. ''Anything is allowed.''
== [[Comic Books]] ==▼
* Sort of mentioned in a
▲== Comic Books ==
* In ''[[Ultimate Marvel]]'', Krakoa is an island where mutant criminals are hunted down as a televised (and/or online) series. The X-Men end up there twice, and one time Spider-Man gets pulled along with them.▼
▲* Sort of mentioned in a story arc of ''[[Wolverine]]'' by Frank Tieri. It featured a version of Survivor set in Alaska. When an ancient francophile vampire wizard showed up and started killing the contestants, the network boss thought it made a great show that could boost the slipping sales. If only the vampire could contain himself and would only eat the people voted off...
* ...and
▲* In [[Ultimate Marvel]], Krakoa is an island where mutant criminals are hunted down as a televised (and/or online) series. The X-Men end up there twice, and one time Spider-Man gets pulled along with them.
▲* ...and, of course, Mojo's Mojoworld, where the X-Men ended up anytime somebody wanted to make fun of television. Arcade's Murderworld also fits the bill, usually involving some kind of giant pinball machine. For the record? Mojo is a morbidly obese blob with mechanical spider legs and Arcade wears a leisure suit. You decide which is more repulsive.
* The ''[[Lobo]]'' story "Unamerican Gladiators" features a deadly game show taking part on a planet that was a gigantic violence-themed theme park. The contestants had to complete a number of tasks, trying to kill each other while avoiding deadly traps... as well as answer some quiz questions to win valuable prizes.
* Showed up on at least three separate occasions in ''[[Judge Dredd]]''.
* Showed up on at least three separate occasions in ''[[Judge Dredd]]''; one early story featured an underground game show entitled 'You Bet Your Life' where stupid, greedy saps wagered the lives of their closest loved ones (and their own) on trivia questions. A later story had a failed game show host put his old rivals through a crazy contest with endless fatal results "Congratulations! You win a golden bullet!" BAM! A third story saw a quiz show where a contestant's correct answers would let him to pick a number between 1 and 10 which would spring a booby trap in his rival contestant's own city block, one of the numbers triggering a flesh disintegrator planted beneath their own seat; the show's host didn't particularly care if correct answers were actually given though and would let contestants pick a number, anyway.▼
** One early story featured an underground game show entitled 'You Bet Your Life' where stupid, greedy saps wagered the lives of their closest loved ones (and their own) on trivia questions.
** Note that actual '''wars''' between cities in ''[[Judge Dread]]'' are sometimes conducted as a Deadly Game between small teams of Judges representing each city, as a less-destructive alternative to nuking still more of the planet. Such wars are always televised, complete with running sportscaster-style commentary.▼
** A later story had a failed game show host put his old rivals through a crazy contest with endless fatal results. "Congratulations! You win a golden bullet!" BAM!
▲*
▲** Note that actual '''wars''' between cities in ''
* ''[[Deadpool]]: Games of Death'' sends the merc with a mouth on a retrieval mission on an underground game show where contestants fight for their survival against the daily challenges, as well as the deadly traps contained within.
*
{{quote|"This game show, banned in every state except [[Where the Hell Is Springfield?|our state]] and, of course, Utah, will soon send three convicts, two mental patients, a homeless guy, a circus freak and [[The Last of These Is Not Like the Others|one lazy couch potato]] to unspeakable and untimely deaths. In [[Kent Brockman News|this reporter's opinion]], just the touch of
* In ''[[Batman
* Zigzagged in a ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' comic where Lola enters the "Delivery Girl of the Millennium" pageant. The host says that it originally consisted of wild, ravenous bears unleashed on the contestants, with the last survivor crowned winner - Lola and the other contestants are understandably scared by this idea. But he quickly adds that this is no longer the case and begins the talent competition. However, the last part of the pageant seems to play it straight with an "Delivery Route of Death", an obstacle course with flaming pits, live alligators, and blade traps; oddly, the contestants seem fine with ''this'' idea.
==
* The film adaptations of ''[[Battle Royale]]'' and ''[[The Hunger Games (film)|The Hunger Games]]''.
* ''Series 7: The Contenders'' uses the reality show device.
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* A voluntary version occurs in ''[[wikipedia:The 10th Victim|The 10th Victim]]''.
* This is the premise of the ''[[Death Race]]''.
* The 2009 movie ''[[Gamer]]'' starring Gerard Butler. Death row convicts can allow themselves to be implanted with Nanomachines that allow someone else to control their motor functions. If that someone else is good enough to make it through
* ''[[The Tournament]]'' has world-class assassins competing for the top spot.
* ''13 Tzameti'' features competitive Russian Roulette.
* "Capture the flag" is usually a safe activity, but the way [[Percy Jackson]] and his contemporaries play it, is anything but, seeing how the playing field is a forest full of vicious monsters and participants use swords.
* ''[[The Running Man (film)|The Running Man]]'' : See entry under Literature for details.
* The German TV movie "Das Millionenspiel" ([[Older Than the NES|from 1970!]]) is about a man who has to survive seven days while being hunted by a gang of killers. Prize if he survives: One million German marks. The population can help him or rat him out, as they like. Some people took the film for real and asked whether they could become either the candidate or the hunters. Unfortunately, for legal reasons the movie was forbidden to be broadcast for almost thirty years (had to do with being based on the [[Short Story]] "The Prize of Peril" by Robert Sheckley.)
* ''Death Row Game Show'': Prisoners on death-row compete in deadly games for a chance at a reprieve.
* ''[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286975/ Slashers]'', about a Japanese game show producing an All-American special episode. Contestants entered a maze-like paintball course, converted for ambiance, to try to outlive three [[Axe Crazy]], [[Evil Is Hammy|crowd-pleasing]] professional maniacs. The one and only camera was also a character, the game show's cameraman, provoking a lot of [[Genre Savvy]] observations whenever the contestants became aware of him.
* The 2011 film ''[[Freerunner]]'' has this when Mr Frank intervenes the game.
* ''[[Panic Button]]''; a movie involving a setup that might occur if [[Saw|Jigsaw]] hosted game shows.
== [[Literature]] ==▼
* The short science fiction story
▲== Literature ==
▲* The short science fiction story ''Survivor,'' by Walter F. Moudy, is set during the 2050 Olympic War Games between the US and Russia. The games are designed to make clear the horrors of war to the public, and are therefore televised. 100 soldiers on each side, with rifles, machine guns and mortars, are placed in a large camera-laced arena with battlefield terrain such as forests, hills and a lake, and must fight it out until all of one side is killed. The titular survivors are hailed as heroes, and the loser pays restitution to the winner. The broadcasters use color commentary, closeups, and special tech, much like sports. "Here's Private John Smith of Columbus, Ohio, a graduate of Johnson High School, running towards base -- ooh, he just got shot! Let's watch on slow-motion -- yes, you can see the bullet going into his throat, and our super-microphone confirms that his heart is no longer beating. Any comments, Jim?" "Well, it's obvious the Russians have slipped a sniper team in on the left flank, Bob, and that could be bad for Squad Two..."
** The creepy part is what happens to the "Survivor". His reward is to be not bound by any of the laws of his country, but he's still protected by them. The story ends with one of the viewers hearing his daughter be another casualty of war.
* The short story "All the King's Horses" by [[Kurt Vonnegut]] centers on a group of 16 POW's and family members. The group's captor forces them to play chess for their lives, with themselves as the white pieces; every "piece" captured during the game is immediately dragged away and executed.
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** Richard Bachman, the author of ''[[The Running Man (novel)|The Running Man]]'', had written an earlier novel (''[[The Long Walk]]'') centered on the Deadly Game trope. (Bachman was actually [[Stephen King]] writing under a pseudonym.)
** It's quite possible that King was inspired by [[Robert Sheckley]]'s short story ''The Prize of Peril'' which both embodied this trope ''and'' impressively predicted the rise of reality television all the way back in 1958.
* More or less the point of the book ''[[Battle Royale]]'' and the film and manga based on it, in which randomly-selected junior-high-school classes were singled out by [[The Government]], brought to an isolated island, and forced to fight each other to the death.
** Replace "random junior-high-school classes" with "dangerous convicts", and you have the plot of the Ray Liotta vehicle ''[[No Escape]]''.
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** The basic plot is more or less similar to ''[[Battle Royale]]'' (but it's a coincidence, as the author only learned of the Japanese one as she delivered it to the publisher).
* In the ''[[Geronimo Stilton]]'' book "Watch Your Whiskers, Geronimo!" the main character goes on a late-night game show called The Mousetrap, where contestants are strapped to a large mouse trap that snaps shut whenever they give a wrong answer. Since this is a children's series, the worst that will happen is Geronimo might lose his tail, which is still a pretty bad outcome, as far as Geronimo's concerned.
* ''Friday the 13th: The Jason Strain'', a ''[[Friday the 13th (film)|Friday the 13th
** Though the ''Extreme Elimination 2'' plotline is later [[Halfway Plot Switch|randomly dumped]] in favor of [[Zombie Apocalypse|a zombie-centric]] one.
* In an [[Anthony Horowitz]] short story, there was a reality quiz show where contestants had to answer trivia questions. If you got one wrong, you were killed in a rather gruesome way. {{spoiler|But that's not the real show. The real show was a contest to see who could kill the winner and take his prize money.}}
* ''The Big Question'', a book written by [[Chuck Barris]], is about a game show where a group of people are asked questions about their chosen area of expertise, and when it comes down to one contestant, they're asked the titular Big Question; if they get it wrong, they are killed via lethal injection. {{spoiler|The premiere is heavily rigged, because nobody's going to watch it if they don't immediately prove they'll actually kill someone. The questions are favored towards a little old lady named Vera Bundle, and after missing the final question (an unanswerable open-ended one about the length of the Great Wall of China), she's killed. The show's canceled two weeks later.}}
* From ''[[Percy Jackson]]'' novels; "capture the flag" is usually not a Deadly Game, but the way it is done at Camp Half-Blood by Percy and his peers (where they use actual weapons, most of them magical, and the game is played in a forest full of monsters) might qualify. Technically, the players are ''not'' allowed to kill opponents, and there is a medic on duty, but seeing as the only "penalty" for breaking that rule is no dessert for a week, it might happen occasionally.
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==▼
▲== Live-Action TV ==
* The entire premise of ''[[Inquizition]]''
* The ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S27/E12 Bad Wolf|Bad Wolf]]" did this with parodies of popular British [[Reality Show]]s set in 200,100 AD, including a version of ''[[Big Brother]]'' where a contestant who is voted out of the house actually gets disintegrated, and a version of ''[[The Weakest Link]]'' with the same punishment for elimination {{spoiler|-- or so it seems; it turns out to be a [[Fate Worse Than Death]] (being killed and having your genetic material used for Daleks)}}. Although these have been interpreted as [[Deconstruction]] by fans, creator [[Russell T. Davies]] is known to be a fan of reality TV, and the episodes are more of an [[Affectionate Parody]].
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* The 2003 version of ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'' featured an episode promptly titled "How Much Do You Love Your Son?" in which a reality show kidnaps a woman's son and said mother has to track down the kidnapper before it's too late. The twist is that {{spoiler|the woman's ex-husband was the kidnapper and was in on the whole thing. The trauma she suffered from the game prompts her to shoot him, causing her to win but now have to use the prize money for an attorney}}.
* The ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' Digital Short [https://web.archive.org/web/20091223040335/http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/clips/digital-short-tizzle-wizzle-show/1187092/ "The Tizzle Wizzle Show"] combines this with [[Subverted Kids Show]]. It involves giving the [[Excited Kids' Show Host|kid show hosts]] knives, drugging them, turning off the lights and then fighting to the death until one is left standing. Apparently, the hosts enjoy and willingly play the game.
** Another SNL skit featuring Chris Farley parodied Japanese game shows. It seemed to be just a Japanese counterpart to ''[[Jeopardy!]]'', with three contestants being asked questions by a host. However, it turns out that if you get the question wrong, you have to kill yourself. Farley's character, a [[Fish Out of Water]] American who doesn't understand
* The ''[[Sliders]]'' episode "Rules of the Game" finds our heroes competing in a dangerous adventure-quest-type game show where the losers die.
* The [[Tokusatsu]] show ''[[Kamen Rider Ryuki]]'' was all about this: An unwilling Hero, an [[Anti-Hero]], an [[Action Girl]] and a bunch of [[Jerkass]]es are drawn into an [[Alternate Universe|alternate dimension]] populated with
** Ironically, the American adaptation ''[[Kamen Rider Dragon Knight]]'' is more true to the genre than it is to its source material, reverting back to the "[[Henshin Hero]]es fighting monsters to save the world" theme. It also keeps one of the best aspects of Ryuki - each Rider having his own story and each desiring to gain something different by participating. What each one thinks the battle between Riders really is differs from Rider to Rider. (At least one thinks he's [[Fight Clubbing]].) In truth, {{spoiler|the bad guy has almost all of the Rider decks. Each only works for its designated user, so he has to get the Earthen doubles of the Riders of his dimension to fight for him, usually by either trickery, or messing with their lives behind the scenes and then sweeping in to offer them the only way out.}}
* ''[[Russian Roulette (TV series)|Russian Roulette]]'': A game show in which four contestants competed in a last-player-standing quiz contest. Each player stands on one of the six trap doors on the circular floor. A player who misses a multiple-choice question must play Russian Roulette, by pulling a lever to spin the "Drop Zones", to stay in the game.
* Theoretically, the real life game show ''[[Downfall (TV series)|Downfall]]'' could have been played off like one (they managed to get Chris Jericho to host too!), had they not tried to avert it as much as possible and point out they were not trying to be evil.
** However, what ABC put into the "post-''[[Wipeout 2008|Wipeout]]'' slot" one year later is [[101 Ways to Leave a Game Show|a lot more justifiable as a deadly game]], or at least something that's so overly ridiculous that it can easily be played off as one.
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* Also in ''[[Blake's 7]]'', the episode "Death-Watch" features a one-on-one duel to the death conducted between representatives of two planets who use the duels as a substitute for all-out interplanetary war. The events are broadcast widely, and of course nobody could possibly want to interfere with them for their own political gain.
* "The Tale of the Forever Game" in ''[[Are You Afraid of the Dark?]]''.
* Intentionally invoked in the French made-for-TV documentary ''[[wikipedia:Le Jeu de la Mort|Le Jeu de la Mort]]'', which frames a conduction of Stanley Milgram's famous experiment on peer influence under the guise of a pilot for a [[Game Show]] [[Show Within a Show|Within A Show]] ''La Zone Xtrême''. The test subjects (under the promise of receiving €40 for participating), as with the original test, were to administer increasingly powerful shocks to the contestant for answering questions wrong, ranging from "mild buzz" to "lethal". This time, unlike the original, the subject was prodded on by both the host ''and'' the audience to deliver the shocks to the contestant (who, again as with the original, was just a trained actor). Out of the
* The Japanese game show ''[[DERO]]!'' was played off as one, albeit with tongue firmly in cheek - contestants who lost a round were talked about as if they had just died, but the "deaths" were blatantly fake (and this was quite clearly intentional), and everyone would appear back on camera after the round without so much as a scratch (except for the Water Room leaving players soaking wet). Each game had its own way in which contestants could "die" and lose the round, such as having the [[Malevolent Architecture]] dump them into a [[Bottomless Pit]] made of [[Conspicuous CG]], or cutting the wrong wire in a [[Wire Dilemma]] and being "blown up" with a blast of CO<sub>2</sub> smoke effects.
* The Edgar Allen Poe Cup in ''[[Wednesday]]''. While nobody dies during the race in the episode and it is not stated whether that has ever happened, it seems very likely it could. The participants can use any means at their disposal during the race to hinder the other teams, one team even arming their canoe with mechanized battle-axes and another ([[The Rival|Bianca's]] team) having a member of her clique attack the other teams' boats from underwater. This is, incidentally, far from the ''most'' dangerous hazard Wednesday faces at Nevermore Academy.
* In ''[[Power Rangers: Ninja Steel]]'', an intergalactic gladiator show called ''Galaxy Warriors'' is an essential part of the plot. The [[Big Bad]] (of season one, anyway), was Galvanax, the undefeated champion of the show; his goal was to gain the Ninja Nexus Stars, which are sealed in the Nexus Prism, and only could be claimed by someone worthy enough to have it - he did not fit the bill. With a lot of influence on the production of the game show, he fixed it so that the reward for making it to the final round (which required defeating the Rangers) is a chance to take the Stars from the Prism. Galvanax figures someone will eventually prove able to do so, and then he could claim them by defeating the finalist in the final round. (Of course, this whole plan was flawed due to [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good|his complete misunderstanding of what “worthy” means]].) This incidentally meant the Rangers were technically contestants and {{spoiler|due to [[Killed Off For Real| what happens to Galvanax in the season one finale]], the new champions - without even knowing it.}}
== [[Music]] ==▼
▲== Music ==
* [[GWAR]]: With a battle cry go forth which is "Give the people what they want." And what the people want could only be the senseless slaughter of the gutter-slime that litters this nation for cash and prizes. Yes, this is the show where people bet their lives to win something big. 'cause when your life is shit, then you haven't got much to lose on Slaughterama!
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==▼
▲== Newspaper Comics ==
* In the ''[[Modesty Blaise (comic strip)|Modesty Blaise]]'' arc "Those About to Die", elite athletes and combatants (including Modesty and Willie) are kidnapped by an insane millionaire and forced to compete in gladiatorial games for his amusement.
== [[Recorded and Stand Up Comedy]] ==
* Side Two of
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''Suerte y Muerte'' is a Deadly Game television series broadcast out of Aztlan in the ''[[Shadowrun]]''
* In 5th Edition ''[[Ravenloft]]'', the Trial of Heart in the domain of [[Hungry Jungle| Valachan]]. This is a sort of ritual sacrifice done on the night on, preceding, and following the full moon devised by Chukuna, [[Evil Overlord| the realm’s Darklord]], to appease the dark entities she made a pact with that made her Darklord (a burden she willingly accepted in order to protect her people, making her something of a [[Noble Demon]]). Once Chukuna choses the 15 participants (you’re not allowed to refuse, [[Fisher Queen| she is the Darklord after all]]), they are taken to her home at the Panthara Lodge where [[Affably Evil| she politely explains the rules]]. Basically, each player or small team of players must vacate the Lodge at dawn and make it to one of the two shrines located on opposite sides of Valachan, and survive until Chukuna confirms the winners. Of course, this is not easy. Valachan is a place where [[Everything Is Trying to Kill You]] (by Chukura's command, no less) including savage, hungry beasts, wicked hags and fey, and carnivorous plants, along with the other competitors, and starting at dusk of the first day, Chukuna herself, and she is a huntress who knows no equal. (Plus [[Our Werebeasts Are Different|a were-leopard]], a big reason why she holds the Trial on [[Lunacy|the nights of the full moon]].) She promises that the winners will be allowed to leave Valachan, something most visitors want to do but can only do so if she allows it. Everyone else dies horribly, their bodies left to rot. Note that the guidebook does not say she won't break the promise, nor does it say she will respect the rules. Whether Chukuna is a [[Fair Play Villain]] or a dirty cheater and liar is entirely up to the GM, as her personality is, like all the Darklords, easily mutable to fit the campaign.
==
* The entirety of ''[[Ratchet and Clank|Ratchet]]: Deadlocked'' is a deadly
* ''[[Smash TV]]'' has the players blasting their way through a maze filled with hordes of [[Mooks]] and [[Humongous Mecha|gigantic cyborg bosses]], all in the name of earning mountains of cash and fabulous prizes. Yay, a new VCR!
* One level of ''Sanity: Aiken's Artifact'' has the main character forced to compete on a gameshow called "Trivia Insanity", where "One Wrong Answer, and You're Dead!". Two of the four contestants (the main character himself being one) are obviously there against their will, but the third one is actually determined to win the game, and is there of his own will. The fourth is the magician you get to meet at the end of the boss fight, and he's given easy questions.
* The last level in ''[[Banjo-Kazooie]]'' for the Nintendo 64, Grunty's Furnace Fun, has a lethal board game motif. The sequel, ''Banjo-Tooie'', had a quiz show motif with Gruntilda and her sisters playing against the heroes; the losers got [[Anvil on Head|a weight dropped on them]].
* ''[[Dead Rising 2]]'' features Terror Is Reality, a pay-per-view game show which is essentially [[American Gladiators]] or [[Takeshi's Castle]] is all the events revolved around killing zombies. It's also the name of a multiplayer mode based on said game show where players can transfer their winnings to their save files. It’s not just an all-out brawl either, they have some very creative events, like [[Cool Bike| Slicycles]], where players rode a motorcycle equipped with chainsaw blades, and Ramster Ball (kind of like the Atlasphere event on ''American Gladiators'', but here, the idea is to run the zombies over). Recruiting players was incredibly easy, they simply offered applications to [[Revenge| people whose family and friends had been killed or converted by zombies]]. The game was as campy and cheesy as any game show, with an exuberant host and sexy models as hostesses, and the game became a smash hit that even brought in merchandising deals! Unfortunately, not only was this one of many reasons Pheonotrans was secretly trying to prolong the outbreak, they got a lot of criticism from groups like C.U.R.E. who claimed the show was exploiting creatures that should be considered victims rather than monsters - not an unreasonable view.
* ''[[The World Ends With You]]'' has the Reapers' Game, where {{spoiler|recently deceased}} teenagers have to complete seven tasks over seven days in order to win a shot at {{spoiler|[[Back from the Dead|resurrection]]}}. Failure means that [[Deader Than Dead|their existence is erased]]. Meanwhile, the Reapers try to hunt the players down in order to gain points for themselves and extend their lifespan.
* This is the [[Excuse Plot]] in ''[[The Ship]]'', an online multiplayer FPS. Basically, you're on a ship and a crazy guy in a mask pays you to kill your shipmates while being hunted down yourself.
** Also present in [[Spiritual Successor]] ''[[Bloody Good Time]]'', with [[Ax Crazy|the Director]] having actors "compete" for the lead role.
* In ''[[Blast Chamber]]'' for the [[
* In ''Jets'n'Guns'', there is a level in which the player has to fight through a level full of enemies to entertain the viewers of Carnage TV. There is a scene in which the announcer says that 100 viewers had won the special opportunity to be slain by the hero; when the player ship meets them, they even cheer and wave signs reading "Kill me".
* The premise of ''[[MadWorld]]'', centering around an [[Rated "M" for Money|ultra]]-[[Gorn|violent]] deathmatch game show.
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** ''[[Quake III Arena]]'' uses a similar premise.
* ''[[The Killing Game Show]]'', whose premise is [[All There in the Manual]] for those who know it as ''[[Fatal Rewind]]''.
* The Nonary Game in ''[[Nine Hours, Nine Persons,
** {{spoiler|Flipped on its head come [[The Reveal]] - only two of the nine players actually have bombs, and the game is designed for all players to make it out alive while saving Akane from an actual Deadly Game in the process.}}
* ''[[The Devil Inside (video game)|The Devil Inside]]''.
* The visual novel game ''[[Killer Queen]]''.
* ''[[Saints Row
* Present as a gag (in the form of a radio commercial) in ''[[Grand Theft Auto III]]
{{quote|"Tonight...the TV event that will make history...Liberty City Survivor! This takes reality TV to a whole new level! We'll take 20 recently paroled guys, equip them with grenade launchers and flamethrowers...and let them hunt each other down!! It's the reality show where you...just might be...part of the action!!"}}
* The Killing Games in ''[[Danganronpa]]'', even more so with the revelation that they ''are'' being broadcast, internationally even.
* In ''usr/bin/w00t'', Sarah leads one of those in a [[Dream Sequence]], featuring people who are "asshats" to computer techs.
* ''[[Last Res0rt]]'' centers around a [[Reality Show]] of the same name.
** [[Word of God]] says that players' deaths, while advertised as a selling point, are merely "encouraged" by the rules of the show (which specify that anyone who survives the season will be pardoned of all their crimes, including those committed during the show).
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20190717190935/http://www.tnemrot.com/ Domain Tnemrot] is set around one of these. The battles are to the death.
* In ''[[Dead Winter]]'', a large group of rich people is apparently behind a game of world-renowned assassins hunting each other for sport, with the assassins and their sponsors getting the bounty when they kill on of the other participants. Apparently not all of the assassins are in the game because they want to be.
* In ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20130719183412/http://www.drunkduck.com/Jix/ Jix]'', Lauren is abducted by the Amblians (a race similar to Jix's race, the Ambis) for a galactic show called "The Gauntlet" where the contestants are unwilling aliens captured from various planets and hunted down by the hosts. The show was cancelled when Jix came in to rescue her friend.
== [[Web Originals]] ==
▲== Web Originals ==
* The [[Survival of the Fittest]] program in ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'', which is very similar to that of ''[[Battle Royale]]'' but with slightly different rules. For example, no time limit as long as there's a death every 24 hours, the names of killers are given on the announcements, and there's a different collar design.
* Quite a few Original Character Tournaments are based around this sort of game show. The tournaments themselves are actually quite similar to this trope in some respects.
* [[SCP Foundation]]-[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-024 024] is a mysterious game show whose losers are never seen again. Even winners don't escape unscathed; the Foundation discovered it in the first place after one of the winners (who was injured, scared, and on the verge of going insane) turned herself in.
== [[Western Animation]] ==▼
▲== Western Animation ==
* The entire premise of ''[[Celebrity Deathmatch]]''.
* The ''[[Justice League]]'' episode "Wild Cards," in which [[The Joker]] hides time bombs all throughout the Las Vegas Strip and uses hidden cameras to film the League racing to find them while simultaneously fighting the Royal Flush Gang.
* Daffy Duck hosts
* ''[[Rick and Morty]]'' takes this [[Up To Eleven]] with ''Just Music'', a reality show orchestrated by [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien|
* Zigzagged in ''[[Gravity Falls]]'' with Globnar, a type of [[Trial by Combat]] used by inhabitants of the future period ruled by Time Baby. Death isn't ''always'' the result - the winner decides the loser's fate - but it often is. The game itself is actually a wide variety of events, including many forms of gladiator fighting (both between the participants and between them and monsters), chess, cycling, wheelbarrow racing, and a hot dog eating contest.
* Zigzagged in an episode of ''[[Atomic Betty]]'' where Sparky competes in a game show called ''Space Brains'' that seems to fit the bill. It's kind of like ''[[Fear Factor]]'' but far more dangerous. However, [[Big Bad|Maximus]] purposely rigs the game to ensure that Sparky survives to the final round, as doing so is key to his plan. {{spoiler|He figures that if he asks Sparky to identify Betty's home planet during the lightning round in game show format, Sparky will reveal it. Fortunately, Sparky isn't ''that'' gullible.}}
* In ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]'', Pluck and Dizzy compete on a game show called ''That's Incredibly Stupid'', where the idea is to complete tasks you'd have to be incredibly stupid to even attempt. Round one is to compete in a demolition derby (without a car), and round two involves finding a needle in a haystack (which is set on fire and has fireworks planted inside). Plucky survives those by putting the brunt of it on Dizzy, but when told the last round is simply to judge a beauty contest, he insists on doing it himself. The host neglects to tell him that the contestants are all of the [[Hot Amazon]] type, and all are horrible [[Sore
* In the ''[[Animaniacs (2020 TV series)|Animaniacs]]'' reboot sketch "Yakko's Big Idea", a [[Show Within a Show]] the trio likes named ''Pinch Me, I'm Dreaming'' functions kind of like ''[[Shark Tank]]'' - but if the submitter's idea is stupid, the judges drop him into a flaming pit.
▲* In ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]'', Pluck and Dizzy compete on a game show called ''That's Incredibly Stupid'', where the idea is to complete tasks you'd have to be incredibly stupid to even attempt. Round one is to compete in a demolition derby (without a car), and round two involves finding a needle in a haystack (which is set on fire and has fireworks planted inside). Plucky survives those by putting the brunt of it on Dizzy, but when told the last round is simply to judge a beauty contest, he insists on doing it himself. The host neglects to tell him that the contestants are all of the [[Hot Amazon]] type, and all are horrible [[Sore Losers]]. Plucky doesn't complete this one; he was a little ''too'' stupid.
{{quote|'''Yakko:''' That's capitalism, baby!}}
* In ''[[Inside Job]]'' episode “Mole Hunt”, JR thinks he’s being promoted into the Omniscient Council of Vagueness that is in charge of Cognito Inc. In truth, he has to compete for the promotion in a game like this, where he and the other applicants must survive an “insidious maze full of deadly traps and sinister creations.” JR actually likes the idea, not just for the “diabolical twist” but because one of the other applicants is his hated rival - [[Oprah Winfrey]].
* The Pain Games in the ''[[Helluva Boss]]'' episode "Harvest Moon Festival". Millie's parents are wary of her participating, as last year's ended with 15 fatalities. Millie objects, [[Right for the Wrong Reasons|saying she "only" caused 9 of them.]]
▲* Side Two of the [[Firesign Theatre]]'s ''Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him'' album includes a sketch of a game show called "Beat the Reaper", in which the contestant must identify the deadly disease he's been injected with in time to receive the antidote before it kills him.
* In the ''[[Harley Quinn (TV series)|Harley Quinn]]'' episode "Icons Only", Harley seems a little ''too'' eager to participate in the deadly games held at the villain-exclusive casino. First she goes to a table where the game is [[Russian Roulette]] and pulls the trigger ''three times'' with the gun pointed at her head (she wins, the player who goes after her loses) and then she joins in on the death battle in the main room, partnering with Weasel in a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken%20fight "chicken game"] style [[Duel to the Death]] against Bouncing Boy. Again, she wins.
== [[Real Life]] ==
* The gladiatorial matches of Ancient Rome, of course.
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