Poker Night at the Inventory: Difference between revisions

[[File:pokernight2_5431.jpg|frame|This isn't your ordinary game of Poker.]]

 

 

The Inventory: a former speakeasy founded against the possibility of an early draft of the 18th Amendment even more stringent than the one we know, now re-purposed as a highly exclusive club. Gaming's greatest characters settle in here during their "down-time," when their games are powered down. It's poker night, and four of gaming's greatest characters walk in to play some poker, about to bet everything they own for the sake of winning.

 

 

 

{{tropelist}}

** Even then, Strong Bad thinks that [[Pac-Man Fever|Videlectrix]] is recent, while Tycho refers to them as the 'classics.' Of course, Strong Bad's idea of state-of-the art technology is infamously backwards (any fan of the site will know Strong Bad thought his first computer was state-of-the-art because it had "two contrast knobs.")

** [[Double Subverted]] with the Iron Curtain. It's an all-new weapon for Team Fortress 2!... but is statistically identical to the default minigun, and therefore purely cosmetic.

* [[Artificial Brilliance]]: This game has some splendid AI for a poker game. In fact, all four characters have unique playing patterns.

* [[Berserk Button]]:

** Strong Bad whenever asked about his "[[Red Boxing Gloves|boxing gloves]]."

* [[Big No]]: Strong Bad will occasionally let this go when he gets eliminated.

* [[Bowdlerization]]: The Fruit Fucker from ''Penny Arcade'' appears on an unlockable table, except it's renamed as "Fruit Friend". Even if the swears are uncensored, it still appears as "Fruit Friend".

* [[Brick Joke]]: The Banang joke, which has a tendency to show up in recent Telltale games series, makes a return here. Max, obviously, doesn't take hearing the world again very well.

* [[Buffy-Speak]]: It's Strong Bad. What did you expect?

* [[Butt Monkey]]:

** If Max wins against you in 1v1 poker, he'll say it reminds him of the time Flopshark won against Flint Paper under similar circumstances. Paper apparently responded by killing Flopshark in cold blood.

** Also, if your win/loss record has more losses than wins, there is a chance that game itself will call you "Artie Flopshark, Deceased".

** [[Wallace and Gromit|Monty Muzzle]] is perusing books on the second level.

** And of course, [[Tales of Monkey Island|Winslow]] is the host.

** Trixie Trotter from the new [[Back to The Future]] game by Telltale is seen entering a secret room just as Winslow appears.

* [[Character Tics]]: After the first patch of the game, the four characters will perform certain actions (either while betting or when the community cards are dealt) which can give away what kind of hand they have. Some (like {{spoiler|Strong Bad slamming his head against the table or Tycho slapping himself}}) are obvious, while others (such as {{spoiler|Heavy's flaring nostrils or Max's twitching hands}}) are a bit more subtle.

** In keeping with his personality, Max's play style is extremely erratic, with little underlying logic behind his moves. He tends to be ''really'' good whenever he remembers that he's playing poker, though.

** The game is sometimes easier on Hard, because the characters are, on a whole, more predictable. On Normal it's almost a crap shoot. Or.. er.. a randomly-chosen card game.

* [[Covert Pervert]]: Max, at times. At one point Strong Bad asks him if there's a stack of Aces where he keeps his gun, to which Max replies "You're welcome to look" very happily. At another point he mentions how he was a very exuberant friskee: "I just thought they were being ''courteous''."

* [[Deliberately Monochrome]]: The [[Penny Arcade|Automata]] Table is not only monochrome, it turns the ''rest of the game'' monochrome so long as it's active.

* [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything]]: If you have a showdown with an opponent who has the same cards as you do, they'll comment about it.

'''Max:''' ''(if they have something like a pair of fives)'' Those are your cards, too? You're as insane as I am! }}

* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFAMTBxJ8yM The Heavy's story about the Engineer.] Given how the Heavy is telling this to three extreme sociopaths, their disgust means ''a lot.''

** Also used with Max and Tycho. Max has several different stories about [[Butt Monkey|Artie Flopshark]] getting repeatedly maimed/[[Unexplained Recovery|killed]] for doing things like [[Disproportionate Retribution|teaching people how to play poker]]. Tycho points out that it's well...''wrong'' to beat up someone for trying to raise money for charity or to keep his home from being foreclosed. [[Running Gag|But killing his best friend for a Pac-man watch?]] [[Hypocritical Humor|Totally a-ok]]!

* [[Feigning Intelligence]]

* [[Five-Man Band]]: They're not exactly on a team, but if they were:

** [[The Hero]]: The Player

** [[The Smart Guy]]: Tycho

** [[The Chick]]: Max

* [[Funny Background Event]]: After being knocked out, the characters can be seen doing something in the background. Strong Bad goes to play a video game, the Heavy sits at a nearby table and watches the game, Tycho goes to the bar, and Max... aimlessly wonders around the Inventory. Sometimes you can catch him gnawing on the stair handrails; sometimes he'll return but only his ''ears'' will be poking above the table. If Max is knocked out after Strong Bad, he goes to join him at the Bluster Blaster machine.

* [[Gretzky Has the Ball]]: Max doesn't even seem to know he's playing poker, let alone how to play it.

"Quick question: what do the numbers on the cards mean?" }}

* [[Hammerspace]]: [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by Tycho, who wants to know about Max's "pockets" (this doubles as a [[Mythology Gag]] since Sam famously asked Max the same).

** Strong Bad, as can be expected. Notable examples include making fun of Penny Arcade's site traffic while pimping off his own, despite Homestarrunner.com not having updated at all in several months, as well as his constant <s>lack</s> '''stream''' of ladies.

** All of the characters, particularly Max and Strong Bad, will mock you for being a wuss if you check, and then immediately proceed to check as well.

* [[Idle Animation]]: As of a recent update, everyone will occasionally show an animation of they have a bad hand. Max and Tycho facepalm, Heavy just looks concerned, and Strong Bad [[Head Desk|repeatedly bangs his head on the table]].

* [[Imagine Spot]]: One of the Heavy's losing a hand is him flipping the table and massacring the players. Immediately afterwards, he sternly asks for a new hand to be dealt.

** Strong Bad calls Tycho "dork" and "nerd-rancher".

* [[Inn Between the Worlds]]: The Inventory, where video game characters hang out while nobody's playing their games.

* [[Intercontinuity Crossover]]

* [[Laughably Evil]]: It's made abundantly clear that each of the four players are... well, [[Axe Crazy|psychopaths]]. But god''damn'' are they hilarious!

* [[The Magic Poker Equation]]: Averted, much like poker in [[Real Life]]. You may find yourself holding a Ace and a King of the same suit quite regularly, but don't expect the flop to produce that straight flush.

* [[Manly Tears]]: When The Heavy loses Sasha in a bet. The character who wins it, aside from the player, will always state something hysterical about what they'll use it for.

** Well, Max doesn't state any plans for it. He simply states "It's... It's...BEAUTIFUL!" more emphatically than when Heavy first pulls out his precious gun.

** Strong Bad thinks it'll be a great way to keep The Cheat in line.

** Tycho's an interesting case, as he knows that the ''other'' characters are from games. He owns Team Fortress 2, and mentions to the Heavy how long the game's been out on Steam.

* [[Most Fanfic Writers Are Girls|Most Fan-Artists Are Girls]]: Despite Tycho asking the Player if they're going to be as immature as Gabe and show him his balls, and the Heavy constantly referring to the player as "little man," most art made by fans shows the player as a female. Lampshaded in [http://slushee-duck.deviantart.com/art/We-we-can-t-do-that-188397448 this fan drawing].

* [[Noodle Incident]]:

** Tycho: "A pot like that could buy a little ''Giraffe time''." The [[Buffy-Speak|noodliness]] decreases when one considers [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/1/18/ Exhibit A].

** Another dialogue starts with Strong Bad making fun of the spikes in Tycho's hair, and somehow ends with the all-too-relevant [[Perverse Sexual Lust]] moment.

* [[Obligatory Swearing]]: Tycho brings this with him to the table, though this'll be the first time the other three have appeared in any form of media with the word "fuck" uncensored. There's an option in the menu to turn bleeping of swears on and off. At least one Tycho swear is left bleeped even with the censors off.

** Strong Bad does say [[Precision F-Strike|"fucked up shit"]] at one point, but it's bleeped out even if you have the censor turned off.

*** Which is exactly what the subtitles say (Tycho's swearing is always ****'d out, whether censors are on or off).

* [[Oh Crap]]: The players are caught ''completely'' off guard if you raise unbelievably high.

** While the Heavy isn't really a ''villain'', playing poker is a lot more casual than [[Career Killers|his day job]].

** Really, all of the characters aside from Strong Bad have committed murder, and [http://hrwiki.org/wiki/Crimes_Committed_by_Strong_Bad#Attempted_Murder even he attempted murder]. Unsuccessfully, but still.

* [[Psychotic Smirk]]: Tycho, especially when he loses a hand.

* [[Real Men Wear Pink]]: Strong Bad, Tycho, and the Heavy have a discussion about favorite drinks. Strong Bad makes fun of Tycho for liking gin fizzes, and the Heavy turns out to like peach bellinis.

* [[Russian Humor]]: The Heavy's "Engineer Story" is a failed attempt at this, it seems.

* [[Sequel Hook]]:

** An interview made before the game's release states that if the game sells well, they would likely follow it up with other card games featuring other gaming characters, or possibly celebrities.

** It should be noted that on Telltale's website, there is a section for "The Inventory." This implies that if the game does well, it may not just be poker that they're playing.

* [[Serious Business]]:

** One of Heavy's lines in the trailer implies there's something a bit grim waiting for him if he loses.

[[Even Evil Has Standards|(Max silently gasps in horror, Strong Bad clasps his hands and bows his head, and Tycho slumps over in his chair in pity.)]] }}

** Strong Bad will ask The Heavy if he wants to "take care" of King of Town. The Heavy assumes he means kill, but Strong Bad just wants to shave half his mustache.

*** Strong Bad admits he wouldn't mind if King of Town was killed, however.

* [[Shaggy Frog Story]]: When Tycho asks Max where he learned to play cards, Max starts recounting an adventure in Atlantic City, but by the time he finishes the anecdote he's forgotten there was a question he was supposed to answer.

'''Strong Bad:''' Hand it over. }}

'''Tycho:''' Die a sad, pitiful, painful death. }}

* [[Slasher Smile]]: When you get into a one-on-one situation with Tycho and he has a decently good amount of money. His smile rivals Dr. Giggles.

* [[Smarter Than You Look|Smarter than Boolet]]:

** Probably a reference to how the Russian version of Meet the Heavy made him sound much more sophisticated than the original, implying that he only sounds like a dumbbell because of his [[Eloquent in My Native Tongue|relatively poor English]].

* [[Smug Snake]]: Tycho, so very much. Also, Strong Bad, to a lesser extent.

* [[Sophisticated As Hell]]: Tycho slips into this several times. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSf8Vah8Y_Y Observe here.]

* [[Soundtrack Dissonance]]

'''Heavy Weapons Guy:''' I just get new Huey Lewis tape. He keeps spirits up on battlefield. }}

** [[American Psycho|Damn right he does.]]

* [[Squick]]: In-universe. The others are perturbed any time Tycho talks about animals.

** Said question is probably very squicky from Max's point of view considering he doesn't like girls, [[Asexuality|or men, for that matter.]] He also sometimes forgets that he doesn't like girls. It's something of a running gag in his series.

** Strong Bad's reaction to Tycho having masturbatory fantasies about hedgehogs: "Oh, nothing. Just puking in my pants..."

** Tycho has the most down-to-earth personality and conservative playstyle of the four. Just don't get him talking about giraffes. Or hedgehogs. Probably best to keep him away from animals entirely. And it's a good thing he's sitting on the other side of the table from Max.

** He doesn't exactly take losing all that well, either:

'''Tycho:''' I've seen you around with that guy in the dog costume. DON'T YOU LIE TO ME }}

* [[Suddenly Voiced]]: [[Penny Arcade|Tycho]] is voiced by Andrew Chaikin for this game, who was the voice actor for Max in Episode 1 of ''Sam and Max: Season 1".

* [[Take That]]:

** Many, many, ''many'', against Gamestop, government and so forth. Since a lot of the dialogue was "polished" by the original creators, it's usually entirely in-character, and references their backgrounds.

'''Tycho:''' Oh, so chains of used videogame resellers? Yeah, we got those. }}

** Strong Bad doesn't think much of the [[Penny Arcade|Penny Arcade Expo]].

** Strong Bad: "Your hair looks like a [[Sonic the Hedgehog|greasy hedgehog]] -- unassociated with any video game license -- that walked into a barber shop and said 'A little off the suck, please.'"

** When Strong Bad asks Heavy about his favorite video game, Tycho interrupts his answer with ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', and the Heavy responds, "Ehh, it is not popular yet." This Take That was possibly made because how Blizzard got angry with Valve due to them trademarking ''Defense of the Ancients'' which was a ''[[Warcraft III]]'' map.

* [[Theme Tune Cameo]]: The Office music from Sam & Max, the main theme from the ''The Devil's Playhouse'', the theme to ''Dangeresque'', Trogdor's theme, the ''Team Fortress 2'' Main Theme, and More Gun can be heard playing at the Inventory, each with a heavy country swagger to them.

* [[This Cannot Be!]]:

** If the Heavy loses with a good hand, such as a three of a kind, with a big pot, he will scream "[[Big "What?"|WHAT?!]] I will not lose to lucky cowards! ''I kill you!''" turn over the table, and fire up Sasha - which fortunately has no ammo. The other characters are naturally shocked. He will sit down again with a [[Death Glare]] and growl, "[[You Have Been Warned|I. Do. Not. Lose.]]"

** Played with by Tycho if the Player is eliminated on a bad beat by another character, suggesting this reaction if Tycho was in the Player's place.

* [[This Is Gonna Suck]]: During Showdowns, if there's a hand that beats theirs, they start to look more and more desperate.

* [[Too Much Information]]:

** Strong Bad reacts this way when the Heavy says that between learning to box and learning to herd goats, he chose boxing.

'''Heavy:''' At first, I do not like punching other boys. But then I learn to LOVE it. }}

** Max's reaction to Tycho's speech on giraffes and in the same vein, Strong Bad's reaction to Tycho's speech about hedgehogs.

* [[What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids?]]: In-universe. Strong Bad calls ''Penny Arcade'' a "crappy website for babies". Anyone who has actually ''read'' ''Penny Arcade'' knows that it's ''anything'' but kid-friendly. But then again, this ''is'' Strong Bad we're talking about here...

* [[What the Hell, Player?]]: This happens ''a lot'' - and [[Crowning Moment of Funny|hilariously]].

* [[Wicked Cultured]]: Heavy enjoys Russian Literature and a nice Peach Bellini. In between, he also tells inappropriate anecdotes about tearing off an Engineer's fingers and points spinning mini-guns over the poker table.

* [[Widget Series]]: Take four characters no one would ever expect to see in a crossover. Now do just that. Now make it a ''poker game''. This is what you get.

 

{{reflist}}