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{{quote|"Bang! You're dead."}}
* This appears in one of the flashback sequences of [[Ex Machina]], with Bradbury and Kremlin acting as well-equipped robbers to test out Mitchell's equipment and reflexes.
* ''[[Star Trek: Voyager|Star Trek Voyager]] [[Star Trek Elite Force|Elite Force]]'' had a comic which begins with this. The scenario was that the Voyager is attacked by a Borg Cube (complete with exterior shot) and Hazard Team is sent to plant explosives around the cube to distract them long enough for the Voyager to escape. During the attack, Munro falls into a assimilation chamber, where he finds an assimilated Foster and not wanting to [[Shoot the Dog]], fails. Tuvok even points this scenario out and [[Continuity Nod|notes its similarity to the test the trope is named for]]. This was called back when {{spoiler|Foster did get assimilated and Tuvok calls Munro out for not shooting him.}}
* Played with in [[Preacher (Comic Book)]]. Herr Starr must take unarmed combat lessons with an instructor infamous for badly injuring students on the first day. Starr “beats” him by shooting him in both knees. Perhaps not a straight example though as while it supposed to be an unwinnable situation it was never officially sanctioned.
 
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*** [[The Spock|Spock]] comments in ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan|Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan]]'' that the explosions and smoke effects do not do wonders for the equipment.
*** One of the novels has [[The Kirk|Kirk's]] nephew {{spoiler|save the ship by [[Heroic Sacrifice|sacrificing himself]], challenging the enemy commander (Romulan rather than Klingon in this version) to single combat and having the ''Enterprise'' beam off the ''Kobayashi Maru'' crew and run away while he fights to the death. The admiral in command assumes he must have cheated like his uncle, but [[The Spock|Spock]] explains that it all would've worked. It's just that Peter Kirk knew far more about Romulan culture (including a challenge that - if properly given - is punishable by death to refuse, even if issued by a non-Romulan) than a cadet normally would.}}
*** A recent ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise|Star Trek Enterprise]]'' novel depicts the origin of the Kobayashi Maru scenario, which is ''not'' a simulation. {{spoiler|In addition to being outnumbered, Captain Archer discovers that the enemy ships have a device that can take remote control of his ship's systems. He ends up having to flee and allow the ''Kobayashi Maru'' to be destroyed.}}
** Referenced in ''[[Dog Soldiers]]'', when a platoon on a training exercise finds out their "opponents" have bugged their communications: "It's the Kobayashi Maru test - they've fixed it so we can't fucking win!"
* ''[[Apollo 13]]:'' "If I had a dollar for every time they killed me in this thing (the simulator), I wouldn't have to work for you, Deke."
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* The virtual reality wargaming scenes in ''[[Avalon (film)]]''.
* The beginning of ''[[The Avengers (1998 film)|The Avengers 1998]]'', where Steed is attacked by a number of opponents while walking along a street. Afterward it's revealed that he was just being tested on his fighting skills by the Ministry.
* Used at the very beginning of ''[[Mind HuntersMindhunters]]''.
* ''[[Sherlock Holmes]] A Game of Shadows''. Sherlock is capable of deducing what an opponent would do in response to his own actions, simulating entire fistfights in his head before committing to them. When he concludes the final fight is unwinnable, {{spoiler|he just jumps off the balcony taking his opponent with him}}.
* In ''Moving Violations'', the corrupt judge and policeman set up an unwinnable driving course to ensure the traffic-school students will all fail, allowing the pair to sell off their cars and keep the money.
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== Live Action TV ==
* In addition to its original appearance, the Kobayashi Maru simulation is found or mentioned in a number of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'' episodes. (''TNG'' also includes fresh instances and variations of the trope; for instance, the Bridge Officer qualification test on the Holodeck in the episode "Thine Own Self", in which Troi realizes that she can only succeed if she {{spoiler|1=orders holographic LaForge to his death}}).
** The holodeck in general made for a convenient and simple premise for a lot of invocations of this trope in many of the series. In the ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|Star Trek Deep Space Nine]]'' episode ''The Magnificent Ferengi'' where the Ferengi are shown in a botched attempt to rescue Quark and Rom's mother, in which she ends up being shot by one of her rescuers, before it is revealed that they are practicing for the real thing, in a holosuite.
** ''[[Star Trek: Voyager|Star Trek Voyager]]'' is particularly guilty of someone dying in a [[Batman Cold Open]] only to be revealed as a simulation that you could make a drinking game out of it.
*** The failed invasion of a Borg ship to steal some [[Phlebotinum]] that leads to Borg storming the ''Voyager'' proves to be a simulation. Also, "Learning Curves" subverts the No Win Scenario with a test similar, but not identical to, the original Kobayashi Maru is used by Tuvok when assigned to instruct some unruly ex-Maquis in the Starfleet way. It ends the way the original Kobayashi did. However, Tuvok suggests that the test is built with a victory condition: retreating. had they tried to run they'd have lived and passed, while [[Stupid Sacrifice|dying pointlessly]] helped no one.
*** Tuvok provides an interesting twist in the episode ''Worst Case Scenario'': Paris discovered an unfinished "Maquis Rebellion Scenario" that Tuvok never completed since he saw the Maquis having virtually zero problems fitting in. Paris and Torres have fun trying out different scenarios, and it proves to be so popular among the crew that Tuvok is pressured to complete it. When Tuvok and Paris attempt to modify the simulation, however, they find that former Maquis (and defector to the Kazon) Seska had discovered it and rigged it to be a true no-win scenario with [[Everything Trying to Kill You]], and with the safeties disabled, Tuvok and Paris would be [[Killed Off for Real]]. The bridge crew couldn't shut it down quickly, but they did have access to the writing interface. So Janeway stepped in by becoming the [[Deus Ex Machina]] until they could turn it off.
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== Real life ==
* Part of a typical NASA Astronaut's [[Training Fromfrom Hell]] involves dealing with emergencies in a simulator, though in this case the scenarios used have obscure or complicated solutions, as opposed to no solution at all. The idea here is training the astronauts in Olympic-standard mental gymnastics rather than training them to face death stoically. The latter is [[Danger Deadpan|part of the job description]] anyway.
 
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
[[Category:Unwinnable Training Simulation{{PAGENAME}}]]
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