History Literature / GiveYourselfGoosebumps

[[folder: #32: ''It's Only a Nightmare!'']]

* BittersweetEnding: There's an ending where not only is your adventure in the book revealed to be just a dream, [[SchrodingersButterfly but so is your entire human life]], and you're really just an animal. It ''sounds'' like a bad ending at first, until you realize that you are happy with your "new" life (mostly because it's your REAL life).
* NotWearingPantsDream: In one bad ending, you confront Lord Morphos on a stage in front of a packed auditorium, only to suddenly find yourself in just your underwear. While the audience starts laughing at you, the Sleep Master appears to tell you that you're now trapped in this nightmare forever.
* RandomEventsPlot: This book tends to randomly shift from event to event, so much so it's difficult to determine what choice will do what (even more so than normally). Kind of [[JustifiedTrope justified]] as the book takes place in a dream world most of the time.
* RealityWarpingIsNotAToy: In The "B" Storyline, you are able to control your dreams by (in a sense) "wishing" in your mind what happens next, but [[YourMindMakesItReal your dreams have an effect on you in the real world]], and can even kill you (ItMakesSenseInContext). To make it worse, each dream is controlled by your thoughts first, so it is possible to just randomly think of something, and have that come true even though you didn't really want it to.
* RipVanWinkle: One ending has you drinking a sleep rememdy that puts you to sleep for 70 years. Another even jokes you have joined the "Rip Van Winkle" club.
* SelfDeprecation: One part sees you noticing a ''Give Yourself Goosebumps'' book that is marked as number 456, poking fun at how many books the series, and the franchise in general, had.
* ShapedLikeItself: At one point, you have the choice of reading either an ancient book of sleep remedies, or a ''Give Yourself Goosebumps'' book titled "Nightmares Are No Fun". If you pick the ''Give Yourself Goosebumps'', of course it's about the same subject as the book you're reading in the real world; so you have to go to page 1 and start the story again.

[[/folder]]

* DigitalAbomination: Spyder from''It Came from the Internet'', a living computer virus that manifests itself as a spider/octopus hybrid in the real world that leaves toxic slime all around. It bites the main character, causing him to have amnesia.

* DigitalAbomination: Spyder from''It Came from the Internet'', a living computer virus that manifests itself as a spider/octopus hybrid in the real world that leaves toxic slime all around. It bites the main character, causing him to have amnesia.

[[folder: #25: ''Shop Till You Drop...Dead!'']]

* BlandNameProduct: You and Julie borrow "Splotch" (Swatch) watches to time yourselves during a bet.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: During the final confrontation, in one scenario, you and Julie get your hands tangled by the heart attack backpack, and your mutated friend Reggie is marching towards you, ready to devour you. Your options are either to attack him, or stall him until 1 AM (when he'll change back as a human). If you choose to fight, Julie simply asks "how are we supposed to fight if our hands are caught in this stupid backpack?!" The book then remarks, "Good question. Too bad you don't have a good answer!" Cue Reggie devouring you two.
* EvilElevator: There's one in the mall you have to escape.
* InventoryManagementPuzzle: The scavenger hunt path has you going through floors two through six, and acquire as many items as possible before hitting floor seven, the final showdown. Skipping some floors or doing some actions wrong causes you to grab some weaker replacement items -- or not acquiring some items at all, which affects the final confrontation. Also, going through the scavenger hunt in the wrong order may get you killed in other floors, since you need those items to survive. On floor seven, at one point the books asks you if you have one item or the other. It's possible to have none of them, but that option isn't included on that page.
* LivingStatue: Close enough, but the mannequins in the store comes to life at night.
* LivingToy: The toy department contains a human-sized toy monkey that comes to life on it's own. You can befriend it during the adventure, where it will help you survive the night.
* MoonLogicPuzzle: At one point you can be captured inside a store by mannequin security guards, who put you on "trial" and ask whether you plead Guilty or Not Guilty. Pick Not Guilty, and the mannequins "reward" your innocence … by turning you into a mannequin just like them. Pleading Guilty, on the other hand, leads to them "punishing" you with the worst thing they can imagine -- banishing you from the deadly, haunted department store you're trying to escape from.
* OurWerebeastsAreDifferent: Reggie Mayfield, who got you into this mess in the first place, is actually some sort of purple-furred were-monster who reveals his true monstrous form at midnight. And somehow he still have the same amount of sentience as he was as a human.
* ParanormalMundaneItem: In one path, the protagonists are on a ScavengerHunt to find a number of items in a night department store. Goods found in this store include among the rest a Heart-Attack Backpack that suffocates people until they have a heart attack, and a toy ape that comes to life at night.
* SchrodingersGun: The monster that awaits you on the seventh floor can be either a toy ape that comes to life at midnight or... [[WithFriendsLikeThese your friend Reggie who turns into a monster at midnight]].
* TakenForGranite: Two endings turn you into a mannequin and a cardboard cutout.

[[/folder]]

[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/6bd9820dd7a054e1847dd010_L__SL500_AA300__4189.jpg]]

[[folder: #6: ''Beware of the Purple Peanut Butter'']]

* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: In contrast to the titular peanut butter, eating the other food item, a stale chocolate cake (which might be laced with a certain green substance) makes the reader gigantic as opposed to tiny.
* CatsAreMean: Dora's cat Puff.
* IncredibleShrinkingMan: This happens to the reader if they choose the Purple Peanut Butter. The [[https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51ztJikUD%2BL._SX342_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg cover art]] even demonstrates this trope.
* ParanormalMundaneItem: The titular purple peanut butter, which makes you shrink, and a piece of cake that makes you grow in size.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: #17: ''Little Comic Shop of Horrors'']]

* CoversAlwaysLie: Despite what the front cover implies, at NO point in the story does a costumed monster called a "Super Lizard" rampage across the comic shop. It's probably a reference to one scenario where you -- as Super Duper -- gets turned into a giant monster, but that happens ''inside'' the comic world, not out of.
* DeadAllAlong: In one of the good endings, you made your way out of the comic book world and ends up outside of the comic shop, which turns out to be locked. You then find out later that the owner, Milo, which you met earlier that day, had died ''years ago''.
* FaceYourFears: You can challenge Milo, the comic shop's owner, into letting you out by a direct confrontation, at which point Milo will turn into the one thing you fear the most that you must overcome. That turns out to be none other than [[Literature/TheHorrorAtCampJellyjam King Jellyjam]], from the [[IntercontinuityCrossover Goosebumps books of the same name]].
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: One of the two main storylines is to find that you are stuck in the world of comic books, and having to decide which of two comics you will enter. One of those gives you the option going into a third different comic, but all choices made from there end badly -- you're either killed by a MadScientist (who thinks you are a spy) or a team of other kids turned into comic book superheroes, who are angry that you accidentally caused one of them to get killed.
* {{Fauxshadowing}}: Early in the first storyline, you're warned that jumping from comic-to-comic one time too many will have you crushed into an ink blot, forever. NONE of the bad endings involves this happening to you, although some supporting characters you come across might suffer this fate. The ONE ending where you becomes an ink blot, it's because ''another'' character is holding on to you while he's being crushed as well, the effects spreading to you by accident.
* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: Inverted in a few scenarios where you become a superhero in the comic world; attempt to use your heat-vision, and you end up setting the comic's paper on fire instead, unintentionally killing yourself. And if you try to escape by literally crawling out of the page, you find out you're stuck as a miniature comic-book character literally made of ink, at which point you're caught and squashed instantly by Milo.
* HeelFaceTurn: Yeah, the scenario where Milo turns into King Jellyjam? You can actually convince Milo to join you, at which point he becomes the star of a reality show with you as his agent and business partner partner. You then become insanely rich thanks to being the owner of a snail farm, which you have a limitless supply of as King Jellyjam sweats snails regularly.
* ImAHumanitarian: You can be eaten by your friends who have become cannibals after being trapped in a maze for too long.
* MadScientist: This book uses this as a plot point in one storyline where, after being sucked into a comic book, you're told to look for a Mad Scientist as they may be able to help you escape.
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: In the cellar, you can try to save another kid who's pinned under some wreckage while being pursued by a giant monster, but choosing that option will allow the monster to catch up on you and kill you.
* ParodyNames: Many of these: Super Duper/Super Doer (Superman), Tex Loudsnore (Lex Luthor), Ballistic Bug (Spider-Man), Y's Guys (X-Men), Wolfenbean (Wolverine), and many more.
* PortalCut: One bad ending involves a portal closing too soon and bisecting the reader [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe where your lower half remains in the comic shop]].
* PrehensileHair: One of the bad endings where you end up in the comic-book world have Professor Yves Yaboum -- a parody of [[ComicBook/XMen Professor Francis Xavier]] -- unleashing his mane on you, which throttles you to death on the spot.
* SchmuckBait: In the scenario where you end up in the world of Ballistic Bug, a rather blatant {{Expy}} of ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'', you assume you're now in the role of Peter... erm, sorry, Peewee, the book's protagonist, on a field trip in a nuclear plant where you get bitten by a radioactive insect which serves as your SuperHeroOrigin. The book then asks if you'd like to have the radioactive insect bite you... choose that option, and it turns out you're '''NOT''' Peewee, but a different kid, who is ''fatally'' allergic to radioactive insect bites. HaveANiceDeath indeed...
* ShoutOut:
** Aside from the superhero parodies mentioned above, there's a horror comic called ''[[Series/TalesFromTheCrypt The Cellar of Scary Stories]]''.
** The title itself is a reference to ''Theatre/LittleShopOfHorrors''.
* TooDumbToLive: Two for the price of one in the Y's Guys scenario. First, the kid who became Wolfenbean ignores your warning about overusing the "Guest Shot!" teleportation technique, and promptly melts into an ink blot. Then, the other Y's Guys blame you and you nervously make a couple of jokes about what happened to him... to a group of super-powered kids who could easily beat you to death (which they apparently do.)
* TrappedInAnotherWorld:
** The very premise of the first storyline; by reading a comic book, you end up being transported into the world of comics, where depending on the choices you make, will have you becoming a CaptainErsatz of ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'', ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'', or the ''ComicBook/XMen''.
** From the second storyline where you get trapped in the comic shop's cellars, in one of the worst endings, your attempt to find a way out have you going through a portal leading to a world populated entirely by insect-people instead, and you can't escape from since you're unable to find the way you entered. Worse of all, ''you'' are the alien in this particular scenario.
* WhosOnFirst: In one storyline, when you ask a Professor X parody called Professor Y why he wants to destroy the possibly visitor, it leads to one of these.
* WrittenSoundEffect: Early in the story, you come across stairs leading to the comic shop's basement, with a sign warning you to keep out stating "TRESSPASSERS WILL BE GLOMP-FED". If you tried to enter anyway, you end up sliding all the way to the cellar with a loud "GLOMPF!"

[[folder: #20: ''Toy Terror: Batteries Included'']]

* AnimateInanimateObject: The book takes this trope to the extreme.
* CreepyDoll: "Nasty Kathy", who leads the living toys in the factory on a rebellion.
* KillerRobot: The Annhilator 3000 will stop at ''nothing'' to disintegrate you.
* ShoutOut: There's a robotic police officer named [[Franchise/{{Robocop}} Officer Murphy]].

[[folder: #22: ''Return to the Carnival of Horrors'']]

* AmusementParkOfDoom: The Carnival of Horrors, as in the first book.
* CuttingOffTheBranches: This book assumes one of the good endings from its prequel, despite there having been several -- and it's actually a plot point, since one of the first things you do on one story path is try to find the same ride you escaped in the first time.
* ExactWords: The frog-like owner of the road race game promises that if you lose you won't be killed by a blue tornado like the previous loser was. Once you lose the game, you are instead killed by a '''purple''' tornado.
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Playing Q Quest will end badly regardless of what number you pick. This is because A: You're told to pick a number between 8 and 14, but no matter what number you pick, you'll land on the skull image, and B: There's only one page you can go to and it leads to an ending where you're turned into a skeleton.
* HollywoodAcid: One ending features acidic slugs that burn "you" to death instantly.
* RapidAging: Used as a bad ending -- you don't die, but you become really old within seconds.
* SeriesContinuityError: This book assumes that you followed one particular storyline of ''Literature/EscapeFromTheCarnivalOfHorrors'' and achieved a certain ending (see CuttingOffTheBranches.) However, ''Return'' also refers to several elements of the first book's ''other'' storyline, which "you" are supposed to have encountered when you visited the carnival before -- even though this would be impossible, if you reached the ending that ''Returns'' takes as canon.

[[folder: #23: ''Zapped in Space'']]

* AintTooProudToBeg: Early in the Vegan spacecraft, the two-headed Vega alien warns you and your friends Katy and Jordan not to leave, for he'll be back, in a threatening manner. You can choose to retaliate and fight back with your friends the moment he returns, at which point the Vegan begs for mercy and pleads with you that he means no harm.
* BigCreepyCrawlies: An optional, and perfectly avoidable encounter; after the Vega alien leaves you by yourself, you can choose to flee, or wait for his return. Choosing to flee will have you facing a giant cockroach the size of a human adult (who can talk!) and you can potentially reach a bad ending from there, but escaping the giant roach will lead you back to the Vegan, right where you started off first.
* BittersweetEnding: In one ending, you get trapped in your gaming partner's body, but both of you at least escaped the game intact, and your partner's mother turns out to be a better cook than yours.
* BlobMonster: Choosing the Arcturan aliens' puzzles will have you battling a giant alien blob in order to proceed. It seems invincible and doesn't have any weakness, but [[spoiler: you later found out it was, in fact, edible, and tastes like lemon jelly]].
* EatingTheEnemy: [[spoiler: How you defeat the alien blob monster]].
* GratuitousLatin: In the second scenario, it's possible for you and your friend Andy to defeat the snow woman by speaking in Pig Latin -- a language the snow woman is unfamiliar with, as a last resort. Doing so will cause the game to glitch up and become damaged, at which point both of you get ejected out of the game.
* IntercontinuityCrossover: One of the Arcturan's puzzles references the earlier GYG book, ''Literature/TrappedInBatWingHall'', specifically the items to be collected during the treasure hunt.
* LizardFolk: The first obstacle you'll need to defeat -- a lizard alien sent by the Arcturans. Which you beat by tricking him to [[WeakenedByTheLight expose himself to sunlight]].
* LosingAShoeInTheStruggle: The fight against the Arcturan blob monster have you accidentally stepping in the monster's body, who then sucks up your sneaker. You kick it off automatically to avoid getting eaten alive by the monster.
* LosingYourHead: In one of the bad endings, you ''do'' actually make it back to earth... just your head, that is. The teleporter somehow couldn't transport the rest of your body, so you arrive home as a single, living head with nothing below the neck.
* MoonLogicPuzzle:
** You have to get across a planet's surface without being cooked by the intense alien sun's heat. You're in a greenhouse, with two options -- slather yourself with random goo, hoping it's sunscreen, or make a hat out of leaves. If you use leaves, the leaves have lenses in them you didn't notice, which cook you.
** When you're fending off alien lizards, you can either use a sword, or a gun you have no clue how to operate. If you use the sword, the Lizards unveil their uncanny ability to regain all lost limbs, including their heads. FUUUUUUU--
** When you and your friend reach the Abominable Snowman's cave, there's a table with a box, containing a magnifying glass and a compass, saying "Take one". Logically speaking, since there are two of you, you and your partner can take both items [[LoopholeAbuse without breaking the rule]]. Unfortunately, a beam of sunlight bounces off the compass through the magnifying glass, which flash defrosts the cavern and buries you and your friend into an avalanche of snow. [[FlatWhat What]].
* TheMostDangerousVideoGame: The very premise of this book -- playing one of two experimental arcade game, and you end up being transported into the game world, where if you die in it, you die in the real world too.
* MultipleHeadCase: The Vega aliens have two heads and four arms, as seen on the front cover.
* NoFairCheating: In the 'Abominable Snow Woman' path, at one point, you need to go through a maze, leading to 2 page numbers, the end of the maze, so to speak. However, you can actually only reach one if you were to do the maze. If you rely on blind guessing and guess the wrong page, then the Snow Woman will show up, declare you cheated, and trap you in the game for good.
* SchrodingersGun: Depending on the storyline you picked, the arcade's owner, Madam Zapp, can be a [[TheQuisling human agent planted by the Arcturan aliens to abduct human children]], or an Abominable Snow Woman who serves as the main villain of the artic storyline.
* ViewersAreGoldfish: The book uses this against you in the Abominable Snow Woman storyline. In one part of the book, the right clue to advance in the game was given away with the game's poster when you entered the arcade way back in page 3 or 4. [[ChekhovsGun There was a minor description of the lights' colors near the game's poster that was irrelevant at the time]], but was a major clue for later. This effect is magnified if you do the Abominable Snow Woman storyline ''second''. Unless you have a sharp memory or cheated to see the answer, you'll have to guess the right colors for the lights. Guess wrong, and you'll be led in the wrong direction.
* YourHeadAsplode: If you manage to outwit the Arcturan aliens by proving you're more intelligent than them, their brains will overload and blow up with their heads.

[[folder: #24: ''Lost in Stinkeye Swamp'']]

* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler: Zeke]]. Although the cause of this character's death, and reasons for remaining in this world as a ghost change depending on what path the reader has taken.
* TheDogBitesBack: One ending sees you eaten by your own goldfish, which is pissed off that you haven't bothered to care for it as you were too busy trying to escape the book.
* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: The titular Stinkeye Swamp.

[[folder: #25: ''Shop Till You Drop...Dead!'']]

* BlandNameProduct: You and Julie borrow "Splotch" (Swatch) watches to time yourselves during a bet.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: During the final confrontation, in one scenario, you and Julie get your hands tangled by the heart attack backpack, and your mutated friend Reggie is marching towards you, ready to devour you. Your options are either to attack him, or stall him until 1 AM (when he'll change back as a human). If you choose to fight, Julie simply asks "how are we supposed to fight if our hands are caught in this stupid backpack?!" The book then remarks, "Good question. Too bad you don't have a good answer!" Cue Reggie devouring you two.
* EvilElevator: There's one in the mall you have to escape.
* InventoryManagementPuzzle: The scavenger hunt path has you going through floors two through six, and acquire as many items as possible before hitting floor seven, the final showdown. Skipping some floors or doing some actions wrong causes you to grab some weaker replacement items -- or not acquiring some items at all, which affects the final confrontation. Also, going through the scavenger hunt in the wrong order may get you killed in other floors, since you need those items to survive. On floor seven, at one point the books asks you if you have one item or the other. It's possible to have none of them, but that option isn't included on that page.
* LivingStatue: Close enough, but the mannequins in the store comes to life at night.
* LivingToy: The toy department contains a human-sized toy monkey that comes to life on it's own. You can befriend it during the adventure, where it will help you survive the night.
* MoonLogicPuzzle: At one point you can be captured inside a store by mannequin security guards, who put you on "trial" and ask whether you plead Guilty or Not Guilty. Pick Not Guilty, and the mannequins "reward" your innocence … by turning you into a mannequin just like them. Pleading Guilty, on the other hand, leads to them "punishing" you with the worst thing they can imagine -- banishing you from the deadly, haunted department store you're trying to escape from.
* OurWerebeastsAreDifferent: Reggie Mayfield, who got you into this mess in the first place, is actually some sort of purple-furred were-monster who reveals his true monstrous form at midnight. And somehow he still have the same amount of sentience as he was as a human.
* ParanormalMundaneItem: In one path, the protagonists are on a ScavengerHunt to find a number of items in a night department store. Goods found in this store include among the rest a Heart-Attack Backpack that suffocates people until they have a heart attack, and a toy ape that comes to life at night.
* SchrodingersGun: The monster that awaits you on the seventh floor can be either a toy ape that comes to life at midnight or... [[WithFriendsLikeThese your friend Reggie who turns into a monster at midnight]].
* TakenForGranite: Two endings turn you into a mannequin and a cardboard cutout.

[[folder: #26: ''Alone in Snakebite Canyon'']]

* {{Animorphism}}: The A-plot is ''built'' on this trope. Most of the bad endings involve you being turned into some kind of animal, including a mosquito, a bear, a tarantula, a mouse, a raven, a fish, a snake, and a kangaroo rat.
* InvoluntaryShapeshifting: The book is practically '''based''' on this trope, with at least one named character ending up stuck in a random animal-form by most endings.
* MortonsFork: At one point. the story presents a pair of animal morphs that [[LampshadeHanging even the book admits sound less-than-ideal]]: a slow-as-molasses tarantula morph to cross a busy street, or a mosquito morph through a bat infested cave, right after you ate a mosquito when you were in bat morph minutes earlier. The choices end as well as you expect. [[TakeAThirdOption The logical third option]] -- i.e., turn into a tarantula and wait in the cave until the snake eyes reset into two other and presumably better animal choices -- was completely absent.

[[folder: #27: ''Checkout Time at the Dead-End Hotel'']]

* EmptySwimmingPoolDive: One of the endings has you forced to do this by the ghosts, resulting in your death.
* GenderBlenderName: Drew Mortegarth. It's a plot point that you don't know Drew's gender and thus, which of two potential Drews is the right one.
* HellHotel: Hotel Morte, where the action takes place, is a hotel full of ghosts who are out to make "you" into a ghost too.
* IntercontinuityCrossover: Jenna from ''Literature/ScreamOfTheEvilGenie'' has a cameo in one ending here. If you accept her help, she actually transports you into ''her'' book.
* MeaningfulName: Hotel "Morte" -- it means Hotel "Death" in Italian and Portuguese.
* NoEnding: Choosing to drink clam juice will lead to the book telling you that clam juice can cause strange affects on people, such as causing the books they're reading to have missing letters. The remainder of the page begins leaving out random letters itself, and then ends saying the book is now unreadable (even though this shouldn't affect the characters themselves).
* SpotTheImposter: A plot point is the reader having to decide which of two people is Drew Mortegarth, who has promised to help you escape. But because the reader has never met Drew (and [[GenderBlenderName Drew's name leaves their gender ambiguous]]), picking out the real one may prove difficult.

[[folder: #28: ''Night of a Thousand Claws'']]

* CainAndAbel: Jacob and Katrina Madd play with this trope, as the roles of Cain and Abel switch depending on the storyline.
* CatsAreMean: The book is ''built'' on this trope, and the reader's character is all too aware of it.
* CatsHateWater: You try to use this trope against Katrina in one ending, by use of a hose... shame you didn't check if said hose was connected to anything.
* CrazyCatLady: Katrina Madd. Some of the endings have you pull an EnemyMine, while one of the truly good endings reveals the real, good Katrina had been held hostage by her brother Jacob since before the book started. After freeing her, she decides to confront the impostor you met at the beginning.
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: "Story A" has no completely good ending. In the two endings where the reader wins, his or her parents will either become the new "Keeper of the Cats" or the reader himself/herself will turn into a dog.
* LittleBitBeastly: One of the endings ends with you defeating the evil {{cat|folk}}people and leaving the island forever, only to realize on the drive home that you have grown a dog tail.
* MortonsFork: You have been cornered and are about to be devoured by ghost cats. The book then presents you with a wordsearch puzzle to determine whether you'll survive. If you don't solve the puzzle, the cats eat you, and you are told it's your own fault for being too lazy to solve a simple puzzle. If you ''do'' solve it … the cats eat you anyway, because you were too absorbed in the puzzle to notice them advancing on you.
* SkewedPriorities: If you succeed in the "SPIRAL STIRCASE" puzzle, you become so absorbed in finding more words that you don't notice you're in danger, and die anyway.
* ThisLoserIsYou: In one path of the book, you have to make a list of words from the phrase "Spiral staircase", and if you don't get enough, the book insults you for your laziness in getting such a simple task wrong.

[[folder: #31: ''The Werewolf of Twisted Tree Lodge'']]

* CursedWithAwesome: In one ending, you now know that monsters are terrified of dust, and you can't ever clean your home again, so you won't have to do any more chores.
* DisproportionateRetribution: The story is kicked off when you found a manuscript disposed in a trashcan titled "Revenge of the Werewolves" and decide to claim it as your own, winning you a trip to the titular lodge. Your punishment for plagiarism is to be hunted down by werewolves, zombies, and all kind of monsters. Good grief!
* GetIntoJailFree: In one ending, you accidentally set off a burglar alarm whilst trying to escape from the lodge. Police arrive and arrest you, thinking you were trying to break ''in'' … and you happily play along with this so you can go to jail where the werewolves can't get you.
* MortonsFork: This book presents an interesting scenario when you're trapped in the middle of the woods, facing a bunch of creatures that could easily eviscerate you for their own amusement. One option is to trick them into playing a game of tag and running like hell to escape, but they easily catch up and kill you. The alternative? Convince them that they'd all turn on each other if they try to eat you, because they're all different creatures, and require different needs when it comes to eating humans. By doing that, they'd either let you live to prevent turning on each other, or go all divide and conquer to see who gets to eat you. Instead, they claim that they're diplomatic monsters, and that their different needs doesn't interfere at all with feeding on you, so you still wind up dead.
* PlagiarismInFiction: The plot is kicked off by "you" having found a story, "Revenge of the Werewolves", in the trash and it somehow being submitted to a story competition in your name.
* RetGone: One of the weirdest examples; you can come across a typewriter composing a story, and choose to press "DELETE". You'll end up deleting the entire adventure, including yourself.
* ShoutOut: In one section, you see a man in black with a suitcase, and [[Series/{{Goosebumps}} the papers start falling out of it]].
** The book's tagline? [[Film/DancesWithWolves Dances With Werewolves]].
* SilverBullet: Explicitly subverted. There are silver items at the titular lodge, but the werewolves aren't affected by this.

[[folder: #32: ''It's Only a Nightmare!'']]

* BittersweetEnding: There's an ending where not only is your adventure in the book revealed to be just a dream, [[SchrodingersButterfly but so is your entire human life]], and you're really just an animal. It ''sounds'' like a bad ending at first, until you realize that you are happy with your "new" life (mostly because it's your REAL life).
* NotWearingPantsDream: In one bad ending, you confront Lord Morphos on a stage in front of a packed auditorium, only to suddenly find yourself in just your underwear. While the audience starts laughing at you, the Sleep Master appears to tell you that you're now trapped in this nightmare forever.
* RandomEventsPlot: This book tends to randomly shift from event to event, so much so it's difficult to determine what choice will do what (even more so than normally). Kind of [[JustifiedTrope justified]] as the book takes place in a dream world most of the time.
* RealityWarpingIsNotAToy: In The "B" Storyline, you are able to control your dreams by (in a sense) "wishing" in your mind what happens next, but [[YourMindMakesItReal your dreams have an effect on you in the real world]], and can even kill you (ItMakesSenseInContext). To make it worse, each dream is controlled by your thoughts first, so it is possible to just randomly think of something, and have that come true even though you didn't really want it to.
* RipVanWinkle: One ending has you drinking a sleep rememdy that puts you to sleep for 70 years. Another even jokes you have joined the "Rip Van Winkle" club.
* SelfDeprecation: One part sees you noticing a ''Give Yourself Goosebumps'' book that is marked as number 456, poking fun at how many books the series, and the franchise in general, had.
* ShapedLikeItself: At one point, you have the choice of reading either an ancient book of sleep remedies, or a ''Give Yourself Goosebumps'' book titled "Nightmares Are No Fun". If you pick the ''Give Yourself Goosebumps'', of course it's about the same subject as the book you're reading in the real world; so you have to go to page 1 and start the story again.

[[folder: #33: ''It Came from the Internet'']]

* FourOneNineScam: One ending has you getting a messaging saying the sender can help you win the lottery, if they what they say. Despite this being framed very much like one of these, this ending is presented as good.
* SchrodingersGun: When you get infected by a computer virus, you can turn for help either to doctor Bronstein or to a [[GamerChick hacker girl called Rachel]]. In one subplot, they genuinely want to help you, while in another they just want to use you for their evil purposes. In one more subplot, it turns out that the monster that infected you is not actually evil, and the virus can be cured with just a hot bath.

[[folder: #34: ''Elevator to Nowhere'']]

* AlternateUniverse: The whole premise of the story. The A storyline has you entering other worlds besides the head hunting one, such as one where everthing is upside down.
* CatsAreMean: Uncle Darius' cat Sapphire in one dimension.
* HuntingTheMostDangerousGame: Evil Darius comes from a universe where this is a normal casual sport.
* OffWithHisHead: Early on, Evil Darius presents the decpicated head of another version of you.
* NeverTrustATitle: The titular elevator does take you somewhere; you use it to travel to other dimensions.
* ShoutOut: On the cover, Darius looks like [[Franchise/BackToTheFuture Doc Brown]].

[[folder: #37: ''Escape from Horror House'']]

* AdultsAreUseless: Averted in one ending, where your teacher helps you to defeat the poltergeists using magnets.
* EnemyMine: One storyline involves you deciding whether to work with a medium or a ghostbuster in order to defeat poltergeists. The two hate each other and each accuses the other of being a fraud, but you have the option of making them work together just this once.
* HauntedHouse: The plot of the book is you trying to get rid of poltergeists that are making your house haunted.
* MindOverMatter: A possible outcome is that there is no poltergeist -- the mysterious events in your house are caused by you, or your sister, being telekinetic and not knowing about it.
* NeverTrustATitle: Nowhere in the story are you required to escape from a house -- the story is based around you getting rid of poltergeists that have invaded a house.
* {{Poltergeist}}: They serve as the main enemies of this particular book.
* YourHeadAsplode: One of the bad endings.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: #38: ''Into the Twister of Terror'']]

* DoNotTouchTheFunnelCloud: Doing so gets you sucked into the twister.
* FaceHeelTurn: One ending is that you merge with the twister and have a great time destroying everything in your path.
* MagicCarpet: The storyline where you encounter a genie can have you finding one of these, which you then ride in an attempt to escape the twister.
* MortonsFork: No fewer than four examples:
** You discover that the twister is part of a movie being made by an {{Expy}} of Steven Spielberg. He then offers you a part in the movie. If you accept, you're killed during filming when the wind machine sucks you into a pit of sharp objects -- the director ignored your screams because he thought it was part of the script. If you say no, he then casts your aunt and uncle (with whom you live) in the movie instead, and they go to Hollywood and become famous, leaving you to run their farm.
** A wind spirit is controlling the twister, and is angry that you did not give back a doll you stole from him. Your choices are to apologize, or tell him that you didn't understand his culture. Pick the former and he pretends to take you home, but drops you in mid-air and gives a fake "apology." Pick the latter, he sends you 500 years back in time and you have no way of getting back.
** You have been cornered by talking animals who want to destroy humanity, and kill you so you can't warn others. They chase you to an abandoned school. If you go into the school building, you're killed by laboratory animals inside (see NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished.) If you go into the school bus, the talking animals easily break in and kill you.
** You have to decide what to do with a magical flying carpet to help you escape the twister. If you talk to the carpet, it tries to fly you to safety, but the twister flips it over and you plummet to your death. If you try to find another way, the genie of the carpet tricks you into switching places with him inside a bottle.
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: A devious example comes up during one sideplot, where talking animals hunt you down because you figured out a secret that they don't want any human to know. You try to reason with them a few times to no avail, and they eventually trap you inside an abandoned school. You decide to release a bunch of small animals that were trapped behind cages and glass habitats as a sign that you're a trustworthy human. The animals' response to your messianic efforts? [[{{Irony}} Use the small rodents you just liberated to attack and kill you]]. And … [[CruelTwistEnding they do]].
* NoOSHACompliance: One of the storylines have the twister being revealed as a special effect generated as a publicity stunt by a PrimaDonnaDirector. You know, a special effect that can destroy a neighborhood for ''real''?
* RandomEventsPlot: A rather extreme example. The book contains several side-plots that go in many different directions with no cohesive center to tie all the madness together. Even the origin of the twister that causes all these events vary wildly between quests.
* SchrodingersGun: Depending on the choices you make, the twister is either a rampaging wind spirit, a special effect created by a filmmaker, or a science experiment gone wrong after a pair of scientists tried creating a weather control machine which goes haywire. In one of the sub-plots it turns out your friend Wendy is ''the'' Wind Spirit responsible for the twister.
* ShoutOut: The book references ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' at multiple points. The adventure is kicked off when a magic twister destroys your neighbourhood, the dog Yoyo is a clear parody of Toto, the story being set in Kansas... the book even drops that "There's no place like home" line from the movie in one ending!
* TalkingAnimal: In the second storyline, your companion is a talking dog named Yoyo. You can also encounter and communicate with other animals holed up during the storm, all which are granted the ability to speak by the magic twister.
* ThisLoserIsYou: If you choose to go into the storm cellar during a hurricane rather than search for your dog, you get out safely but are told what a wimp you are and that as a result, you didn't get to have any adventures.
* TimeTravel: Annoying a wind deity gets you sent back hundreds of years in time.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: #39: ''Scary Birthday to You!'']]

* AdultsAreUseless: Played with in one ending where the lady next door breaks up your birthday party, deciding it's getting out of hand, because your parents asked her to supervise and make sure everyone was safe. Sure, she ruined your party, but at least your parents asked someone to look out for you (whereas in most of the other books they happily sit back and let you wander into danger.)
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Happens in two endings. In one ending, after your birthday has been ruined, you blow out the candles on your cake and wish you could have had a better day -- so you get sent back to the start of the book to do the story over again. In another, you're trapped with a sadistic entertainer holding you hostage, so you make a wish to be "as far away from him as possible" which sends you to the middle of a desert.
* BirthdayEpisode: The entire storyline happens during your birthday party. Specifically, you must survive the entire party thrown by a mad magician.
* ABirthdayNotABreak: It's your birthday, and a madman is out there trying to kill you.
* HollywoodAcid: The book has an ending where Dr. [=MacDeath=] sprays acid over you during a paintball game, resulting in instant death.
* ImpossibleTask: One of the items you need to get in a scavenger hunt is "blood from a turnip". However, it ''is'' possible to get this -- Dr. [=MacDeath=] even tells you how in one path.
* NonStandardGameOver: If you choose to talk it out reasonably with the insane entertainer holding you and your friends hostage, you cannot continue because the book says it should have been obvious that there was no way he would ever play fair with you.
* SchrodingersGun: In one ending, the creepy birthday entertainer Dr. [=MacDeath=] [[FriendlyScheming turns out to be just pulling horror-themed pranks on you without meaning any harm]]. In other subplots, he is actually evil.
* VideoGameCrueltyPunishment: Averted in one situation where the only way to get a good ending is if you choose not to save your friend who's trapped in a ballroom with dancing ghosts. The book tells you it's [[InsaneTrollLogic his own fault for being boring enough to be interested in ballroom dance.]]
* WithFriendsLikeThese:
** If you volunteer to stay at your house so everyone else can do the scavenger hunt, they leave you behind with [[BigBad Dr. Death]] [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere with no intentions of coming back.]] Fortunately, the story doesn't end badly on your end, since you offer Dr. Death to be his assistant for future birthday parties, and he agrees.
** The ''reader'' is this trope in one path -- your friend is trapped in a ballroom with dancing ghosts because he wanted to learn the waltz from them. You decide that anyone who would actually ''want'' to learn the waltz is too boring to be worth saving; and escape on your own, leaving him to die.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: #40: ''Zombie School'']]

* AngryGuardDog: The exterior of Ranewash is guarded by angry canines to prevent students from escaping, and in the first storyline you'll have to avoid them regularly.
* BoardingSchoolOfHorrors: The story of the book is that you're sent to an elite boarding school that turns out to be one of these when you discover that all your fellow students are zombies. The book is organized accordingly: you pick from a list of classes that you have to survive, and certain choices earn you "demerits" that will lead you to a bad ending in detention.
* CoversAlwaysLie: At no point in the book do you -- or any other characters, for that matter -- get to enter the school's cafeteria, despite what the cover shows (a dead-eyed zombie kid in a cafeteria holding a food tray).
* DarkerAndEdgier: The book's writing style and many of it's bad endings, which crosses with BloodierAndGorier, often on par with ''Literature/TrappedInTheCircusOfFear'' (a book that is already known to be excessively gory for a kid's book). What takes the cake is probably the [[OrganTheft bad ending where the school decide to harvest your organs and leave you for dead]]. You know, a kid's storybook!
* DetentionEpisode: Getting too many demerit points in Ranewash, and it's off to detention you go. Unfortunately that's also a one-way ticket to many of the book's bad endings, since the detention wing is where the teachers will trap you and put you under brainwashing.
* EmptyEyes: This is the default expression of the students in Ranewash School, having fallen under mind control and losing any remaining bits of their sentience. And yes, it can happen to you too, should you end up under their manipulation.
* EsotericHappyEnding: Invoked / In-Universe example. One of the book's many endings have you being brainwashed, but in your delusional state you decide that you ''like'' being brainwashed after all, and so the book states that particular ending to be "The Happiest End of All".
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: What the Ranewash School is attempting to inflict on its students, including you, and it goes without saying more than one bad ending have you becoming their brainwashed slave forever.
* ImposterForgotOneDetail: Averted in one bad ending. You managed to summon for help, leading to a police officer arriving at Ranewash and picking you up, but then you realize the officer is wearing a ring with the Ranewash emblem on it. You still get arrested by the officer anyway, who locks you up to prevent you from spilling the truth about the school.
* InventoryManagementPuzzle: This book has a scavenger hunt that works similarly, though not quite as good as the one in ''Shop Till You Drop... Dead!''.
* KickMePrank: In one section, your teacher writes "HIT ME, KICK ME, SHOVE ME" on your forehead because she caught you trying to de-program your fellow students. Unfortunately for you, it's not just a prank; the zombies can't disobey an order, so they beat you to death.
* LaResistance: A student equivalent at least, but in the school there are a group of students who call themselves the "Runaways", who had escaped brainwashing and is secretly opposing the school. Both storylines have scenarios where you end up joining them.
* LuckBasedMission: You pick from a list of classes you have to survive, without getting too many "demerits" (and being sent to an automatic bad ending in detention.) Several important choices depend on factors like whether you can remember the last time you fell over in a gym class at school, or whether you are dressed correctly for the class you're supposed to be taking.
* MortonsFork:
** You have been sent to detention and brainwashed into a zombie. The teacher then sends you back to class because your punishment is to spy on other students and report them if they start to think for themselves. You overhear some kids talking about how weird the school is, and have to decide whether or not you'll try to fight the mind control. If you do, you let them escape, but it is implied your head will explode because you weren't supposed to be able to do this. If you don't, you turn them in. They are taken away to be brainwashed just like you, and the book insults you for being a snitch.
** If you go with the Book's "B" storyline (requiring you to pick from a list of classes which you have to survive), pretty much all choices turn out to be this. They will either lead to a bad ending (where you usually get killed), or earning a bunch of "Demerits" which invariably push you towards doom in the Detention Room.
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: The "zombies" in this school aren't undead, per se; they're human children who's stripped off their will to obey the school.
* PunnyName: The titular school is the Ranewash School in Nevada... which sounds like "Brain wash". Guess what kind of evil deeds they're pulling on the students?
* ShoutOut: The plot is kicked off by [[Film/TheyLive the protagonist finding a monocle that lets them see subliminal messages and shows other students as non-human.]]
* WouldHurtAChild: The teachers in Ranewash have NO qualms eliminating any kids who found out the truth about their academy (that means ''you''). Including siccing guard dogs to rip children apart, harvesting their innards, or in one bad ending, [[HighVoltageDeath turning on an electrified fence which you're climbing on and gleefully watching you fry]].
* ZombieApocalypse: Actually averted, since the "zombies" referenced in the title are living people who have just been brainwashed.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: #41: ''Danger Time'']]

* LuckBasedMission: In this book, you come up against the Zodiacs: representations of each star sign. Subsequently, certain choices are affected by your real life horoscope and, if you have the "wrong" sign, it's impossible to get around some of them without cheating.
* NoEnding: Should you choose to press a button marked "Time Loop", you're disappointed to find that the button doesn't do anything -- so you press it again, and again, and again and the book ends there.
* TimePolice: The book features a set whose motives vary depending on the storyline.
* TimeStandsStill: One bad ending involves you being frozen forever in time when you accidentally break a watch that controls the flow of time.
* TimeTravel: Part of the plot involves you traveling through time to defeat a set of villains, who vary depending on the storyline.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Special Edition #2: ''Return to Terror Tower'']]

* TheCameo: The woman who gave Sue away to the Lord Executioner makes an appearance. Remembering how that went down helps you make the right decision.
* CaveMouth: In one ending, giving the wrong code to enter Morgred's tower turns it into a giant mouth that bites you in half.
* GenderFlip: In one path you discover that Robin Hood is a woman.
* HeelFaceTurn: The Lord High Executioner is a major villain (and the main villain of the original Goosebumps book on which it's based) but in the best ending of the book, you defeat the evil king and the Executioner becomes good, having been under mind control the whole time.
* InventoryManagementPuzzle: This book has you picking three items out of a possible four, and using them at a possibly appropriate time. Pick the ''wrong'' item to use during the events, and a humiliating death usually results. One item is useless, as the one time you could use the object, [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption it doesn't help you at all]].
* KillItWithFire: In this book, you can be burned at the stake for sorcery.
* LongLostRelative: In one of the good endings, you help your two friends (a medieval prince and princess) overthrow their evil uncle and reclaim the throne. It is then discovered that you are their cousin and didn't know about it, so you get to rule the country with them.
* StrippedToTheBone: This book has an ending where living skeletons (who were burned alive by a dragon) skin you alive so they can have your skin.

[[/folder]]

* CreepyDoll: "Nasty Kathy"

* MeaningfulName: Hotel "Morte" -- it means Hotel "Death" in Italian and Portugese.

* GetIntoJailFree: In one ending, you accidentally set off a burglar alarm whilst trying to escape from the lodge. Police arrive and arrest you, thinking you were trying to break ''in'' ... and you happily play along with this so you can go to jail where the werewolves can't get you.

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: A devious example comes up during one sideplot, where talking animals hunt you down because you figured out a secret that they don't want any human to know. You try to reason with them a few times to no avail, and they eventually trap you inside an abandoned school. You decide to release a bunch of small animals that were trapped behind cages and glass habitats as a sign that you're a trustworthy human. The animals' response to your messianic efforts? [[{{Irony}} Use the small rodents you just liberated to attack and kill you]]. And ... [[CruelTwistEnding they do]].

* {{Fauxshadowing}}: Early in the first storyline, you're warned that jumping from comic-to-comic one time too many will have you crushed into an ink blot, forever. NONE of the bad endings involves this happening to you, although some supporting characters you come across might suffer this fate.

* PortalCut: One bad ending involves a portal closing too soon and bisecting the reader.
* ShoutOut: Aside from the superhero parodies mentioned above, there's a horror comic called ''[[Series/TalesFromTheCrypt The Cellar of Scary Stories]]''.

* TooDumbToLive: Two for the price of one in the Y's Guys scenario. First, the kids who became Wolfenbean ignores your warning about overusing the "Guest Shot!" teleportation technique, and promptly melts into an ink blot. Then, the other Y's Guys blame you and you nervously make a couple of jokes about what happened to him... to a group of super-powered kids who could easily beat you to death (which they apparently do.)

[[folder: #5: ''Night in Werewolf Woods'']]

* ButThouMust: Some don't require backtracking. In the first choice, you have to pick between staying in your cabin with Todd or leaving him to go to a campfire. If you pick the former, Todd will tell you he wants to be left alone. The next page picks up from the latter option with you going to the campfire anyway.
* CatchPhrase: "Hey! Hey! What do you say?" for Todd.
* IFellForHours: While the idea of falling forever is used as a bad ending in some of the books, this book deconstructs the horror by pointing out that if there's no end to the falling, then it's just simply endless, and even implies that the reader's character is starting to get bored. The book doesn't even end the story here, stating that "you" are doomed to fall for endless boring hours, and instead continues the book by having a pterodactyl fly "you" and Todd back upwards.
* NoEnding: In one ending, pressing a button marked STOP literally stops the story there and you can't go on any further. There's also another "ending" where you are told by some ants (via sign language) that they mean you and your friends no harm, but there is another enemy in the woods that you haven't seen yet, but then the book ends, even though you have not yet achieved anything, and seemed like it was just starting.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: "Sharkey" Murphy is nicknamed because "getting into a fight with him is like trying to survive a shark attack", but his real name is not mentioned.
* VideoGameCrueltyPunishment:
** One scene lets you choose to let your friend Todd fall into a bottomless pit to his doom, which promptly ends the story.
** Inverted when Sharkey and his brothers are being cornered by werewolves, as choosing to ''save'' them is what leads to a bad ending.
* WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou: At one point, there's a scene where you can [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential choose to let your friend Todd fall into a bottomless pit.]] If you do, the book immediately ends without explanation, not even calling you out for letting him fall.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: #18: ''Attack of the Beastly Babysitter'']]

* AnimatedTattoo: One storyline sees you stuck with a guy who has these and can, of course, use them as weapons and possibly kill you. One of the good endings involves you defeating him by destroying the main tattoo in the middle of his chest.
* {{Animorphism}}: There are endings where you turn into rats. However, you can reach a good ending where you are only a rat for a short time and you turn back once the creatures have the saliva sample from you they wanted.
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: "Stinko" in ''Attack of the Beastly Babysitter'' who constantly annoys your player character.
* BabysitterFromHell: The premise for the story.
* TheCameo: One of the titular beasts from ''Literature/TheBeastFromTheEast'' shows up in the story.
* CoversAlwaysLie: The cover depicts her as a reason person when she arrives but in the book she is just a normal looking, if a bit mousy, woman. Plus, in the book she has more human
* LuckBasedMission: There is a spinner in the back of the book that initially decides which of the two main storylines you will follow: "Fun" or "Games." If you get Games, rather than letting you make choices, a lot of the paths are decided by actual games such as flipping a coin or rolling a dice, etc. You also have to use the spinner at other points in the storyline.
* NoFairCheating: The maze does this, telling you that you would have known that was the wrong exit if you'd bothered to do the maze and you end up buried in rats.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: "Stinko". He's the reader's younger brother, but the book never reveals his real name.
* PainfulTransformation: A standout example, [[spoiler: where Zoe and the other rat people are constantly shifting between giant rat and human form. They want you because you can help cure it.]] It's explicitly called agonizing.
* RodentsOfUnusualSize: Zoe's race, a man-sized rat/person hybrid.

[[/folder]]

* {{Fauxshadowing}}: early in the first storyline, you're warned that jumping from comic-to-comic one time too many will have you crushed into an ink blot, forever. NONE of the bad endings involves this happening to you, although some supporting characters you come across might suffer this fate.

[[folder: #35: ''Hocus-Pocus Horror'']]

* AnimalLover: Your character, who have a soft spot for dogs. Your motivation for stopping Mysterio's act stems from wanting to prevent the mad magician from harming more animals after witnessing Mysterio electrocute a puppy on stage. In the book's best endings, you get to keep that puppy, Ralph, as a pet after defeating Mysterio,
* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: You started realizing something is amiss when Mysterio starts electrocuting a live puppy on-stage, which the audience cheering without realizing anything wrong. This prompts your investigation and sure enough, Mysterio is evil as you found out later.
* BalefulPolymorph: Mysterio's magical powder can transform either you and your friend Zack, or his puppy Ralph, into monsters. The cover art depicts either you or Ralph in one of these scenarios after being monsterized. There's also an ending where a run-in with a witch turns you into a rat.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: In one ending, you can wish for a ton of gold, which the genie makes appear directly above you, so it kills you when it falls.
* DeathDealer: Some of the bad endings reveals Mysterio's ability to throw cards with razor-sharp precision, enough to cut into flesh and slice up ropes (which drops a sandbag on you to your death).
* TheDogBitesBack: One storyline involves you trying to help a dog that was being used in an evil magician's stage act. At one point, should you try to run away and leave the dog to its doom, it attacks you while invisible and you get killed.
* ExactWords: Early in the adventure, Mysterio declares that you're in an act that you'll remember for ''the rest of your life''. Given that he intends to kill you in a deadly magic act minutes later...
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Try to flee from the magic act in the second storyline will get you bad endings, regardless of your choice.
* FreakyFridayFlip: In one of the bad endings due to Mysterio botching a body-switching spell (without asking your consent, as always) you may end up switching bodies with your friend Zack, or with Mysterio's puppy, Ralph.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: More often than not, you are able to defeat Mysterio by using his tricks against him, with spectacular results. For instance, using Mysterio's Vanishing Powder to banish him instead, stealing the magician's wand to defeat him, or being able to overpower Mysterio because he turned you into a monster... but couldn't figure out how to control you.
* KarmicDeath: Choosing to wish for "a ton of gold" rather than wishing to save your friend causes the gold to fall on you, and kill you. LaserGuidedKarma indeed.
* KillerRabbit: One of Mysterio's "summons"; if you escape the magician and fled into an alleyway, Mysterio will summon a literal killer rabbit to devour you.
* KnifeThrowingAct: You can be forced into this. The trick is designed for you to get your hand chopped off in front of the audience, but [[spoiler:you're decapitated when you sneeze and move your head.]]
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: In one part, you're running from an evil magician who plans to use you in his stage act. You think that a dog he was holding captive is now hidden inside his bag of tricks; but you decide not to take the bag with you, because you believe it's wrong to steal. This punishes you with a bad ending by having the now-invisible dog attack and presumably kill you -- even though you were trying to do the ''right'' thing by not stealing, and you didn't even know for certain that the dog was in the bag.
* StageMagician: Mysterio the Magician ''appears'' to be one, but after dragging you into becoming a volunteer for his tricks, you then realize something is amiss.
* VideoGameCrueltyPunishment: If you try to abandon the dog you were supposed to rescue and save your own skin, the dog will attack and kill you.

[[/folder]]

* TheCameo: The woman who gave Sue away to the Lord Executioner makes an appearance. Remember how that went down helps you make the right decision.

[[folder: #21: ''The Twisted Tale of Tiki Island'']]

* ArtifactOfDoom: The Tiki Eye, which you retrieve at the start of one storyline. Turns out the eye houses vengeful tiki spirits, but by destroying the eye you will then lift the island's curse.
* BittersweetEnding: In one ending you actually have to kill your friend to break the Tiki Eye's curse. You're sad, but decide that you did what you had to; and resolve to make sure the curse can't continue.
* CaveMouth: In one ending, "you" accidentally wander into the mouth of a giant sea monster lying in an underwater cavern.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: One part of the book has you and Ginny running away from mutated sea creatures, but the way out is blocked by an electronic door. You can either operate the numerical door panel, or pick up an eel to short out the panel. If you choose the former, you suddenly realize that there's no way you can figure out the code in the minute before the creatures catch up with you.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: One ending involves you actually killing your friend to stop the spread of the Tiki Curse. You're upset, but figure that you had no other choice.
* GhostPirate: Choosing to flee from the shark by entering an underwater cavern will have you being cornered by hordes and hordes of skeletal pirate ghosts looking for treasure. Subverted with one storyline revealing they're disguised human smugglers, but played straight in other paths where they're the real deal.
* NoFairCheating: The book asks you to complete a maze when you are captured by an octopus. The maze has one opening and one fake opening. If you don't bother to do the maze and choose the fake one, the book tells you off for cheating and you end up turning into an octopus when you bite the one attacking you.
* OurWerebeastsAreDifferent: Yeah, the giant octopus that attacks you, depicted on the front cover? It's actually a were-octopus, and if you choose to, as a last-resort, bite its tentacles so it will let you go, it turns out were-octopuses converts their victims by letting themselves get bitten.
* SchrodingersGun: In one subplot, the ghost pirate skeletons [[ScoobyDooHoax turn out to be human criminals in disguise]]. In another subplot, they are real ghosts.
* TentacledTerror: You might end up getting attacked by the hostile giant octopus shown on the cover, where the book gives you a chance to escape by completing a maze.
* ThreateningShark: What kickstarts your adventure; while snorkeling, you get attacked by a shark, forcing you to choose between two routes which leads to two different story branches.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Special Edition #7: ''Trick or... Trapped!'']]

* BadSanta: A possible ending is that you end up in a sleigh with an evil version of Santa, who pushes you ''out'' of the sleigh to your death.
* ChekhovsGunman: The class nerd Nathan which you meet in the first page shows up much later (after you've been through between one to three other houses trick-or-treating) as the host of the last house in the street... and he's trying to kill you at the end of Halloween Night for not being his friend.
* CoversAlwaysLie: Despite what the cover implies, at no point does a giant shaved orange gorilla offer you candy in the story. Although there is a scenario in the Orange House where you encounter a MadScientist's pet gorilla.
* DepravedDentist: The host of the Orange House, Dr. Bilington, which you don't find out until he abducts you while you're waiting for candy on his doorstep. If you can't escape from his house, one of the worst endings have you strapped on a dentist's chair in his office with ''him'' waving an electric drill at your face -- use your imagination on what's going to happen next.
* DisproportionateRetribution:
** Nathan lures the reader to a mansion so he can set a monster (known as "The Thing") that he created himself on him/her. The reader's crime? Not being Nathan's friend.
** You might get into a fight with a pirate during the haunted house party, where the pirate is more than eager to slice you up in public with his cutlass. Your crime? Becoming too friendly with the pirate's pet ghost.
* ElevatorEscape: In one of the bad endings, you try to escape The Thing by heading for a closing elevator in Nathan's mansion. But alas, the doors doesn't close on time, the Thing made his way through and you're now trapped in a confined monster with a monster ready to eviscarate you. Sweet dreams!
* ForceFeeding: One bad ending has you allowed to eat as much candy as you want, but you aren't allowed to ever stop eating and you die from the sugar overload.
* GainaxEnding: One of the weirdest ending in the book have you believing the whole thing to be AllJustADream (after narrowly surviving an encounter with Nathan's pet monster, the Thing) and finding yourself in your bedroom. But then, the Thing wakes up right next to you... the narration actually tells ''you'' to make up your mind on whether this is just another dream or a bad ending, because the writers are going trick-or-treating.
* HalloweenEpisode: The book is set on Halloween, as the reader goes trick-or-treating and has to choose between five houses which are all full of dangers to stop at.
* HeelFaceTurn: You can actually convert Nathan's PetMonstrosity, called "The Thing", to your side, by playing catch with it or playing a piano to sooth its rampage. Turns out the monster is just lonely and wanted friends, so the monster ends up on ''your'' side and escorts you out of Nathan's house after growling at its master.
* InventoryManagementPuzzle: This book has you searching for items throughout your quest and using them for the appropriate time. Unfortunately, the inventory system is so poorly implemented into the book, it doesn't enhance the experience.
* MortonsFork: During the Halloween party, you might end up getting into a fight against what you assumed to be someone dressed as a pirate, only to find out he's a ''real'' pirate (and he's not kidding when he says he wants your guts). If you can't offer him his favorite food, which is an apple, he'll kill you on the spot. If you ''do'' have an apple, you can bribe him with it -- but he still kills you.
* MusicSoothesTheSavageBeast: In this book you can try this trope on The Thing (and it's even called by name), and you are given a choice of instruments.
* NoEnding: Even by the standard of GYG, the book have some of the most baffling NonStandardGameOver scenarios. For instance, getting cornered by two ''real'' vampires (which you assumed to be costumed party-goers) where they bare their fangs at you... then steals your candy. The narration then lets out a BigNO and the story just ends there.
* NoFairCheating: This book, which uses an inventory puzzle, has an ending that punished you if you claim to have picked up an item that it's not possible for you to have acquired.
* NotAMask: While entering a house full of costumed party-goers, you comment on how disgustingly hideous a guy's goblin mask is as a compliment. You are actually offered a choice to tug at his mask, only to find out -- in horror -- that's his ''real'' face.
* QuicksandSucks: Entering Nathan's house -- the White House at the end of the street -- have you realizing the house actually contains an indoor jungle. With a quicksand, that drowns you.
* RandomEventsPlot: This book is noted for this. The premise of the book is that you choose which house to visit while trick-or-treating and then have to survive whatever's inside, but the houses tend to lead you into random and unrelated situations (such as being teleported to the North Pole or a jungle.)
* TakenForGranite: Confronting the monster known as "The Thing" in Nathan's house, you can defeat it by tricking it into looking at its reflection, at which point the Thing will inexplicably turn into stone.

[[/folder]]

%%* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: "Stinko" in ''Attack of the Beastly Babysitter''.

* MoonLogicPuzzle: At one point you can be captured inside a store by mannequin security guards, who put you on "trial" and ask whether you plead Guilty or Not Guilty. Pick Not Guilty, and the mannequins "reward" your innocence ... by turning you into a mannequin just like them. Pleading Guilty, on the other hand, leads to them "punishing" you with the worst thing they can imagine -- banishing you from the deadly, haunted department store you're trying to escape from.

* RandomEventsPlot: A rather extreme example. The book contains several sideplots that go in many different directions with no cohesive center to tie all the madness together. Even the origin of the twister that causes all these events vary wildly between quests.

* DisproportionateRetribution: Nathan lures the reader to a mansion so he can set a monster (known as "The Thing") that he created himself on him/her. The reader's crime? Not being Nathan's friend.

[[folder: #29: ''Invaders from the Big Screen'']]

* AndIMustScream: The film ''House of a Hundred Horrors'' has several bad endings where the siblings, John and Wendy, turns out to be evil, where they then steal your 3-D glasses and escapes from the movie, leaving you permanently trapped in a horror film.
* AnimalStampede: The giant ape movie set in a jungle have a bad ending where you get squashed by a stampeding herd.
* CannibalTribe: Subverted if you choose to enter ''Going Ape in Blastovision''; you can encounter a hostile tribe, but it turns out they're actually vampire extras from the horror movie playing next door working part-time. Makes no difference, because they eat you all the same.
* CoversAlwaysLie: The cover shows the giant ape from ''Going Ape in Blastovision'' playing in a crowded theater, in front of a panicking crowd. But if you chose the giant ape storyline in the book, you realize the theater to be empty save for you and your friend Laura. Also the cover replicates the ending of the original Film/KingKong1933 by showing the giant ape being attacked by airplanes in the city -- a scenario that never happens at any point in the book.
* DressingAsTheEnemy: One of the scenarios from ''Agent Z vs. Dr. Aqua'' have you infiltrating Dr. Aqua's lair by disguising yourself as a humanigators. You might end up having your disguise blown... [[OhCrap while in a room full of hostile, hungry humanigators who had no problems with eating human]].
* GiantFootOfStomping: Choosing the giant ape movie have a bad ending where the ape steps on you without noticing.
* HalfHumanHybrid: Dr. Aqua's minions from the ''Agent Z vs. Dr. Aqua'' movie are humanigators -- half-human, half-gators. A bad ending have you being turned into one of them in the process.
* HereWeGoAgain: In one path, you may successfully survive the ''House of a Hundred Horrors'' movie, but the cast promises to see you again "soon" and you then come across a poster for the sequel. In another ending, you save a kindly old lady from vampires and promise to visit her again, only to discover that she is a [[FurAgainstFang werewolf.]]
* HighVoltageDeath: While being trapped in a flooded room full of humanigators, you risk knocking a live television into the water... while you're standing ''in it''.
* InstrumentOfMurder: To escape the horror film, one of the routes you must take is by playing a piano in a rool full of instruments in order to get a clue. Play the wrong note, and the instruments will all come to life to kill you and your friends, you being the first victim as the piano's teeth turns into real teeth and chomps you down.
* KingKongCopy: One of the three movies you can pick, ''Going Ape in Blastovision'', is a Franchise/KingKong-esque adventure movie revolving around a giant ape in an uninhabited island. Entering said film will have you encountering other giant monsters and hostile natives, much like it's namesake.
* LaserGuidedKarma: The horror movie scenario have you helping a living portrait without eyes by repainting eyes on his face. The portrait then rewards you with a vital clue that leads to the best ending in that storyline.
* LivingDrawing: In the horror movie scenario you can come across an art room filled with unfinished drawings, all of which are alive. One painting which is 99% complete, save for the eyes, which you'll need to repaint in order to get a vital clue.
* MoonLogicPuzzle: One choice is determined by whether or not you know the meaning of the word "pince-nez", but you continue with the story only if you ''don't'' know -- if you do, you get a bad ending.
* NeverTrustATitle: The title ''Invaders from the Big Screen'' implies that movie characters are going to escape from the cinema screen, and invade the real world. Aside from one scenario, it's the opposite that happens.
* PrimateVersusReptile: The King Kong-knockoff film has a scene where the giant ape has to do battle with a giant snake, in a ShoutOut at the [[Film/KingKong1976 1976 King Kong film]]. Figuring out that since you're in the giant ape's movie, you'll need to find a way to help the ape win the fight, so that the movie can end for you to escape.
* RetGone: You can escape ''Agent Z vs. Dr. Aqua'', but one outcome from that storyline ends with you returning to the real world and finding out the movie no longer exists because of your intervention.
* TimeStandsStill: The horror movie scenario have you promising to help a LivingDrawing without eyes to repaint eyes on his face, in exchange for an important clue. But if you turned against your word and tries leaving without helping the portrait (with a poor excuse "you're short on time!") the portrait then curses you to be frozen in time for an eternity. It's a bad ending that borders on VideoGameCrueltyPunishment.
* TrappedInTVLand: The very premise of the story, where a pair of enchanted 3-D glasses transports you and a friend into one of three movies, and you must find a way to leave.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: #42: ''All-Day Nightmare'']]

* AlienAbducteesFightBack: In one of the three scenarios, you and your friend Max turns out to be alien abductees, who lose your memories after escaping your alien abductors. However, you can find an alien blaster while trying to regain your memories, at which point you can hijack the alien spaceship and force them to put your memories back together at gunpoint.
* BittersweetEnding: This book has an ending where not only is your adventure in the book revealed to be just a dream, [[SchrodingersButterfly but so is your entire human life]], and you're really just an animal. It ''sounds'' like a bad ending at first, until you realize that you are happy with your "new" life (mostly because it's your REAL life).
* FaceHeelTurn: The main choice you make will pit you against enemy secret agents, aliens, or werewolves. If you pick the latter, you can join a band of werewolf hunters, but you can also choose to become a werewolf yourself and hunt ''them''.
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Going with the "werewolf" storyline gives no real good ending: if you survive the book, you'll be a werewolf, a "were-hawk", or a regular wolf.
* FreakyFridayFlip: You can force the aliens who hijacked your memory to put them back, but unfortunately the aliens turns out to have ''two'' extra memory banks, and are unsure which one is yours. You're suppose to choose between either of the two, and if you chose wrongly, you end up switching minds with a bank robber. Note that you ''actually consider this to be a good ending'', because now you're an adult with a kid's body, and nobody will suspect a child as a criminal.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Happens if you choose to [[spoiler:shoot your enemy into space.]] Another character points out that you just killed someone, but you respond that you did what you had to, because this person was extremely dangerous.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Which kicks off the plot of the adventure. You start off an amnesiac and spends the entire story finding out who you really are -- may it be secret agents, werewolves, or alien abductees.
* LineOfSightName: The reader wakes up with amnesia, and meets a boy who also has amnesia. Since neither of you remembers his name, you decide to call him Max because of the slogan on his T-shirt. [[spoiler:In one ending you get your memories back and find out that Max is indeed his real name.]]
* MoonLogicPuzzle: In one scenario, you've had your memories erased and have learned that you are a secret agent. You vaguely recall that pressing a button on one of your gadgets will summon paratroopers to help you, but aren't sure ''which'' button. The book gives you a choice of two: EMER or PARA. If you go with the obvious choice of PARA, this actually ''paralyzes'' you, and the bad guys will get you. (EMER was short for EMERGENCY and is the right choice.)
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Max is technically this, since neither you nor he remembers his real name, so you called him "Max" because of the slogan on his T-shirt. [[spoiler:Averted in one ending where you discover that it ''is'' his real name.]]
* SchrodingersGun: The book starts with you and a boy called Max waking up with {{amnesia}} in an old creepy house. Depending on your choices, you and Max turn out to be either secret agents who underwent [[LaserGuidedAmnesia memory erasure]], [[AlienAbduction alien abductees]], or werewolves.
* SilverBullet: Comes into play in this book, where anything silver is dangerous to a werewolf.

[[folder:Special Edition #1: ''Into the Jaws of Doom'']]

* AIIsACrapshoot: The main villain of this book is a rogue super-computer who gained sentience, who then sics every exhibit in the museum to kill you.
* AntiFrustrationFeatures: Taken UpToEleven, as every bad ending contains a hint towards what would have been a better choice to take.
* AttackItsWeakPoint: The Robot Arm which attacks you on the first floor has a visible off-switch on it's side. You'll need to collect a boomerang in order to hit the switch from a distance.
* BeefGate: The Super Computer will sic certain minions to keep you confined to a single level, blocking your exit until you find the weapon necessary to defeat them. Namely, the Robot Arm on the first floor, the Visible Man on the second, and the Giganotosaurus Animatronic in the last.
* BigCreepyCrawlies: The giant mosquito is an unavoidable enemy.
* BlindedByTheLight: This is the method you use to defeat the Visible Man; because your enemy has no skin or eyelids, using the laser on him will render him helpless and easily defeated.
* BodyHorror: The Super Computer's henchman, the ''Visible Man'', who is a living, skinless human whose organs are exposed in full view.
* CompanionCube: Your partner, a mechanical device which calls herself "Pee-Dee-A". Late into the adventure, you finally found out she's actually a living PDA -- Personal Digitalized Assistant.
* FairyCompanion: in the final stages, the PDA finally gains a human form -- as a little fairy girl, who provides you a hint on how to defeat the Super-Computer who had transformed to a dragon.
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: This book does this trope very deviously for people who accidentally run into the giant magnet. To escape it, you need to discard ''almost every item'' you've acquired at that point. Only the boomerang gets a pass, but by that point of the game, you don't need it at all. This sets up an endless loop of bad endings, as the adventure's impossible to finish without the items you've left behind.
* GuideDangIt: This book may be too difficult for some readers to figure out, so R.L. Stine included a guide in the back of ''Literature/CheckoutTimeAtTheDeadEndHotel''.
* HallOfMirrors: One of the hardest obstacles the Super-Computer throws in your direction is a frustratingly difficult Maze of Mirrors on the third floor, which you need to obtain a laser gun from. But you risk running into a giant magnet which can strip you of all your equipment, rendering the book unwinnable.
* HeKnowsTooMuch: What kicks off the entire plot; you unintentionally found out that the Museum's Super-Computer is sentience, and it decides to kill you in order to make sure nobody knows.
* HelicopterBlender: An encounter with the helicopter model which activates on its own in the Aviation Room will lead to you being shredded by its rotors.
* HereWeGoAgain: This book has only one good ending, but that ending is this trope -- you are "rewarded" by being turned into your favorite action hero and having to battle dangers.
* HopelessBossFight: There are certain enemies in this book which you ''can't'' defeat, ever, and your best way would be to avoid a confrontation. Such as the germ, the helicopter, and the animatronic Giganotosaurus skeleton depicted in the front cover.
* ImprovisedWeapon: You defeat the giant mosquito by swatting it with the fire extinguisher.
* InventoryManagementPuzzle: This book has the most complex inventory system in the series. Not only can you discover numerous items, you can interact with them on multiple circumstances. You can even discard items if you feel like you won't need them any more. This flexibility comes with a price, of course. Grabbing some items [[ScriptedEvent triggers an event]], and if you don't have the proper item to counter said event (usually a monster appearance or death trap), you die. Some items aren't designed for multiple circumstances, and using them inappropriately will kill you. One item is completely useless, and if you choose it over a not-so-useless item, you're screwed. If you drop some items too early, you'll die when you'll need them later. If you haven't dropped enough items during one chase scene, the added weight will slow you down too much. [[ToughActToFollow No wonder the other novels couldn't replicate this]].
* KillerRobot: The Super-Computer himself, and two of his minions -- the Robot Arm and the animatronic Giganotosaurus skeleton.
* MishmashMuseum: The Hall of Incredible Science has ''everything''. Aviation, Paleontology, Biology, Biomes, Physics, they're all over the place.
* MoonLogicPuzzle: You're running from a man with no skin who's trying to kill you inside a museum. You need to kill him so you can use the stairs again and get to the third floor. You're in the gift shop along with a chemistry set, as well as a fire extinguisher you found previously. If you try to kill him by exposing him to the extinguishers intense cold, the recoil knocks you out and he strangles you. If you try to make the smoke bomb, a bad mixture causes it to blow up in your face. You make a noise bomb, he's still not incapacitated but you are. You make a stink bomb, you both suffocate. And no, there is no option to just kick him in the overly exposed balls. You're supposed to go into a maze, find the right direction without coming across the giant magnet that takes everything away from you permanently, find the laser gun guarded by the snake, throw a stinkbomb at the creature that likely wouldn't be bothered by it, take the laser, find your way out, and shoot the skinless man in the eyes to blind him so he falls down the steps, presumably knocking himself out. It's probably worth noting, the smoke bomb and the flash grenade do absolutely nothing positive and stop you from making the stink bomb, making the game unwinnable.\\\
Cheap endings aside (the germ and smoke bomb ones come to mind), this book has more internal consistency than most other books in the series. As for the "Visible Man" stalking you, the book gives you specific instructions on how to beat him if you were paying attention. First, if you were lucky enough to get the hint about needing the fire extinguisher back in the fourth floor, you'll know to keep it for the fire ants when reaching the third floor (and even if you didn't, it's simple to figure out anyway). After snagging the key that was contained in the ant farm and you use it to open up the gift shop, your friend P.D.A. contacts you though a walkie-talkie and specifically tells you that only the Laser will work on the Visible Man, which is located in the giant mirror maze. The noise bomb is useless, but the intro in the book warned you that some items are worthless by design, so no loose logic here. The intro also said that most items are only good to use once, and using them multiple times may do more harm than good (only the fire extinguisher can be successfully used twice...the other times, it's worthless). Lastly, avoiding the giant magnet was easy, assuming you checked your notebook map on floor three and learn not to go north too often (though it's pretty tough to hit the giant magnet).
* NintendoHard: This book has only one (ambiguously) good ending each, both of which are hard to get too without reaching almost [[TheManyDeathsOfYou every bad ending in them]]. This is lampshaded with the front cover reading "THERE'S ONLY ONE WAY OUT." (Instead of [[{{Tagline}} READERS BEWARE: YOU CHOOSE THE SCARE]]) and the blurb on the back of them.
* NoOSHACompliance: Deliberately invoked, where EverythingTryingToKillYou in The Hall of Incredible Science. The Super-Computer controlling all the exhibits wants you dead, after all.
* ShaggyDogStory: Even when reaching the one good ending, it's debatable how good it really is. Yeah, you defeat the supercomputer, but then your friend P.D.A. -- the avatar helping you for much of the adventure -- "rewards" your heroic actions by turning you into your favorite action hero (an Franchise/IndianaJones Expy) and re-creating events from the movies he stars in. Fun watching it, but not so fun running for your life from a stampede, especially after dealing with a supercomputer who nearly killed you mere hours ago. The final words your character utters, "Oh no! [[HereWeGoAgain Here we go again!]]", ''perfectly'' encapsulates your ironic situation.
* StinkBomb: You'll need to create one of these in the Gift Shop, compulsory for obtaining another weapon later on. The book actually offers you a choice of three bombs to create -- Stink, Noise, and Smoke, and the other two bombs are utterly useless.
* ThisLoserIsYou: Cheating an inventory mission results in the book scolding you for it.
* TrialAndErrorGameplay: Yep. You'll find yourself dying every now and then due to making the wrong choices, and forced to restart over and over to pick a different choice (or, you know, cheat by putting your fingers between pages). For instance, out of the three bombs you can make in the Gift Shop, one is useful and compulsory for your adventure, one will malfunction and kill you on the spot, and one is useless... that you ''don't'' find out until you're given the opportunity to use it. The book offer no hints on which is which.

[[folder:Special Edition #2: ''Return to Terror Tower'']]

* CaveMouth: In one ending, giving the wrong code to enter Morgred's tower turns it into a giant mouth that bites you in half.
* GenderFlip: In one path you discover that Robin Hood is a woman.
* HeelFaceTurn: The Lord High Executioner is a major villain (and the main villain of the original Goosebumps book on which it's based) but in the best ending of the book, you defeat the evil king and the Executioner becomes good, having been under mind control the whole time.
* InventoryManagementPuzzle: This book has you picking three items out of a possible four, and using them at a possibly appropriate time. Pick the ''wrong'' item to use during the events, and a humiliating death usually results. One item is useless, as the one time you could use the object, [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption it doesn't help you at all]].
* KillItWithFire: In this book, you can be burned at the stake for sorcery.
* LongLostRelative: In one of the good endings, you help your two friends (a medieval prince and princess) overthrow their evil uncle and reclaim the throne. It is then discovered that you are their cousin and didn't know about it, so you get to rule the country with them.
* StrippedToTheBone: This book has an ending where living skeletons (who were burned alive by a dragon) skin you alive so they can have your skin.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Special Edition #3: ''Trapped in the Circus of Fear'']]

* AllJustADream: One of the "good" endings uses this trope, where you're about to be captured by Madam Barabara's freaks... only to wake up in your bed all a sudden, your mom shaking you after hearing you screaming in the middle of the night. The next morning you decide to sit out of the circus trip and spend your holidays going elsewhere.
* AndIMustScream: Where to start? Permanently turning into a sideshow freak? Becoming a clown under Madam Barbara's service? Trapped in a jar of goop? Dancing ''forever''? This book notably have some of the darker endings compared to other Special Edition entries.
* BalefulPolymorph: The Circus' sideshow freaks ''[[WasOnceAMan used to be kids]]'' like yourself, who won the prize to join the circus and ends up falling under the evil ringleader's spell. Your bestie, Richie, gets separated early from you in the adventure and in one bad ending you realize Richie is now a BlobMonster in a bucket, while another -- a Lizard Boy named Danny who was the previous year's winner -- actively helps you escape from falling to the same fate. Of course, it goes without saying that in more than one bad ending, ''this can happen to you''.
* BananaPeel: In one scenario Mr. Peepers will try to help you escape Geyorg the clown by slipping banana peels. Unfortunately, depending on your choices, you ''might'' end up having Geyorg falling ''on'' you and crushing you to death.
* CainAndAbel: Among the circus' staff are a pair of twin sisters, the acrobats Sally and Susan, who serves the evil Madam Barbara. But while Sally voluntarily assists the villainous ringleader in capturing you and your friend Richie, Susan on the other hand is on your side, helping you escape in one ending.
* CassandraTruth: If you have a polaroid camera with you, one of the good endings have you taking pictures of Madam Barbara's activities and escaping the circus, and then trying to report her to the police. Unfortunately, your film ends up ruined (Note that this book happens in the 90s, where cameras use films) and nobody believes you. It's also a BittersweetEnding because you may have escaped the circus, your best friend Richie and the rest of the kids in the freakshow will remain there forever.
* CircusOfFear: Special edition book #3, ''Trapped in the Circus of Fear''.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: The best ending of the book have you [[spoiler: destroying or stealing Madam Barbara's jade amulet, rendering the evil ringmistress dead, banished or transformed into a monkey, at which point you free all the circus kids in the freakshow, all of them turning back to humans en masse. You are then made the new ringleader and holds a massive show in front of a cheering crowd, among them your proud parents, and your show becomes the biggest success in circus history]].
* FoodAsBribe: How you obtained Mr. Peepers' trust. Unfortunately, if he doesn't like your food, you're on your own and absolutely ''screwed''.
* InventoryManagementPuzzle: This book makes the reader choose three items out of a possible twelve. It doesn't punish you too severely for picking a bad item or two though.
* InvoluntaryDance: You might end up getting trapped by a musician's enchanted violin, whose music will force you to dance. If you didn't have a bullwhip with you, you'll be forced to dance for an eternity. Sweet dreams!
* IAmAHumanitarian: As it turns out, many of the circus' staff are cannibals, including Bostini the strongman (who turns out to be a werebeast), Geyorg the clown, and Madam Barbara herself.
* KnifeNut: One of Madam Barbara's henchman is Morton, the knife thrower, who will make you his assistant in one performance. Whatever you do, ''don't accept his offer'', he'll miss the board and his knife will end up in your guts.
* OffWithHisHead: One of the bad endings have you losing your head... but Madam Barbara managed to salvage your ears. She then resurrects you as a headless freak with two ears growing from that stump your head used to be, dubbing you the "Eerie Ear-ie Kid".
* KarmicTransformation: The villainous Madam Barbara delights in having children who fell under her power transformed into sideshow freaks. In one of the good endings, you hijacked her amulet and transforms ''her'' into a chimpanzee, and then have her locked in a cage forever.
* MeaningfulName: The circus' evil ringleader and BigBad of this story, Madam Barbara, whose ''real'' name is Madam ''Barbarous''.
* MonsterClown: One of Madam Barbara's henchman is the hulking clown, Geyorg, who either hunts you down for his boss or [[IAmAHumanitarian eats you]].
* NoEnding: This book requires you to choose three items from a list to use at different points in the book. If you make a wrong choice, the book will sometimes allow you to avoid a bad ending, but then send you back to the first page to start the story again with a different inventory. In one case, information gained from one such wrong ending is necessary to survive the final confrontation, so it's [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in this case.
* RedHerring: At least two of the eleven objects you start off with (you're allowed a maximum of three) turns out to be ''utterly'' useless. Namely, your lucky baseball cap which the book claims can make you feel lucky (both occasions you get to use it turns out badly for you) and the packet of peanuts that the narration states can help you if you get caught by rampaging elephants (no such thing occurs in the book).
* SnakesAreSinister: Played with the trapeze sisters, Sally and Sarah. They are both as nimble as snakes and wears a symbol of a black cobra on their leotards, but while Sally is genuinely evil and wants to hunt you down, Sarah is on your side, having grown to despise Madam Barbara's evil ways, and intends to save you from becoming another freakshow.
* ThirteenIsUnlucky: If you have your lucky baseball cap with you, you have a chance to partake in a TightropeWalking performance, the narration saying you feel lucky... unfortunately, the tightrope scene happens to land on page 13. The book then says you're on an ''unlucky'' page, at which point you fall off the ropes and to your death.
* TokenHeroicOrc: Mr. Peepers is the only clown in the circus who's on the side of good. While you can only obtain his help by bribing him with the proper items, at least he doesn't hunt you down like the rest of Madam Barbara's clown mooks.
* WhipItGood: One of the default items in this adventure is your bullwhip, which can come in handy if you're cornered by lions, or if you're trapped by the musician's spell.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Special Edition #4: ''One Night in Payne House'']]

* BedsheetLadder: An option in this book [[spoiler:and in fact it's how you'll reach the only good ending.]]
* HalloweenEpisode: The first of two in the ''Give Yourself Goosebumps'' line, set on Halloween night.
* HauntedHouse: The titular Payne House, which is full of ghosts and monsters.
* HereWeGoAgain: This book has only one good ending, but that ending is this trope -- you end up going back into the house for proof you were there.
* InventoryManagementPuzzle: This book makes the reader choose three items out of a possible twelve. Grabbing even one wrong item [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption will eventually lead you to failure, whether immediate or prolonged]].
* LuckBasedMission: You choose three of twelve items, and if you choose even ''one'' wrong item or go one incorrect route, you'll hit a bad ending. It's next to impossible to beat this one without running into nearly every bad ending in the book.
* NintendoHard: This book has only one (ambiguously) good ending, which is hard to get to without reaching almost [[TheManyDeathsOfYou every bad ending in the book]]. This is lampshaded with the front cover reading "THERE'S ONLY ONE WAY OUT." (Instead of [[{{Tagline}} READERS BEWARE: YOU CHOOSE THE SCARE]]) and the blurb on the back of them.
* NoEnding: This book has an "ending" where you run screaming through the house after someone startles you. The book then tells you that your friend was responsible -- but the story just ends there abruptly without explaining ''why'' it's the end.
* NoFairCheating: This book, which uses an inventory puzzle, has an ending that punished you if you claim to have picked up an item that it's not possible for you to have acquired.
* NonStandardGameOver: In this book, if you don't know a certain clue from a ''Goosebumps'' book, you can't continue any further as the clue is essential to surviving the story).
* RuleOfThree: A possible ending of this book is that you try to defend yourself with a baseball bat against a monster, but you miss three times and are then killed for this reason.
* ThisLoserIsYou: In this book, cheating an inventory mission results in the book scolding you for it.
* TooDumbToLive: In the one good ending of this book, you and your friend Trevor managed to escape Payne House, but both of you would've died without the help of two trick-or-treating teens helping you out of the house when you two were dangling from a white sheet. When both of you try to convince them that you survived the worst ordeal, and were bummed out that they didn't believe you, [[IdiotBall you two dare each other to go back in and get some proof so people will believe you, despite nearly dying that night in so many ways]].
* TheWallsAreClosingIn: Happens to you in this book when you encounter the Pink Room and need to have brought the right item to free yourself.
* WithFriendsLikeThese: In this book, you can die when your friend lures you into falling to your death. He had been killed earlier in the story and you didn't realize that he was a ghost, so now he doesn't want to haunt the house alone.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Special Edition #5: ''The Curse of the Cave Creatures'']]

* AndIMustScream: Getting defeated by the Cave Spirit as a Hunter will have you being turned into one of the cave's drawings, permanently. With the shaman who saved you early in the adventure finding your drawing, and sadly declaring the Cave Spirit have claimed ''another'' victim.
* BearsAreBadNews: As a Hunter, your final confrontation against the Cave Spirit will have him turning into a bear to battle against you.
* DemBones: As a spellcaster, your first enemy is a skeleton sent by the Cave Spirit, who can turn your flesh into bones simply by touching. You'll need to use the right spell to defeat it.
* ExactWords: In this book you agree to help a witch if she promises not to turn you into a frog, and she agrees. You save her, and she turns you into a snake, since you never said she couldn't do that. Another possible path/choice in the same book also has you try to stop a skeleton by pointing your magic wand at him and shouting "Stop skeleton!" but you accidentally hold the wand the wrong way, causing ''you'' to be affected by the spell instead since you have a skeleton underneath your skin too.
* FaceHeelTurn: In this book, a certain choice during your battle with the Cave Spirit results in you becoming more powerful than him -- causing you to switch bodies, because the Cave Spirit must ''always'' be the most powerful. You become evil and start plotting to kill him, as he is now in your human body.
* FreakyFridayFlip: Losing a duel against the Spirit as a Spellcaster will have... the Spirit swapping bodies with you. As it turns out, said Spirit is tired of being a spirit living in a cave for an eternity and wants to return to the mortal world, leaving you as the ''new'' Spirit. And thus the cycle continues, with you trying to find another victim who can someday defeat you so that you may return to the mortal world.
* HeroesPreferSwords: As a Hunter, you can choose between a variety of weapons, but the Seeker's Sword is a compulsory pick-up.
* GhostTown: As a spellcaster, you will inevitably run into a ''literal'' ghost town... and end up getting arrested by its sheriff, a ghost himself, who declares you're trespassing because the town is off-limit for ghosts only.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: This can happen to ''you'' in the Spellcaster path of this book; you're warned by a shaman that the spells you can cast can wind up backfiring on you. The spell that lets you shrink your enemies will shrink you instead if you use it at the wrong time, the spell that summons rain can cause a flood, etc.
* InescapableNet: As a Hunter, one of the items you can pick is the Sticky Net which entangles your enemies in an instant. [[spoiler: Subverted that the net ends up screwing you over in all opportunities you can use it, where it will entangle ''you'' instead of your enemies]].
* InventoryManagementPuzzle: After you choose to be a hunter or spellcaster in this book, you have the choice to pick several potential weapons or casting spells. One of the items will always be the default tool, though you can choose three others to aid you. Pick the wrong items or choose the worst time to use them, and you're dead.
* MortonsFork: In this book, you can end up stranded in a Lost Land where the populace is being terrorized by a giant mastodon. If you choose to attack the mastodon with a heavy mace, it gets knocked out but you also end up crushed to death underneath its massive body. If you choose to attack it with a small knife that's said to inexplicably terrify him, it gets so terrified that it accidentally rams into its lair's entrance, completely caving it in -- and a horrified onlooker from the lost civilization tells you that entrance was the only possible way for you and them to return to the outside world and it'd take them over a hundred years to clear it out.
* PteroSoarer: As a Hunter, your second-to-last confrontation against the Cave Spirit will have him transforming into a pterosaur, lifting you back to the cave where it all began, for one last confrontation.
* RedHerring: Regardless which path you choose, as a Spellcaster or a Hunter, there's one item in either path which is useless by default, and WILL screw you over the moment you chose to use it. [[spoiler: Namely, the Sticky Net for the Hunter, the Stop Time Spell for the Spellcaster]].
* ThirstyDesert: As a Spellcaster, you will need to cross a desert -- which contains a literal ghost town -- in order to confront the Spirit.
* TimeStandsStill: In this book, one of the talismans you can choose on the Spell Caster path is a watch that can stop time. However, it turns out to be [[UselessUsefulSpell the most useless talisman you can pick]], because the only two times you can use it result in either the watch breaking and freezing you in time forever or it not solving your biggest problem of being trapped in a pit in the middle of the desert.
* WizardDuel: As a spellcaster, the final confrontation between you and the Cave Spirit ends up like this. Woe betide if you got rid of your wand, because the Spirit can NoSell all your magic spells...

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Special Edition #7: ''Trick or... Trapped!'']]

* BadSanta: A possible ending is that you end up in a sleigh with an evil version of Santa, who pushes you ''out'' of the sleigh to your death.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Nathan lures the reader to a mansion so he can set a monster (known as "The Thing") that he created himself on him/her. The reader's crime? Not being Nathan's friend.
* ForceFeeding: One bad ending has you allowed to eat as much candy as you want, but you aren't allowed to ever stop eating and you die from the sugar overload.
* HalloweenEpisode: The book is set on Halloween, as the reader goes trick-or-treating and has to choose between five houses which are all full of dangers to stop at.
* InventoryManagementPuzzle: This book has you searching for items throughout your quest and using them for the appropriate time. Unfortunately, the inventory system is so poorly implemented into the book, it doesn't enhance the experience.
* MusicSoothesTheSavageBeast: In this book you can try this trope on The Thing (and it's even called by name), and you are given a choice of instruments.
* NoFairCheating: This book, which uses an inventory puzzle, has an ending that punished you if you claim to have picked up an item that it's not possible for you to have acquired.
* RandomEventsPlot: This book is noted for this. The premise of the book is that you choose which house to visit while trick-or-treating and then have to survive whatever's inside, but the houses tend to lead you into random and unrelated situations (such as being teleported to the North Pole or a jungle.)

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Special Edition #8: ''Weekend at Poison Lake'']]

* AdultsAreUseless: This is averted in three of the storylines in this book. One path in Storyline B (the ice cream hungry aliens) has you receiving help from Ben and [=JoJo=], the ice cream manufacturers, when you explain what's happening because you're not the first person the aliens have messed with. In one of the endings for Storyline C (the stolen jewels), your character is saved from the Bittermans by the old woman screaming "Fire!" This causes the townspeople to gather at the lake, where they see you being attacked and rescue you. In one of the good endings for Story D (the Moss-man story) you telling your parents that you're being stalked leads to them calling the police and having the man arrested.
* BigfootSasquatchAndYeti: The first storyline have a scenario where you encounter a sasquatch who pursues you relentlessly.
* BittersweetEnding: This book has one where you're stalked by a mysterious man trying to drag you into the titular lake. He does... and then you find out that you're one of a species that live at the bottom of the lake, who gave you to humans to raise. You're sad to leave your human parents but happy to finally be where you belong.
* BlandNameProduct: Ben and [=JoJo=] Ice Cream? Nope, NOT a knockoff of Ben And Jerry's ice cream. [[SarcasmMode Not at all]].
* CoversAlwaysLie: Approximately NONE of the storyline features the blue, amphibian monster seen on the front cover. [[spoiler: It's very likely a reference to the ending where you discover your lineage to be a fishman, but then you're going ''into'' the lake, and not ''out of'', like what the cover shows]].
* CursedWithAwesome: In one ending, you're forced to eat chocolate cake every day to keep a terrible smell from coming back.
* GoodFeelsGood: In this book, when you help the old woman recover her missing jewels, you feel good knowing you were able to help her even if you don't get a reward. But then you ''do'' get a reward from the old woman, along with the town renaming the lake after you for proving it's not poisonous.
* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: In one scenario of this book, your parents hire a guy to dress up as a lake monster to scare you (he even goes so far as to try to drown your dog in front of you.) It's played for laughs.
* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: This book has a double example -- there's the titular lake, but you're also living in a house called "Vampire Lodge".
* LuckBasedMission: This book is this, literally. You pick between four short adventures based on Poison Lake, which each come with their own designated lucky number between two to five, and you decide how (or if) to use your lucky number during any perilous moment. Interesting concept, but the problem is that there was no logical way to deduct when to appropriately use your luck, as it could backfire at anytime. Yeah ... there's a reason this book wasn't well regarded.
* RandomEventsPlot: This book doesn't even hide that it's this trope, since the trope ''IS'' part of the book's premise. The book has four varying storylines, which are equally weird and random.
* ThisIsGonnaSuck: The second storyline involving aliens have this happening to you in more than one bad ending, where you chose to use your lucky number only to have the outcome screw you over. For instance, having '''three''' times the bad luck resulting in '''three''' alien saucers surrounding you instead of just one.

[[/folder]]

* HalloweenEpisode: ''One Night in Payne House''
* HauntedHouse: ''One Night in Payne House''

* NintendoHard: This book has only one (ambiguously) good ending each, both of which are hard to get too without reaching almost [[TheManyDeathsOfYou every bad ending in them]]. This is lampshaded with the front cover reading "THERE'S ONLY ONE WAY OUT." (Instead of [[{{Tagline}} READERS BEWARE: YOU CHOOSE THE SCARE]]) and the blurb on the back of them.

* ShoutOut: Aside from the superhero parodies mentioned above, there's a horror comic called [[/Series/TalesFromTheCrypt The Cellar of Scary Stories]].

* NoFairCheating: The maze in does this, telling you that you would have known that was the wrong exit if you'd bothered to do the maze and you end up buried in rats.

* PainfulTransformation: A standout example is from ''Attack of the Beastly Babysitter'', [[spoiler:where Zoe and the other rat people are constantly shifting between giant rat and human form. They want you because you can help cure it.]] It's explicitly called agonizing.

* AnimateInanimateObject: 'Toy Terror: Batteries Included'' takes this trope to the extreme.

* BittersweetEnding: In one ending of ''The Twisted Tale of Tiki Island'' you actually have to kill your friend to break the Tiki Eye's curse. You're sad, but decide that you did what you had to; and resolve to make sure the curse can't continue.
* CaveMouth: In one ending for ''The Twisted Tale of Tiki Island'', "you" accidentally wander into the mouth of a giant sea monster lying in an underwater cavern.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: In ''The Twisted Tale of Tiki Island'', one part of the book has you and Ginny running away from mutated sea creatures, but the way out is blocked by an electronic door. You can either operate the numerical door panel, or pick up an eel to short out the panel. If you choose the former, you suddenly realize that there's no way you can figure out the code in the minute before the creatures catch up with you.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: One ending of ''The Twisted Tale of Tiki Island'' involves you actually killing your friend to stop the spread of the Tiki Curse. You're upset, but figure that you had no other choice.
* NoFairCheating: ''The Twisted Tale of Tiki Island'' asks you to complete a maze when you are captured by an octopus. The maze has one opening and one fake opening. If you don't bother to do the maze and choose the fake one, the book tells you off for cheating and you end up turning into an octopus when you bite the one attacking you.
* SchrodingersGun: In one subplot of ''The Twisted Tale of Tiki Island'', the ghost pirate skeletons [[ScoobyDooHoax turn out to be human criminals in disguise]]. In another subplot, they are real ghosts.

* AmusementParkOfDoom: The Carnival of Horrors from ''Escape from the Carnival of Horrors'' and its sequel, ''Return to the Carnival of Horrors''.
* CuttingOffTheBranches: ''Return to the Carnival of Horrors'' assumes one of the good endings from its prequel, despite there having been several -- and it's actually a plot point, since one of the first things you do on one story path is try to find the same ride you escaped in the first time.
* ExactWords: In "Return to the Carnival of Horrors", the frog-like owner of the road race game promises that if you lose you won't be killed by a blue tornado like the previous loser was. Once you lose the game, you are instead killed by a '''purple''' tornado.
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Playing Q Quest in "Return to the Carnival of Horrors" will end badly regardless of what number you pick. This is because A: You're told to pick a number between 8 and 14, but no matter what number you pick, you'll land on the skull image, and B: There's only one page you can go to and it leads to an ending where you're turned into a skeleton.
* HollywoodAcid: ''Return to the Carnival of Horrors'' features acidic slugs that burn "you" to death instantly.

* BittersweetEnding: In ''Zapped in Space'', you get trapped in your gaming partner's body, but both of you at least escaped the game intact, and your partner's mother turns out to be a better cook than yours.

* MoonLogicPuzzle: ''Zapped in Space'':

* NoFairCheating: In the 'Abominable Snow Woman' path in ''Zapped In Space'', at one point, you need to go through a maze, leading to 2 page numbers, the end of the maze, so to speak. However, you can actually only reach one if you were to do the maze. If you rely on blind guessing and guess the wrong page, then the Snow Woman will show up, declare you cheated, and trap you in the game for good. Something similar happens in ''Attack Of The Beastly Babysitter.''
* ViewersAreGoldfish: ''Zapped in Space'' uses this against you in the Abominable Snow Woman storyline. In one part of the book, the right clue to advance in the game was given away with the game's poster when you entered the arcade way back in page 3 or 4. [[ChekhovsGun There was a minor description of the lights' colors near the game's poster that was irrelevant at the time]], but was a major clue for later. This effect is magnified if you do the Abominable Snow Woman storyline ''second''. Unless you have a sharp memory or cheated to see the answer, you'll have to guess the right colors for the lights. Guess wrong, and you'll be led in the wrong direction.

* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler: Zeke]] in ''Lost in Stinkeye Swamp''. Although the cause of this character's death, and reasons for remaining in this world as a ghost change depending on what path the reader has taken.
* TheDogBitesBack: ''Lost in Stinkeye Swamp'' has an ending in which you are eaten by your own goldfish, which is pissed off that you haven't bothered to care for it as you were too busy trying to escape the book.
* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: The titular swamp from ''Lost in Stinkeye Swamp''.

* BlandNameProduct: In ''Shop Till You Drop … Dead!'' you and Julie borrow "Splotch" (Swatch) watches to time yourselves during a bet.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: During the final confrontation in ''Shop 'Til You Drop...Dead!'', in one scenario, you and Julie get your hands tangled by the heart attack backpack, and your mutated friend Reggie is marching towards you, ready to devour you. Your options are either to attack him, or stall him until 1 AM (when he'll change back as a human). If you choose to fight, Julie simply asks "how are we supposed to fight if our hands are caught in this stupid backpack?!" The book then remarks, "Good question. Too bad you don't have a good answer!" Cue Reggie devouring you two.
* EvilElevator: ''Shop Til You Drop... Dead!'' has one in the mall you have to escape.
* InventoryManagementPuzzle: ''Shop Til You Drop... Dead!'''s scavenger hunt has you going through floors two through six, and acquire as many items as possible before hitting floor seven, the final showdown. Skipping some floors or doing some actions wrong causes you to grab some weaker replacement items -- or not acquiring some items at all, which affects the final confrontation. Also, going through the scavenger hunt in the wrong order may get you killed in other floors, since you need those items to survive. On floor seven, at one point the books asks you if you have one item or the other. It's possible to have none of them, but that option isn't included on that page.
* MoonLogicPuzzle: At one point in ''Shop Till You Drop ... Dead!'' you can be captured inside a store by mannequin security guards, who put you on "trial" and ask whether you plead Guilty or Not Guilty. Pick Not Guilty, and the mannequins "reward" your innocence ... by turning you into a mannequin just like them. Pleading Guilty, on the other hand, leads to them "punishing" you with the worst thing they can imagine -- banishing you from the deadly, haunted department store you're trying to escape from.
* ParanormalMundaneItem: In ''Shop Till You Drop … Dead!'', the protagonists are on a ScavengerHunt to find a number of items in a night department store. Goods found in this store include among the rest a Heart-Attack Backpack that suffocates people until they have a heart attack, and a toy ape that comes to life at night.
* SchrodingersGun: In ''Shop Till You Drop...Dead!'', the monster that awaits you on the seventh floor can be either a toy ape that comes to life at midnight or... [[WithFriendsLikeThese your friend Reggie who turns into a monster at midnight]].
* TakenForGranite: In ''Shop Till You Drop... Dead!'' two endings turn you into a mannequin and a cardboard cutout.

* {{Animorphism}}: The A-plot in ''Alone in Snakebite Canyon'' is ''built'' on this trope. Most of the bad endings involve you being turned into some kind of animal, including a mosquito, a bear, a tarantula, a mouse, a raven, a fish, a snake, and a kangaroo rat.
* InvoluntaryShapeshifting: ''Alone in Snakebite Canyon'' is practically '''based''' on this trope, with at least one named character ending up stuck in a random animal-form by most endings.
* MortonsFork: ''Alone in Snakebite Canyon'' at one point presents a pair of animal morphs that [[LampshadeHanging even the book admits sound less-than-ideal]]: a slow-as-molasses tarantula morph to cross a busy street, or a mosquito morph through a bat infested cave, right after you ate a mosquito when you were in bat morph minutes earlier. The choices end as well as you expect. [[TakeAThirdOption The logical third option]] -- i.e., turn into a tarantula and wait in the cave until the snake eyes reset into two other and presumably better animal choices -- was completely absent.

* CrazyCatLady: Katrina Madd from ''Night of a Thousand Claws''. Some of the endings have you pull an EnemyMine, while one of the truly good endings reveals the real, good Katrina had been held hostage by her brother Jacob since before the book started. After freeing her, she decides to confront the impostor you met at the beginning.
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: "Story A" from "Night of a Thousand Claws" has no completely good ending. In the two endings where the reader wins, his or her parents will either become the new "Keeper of the Cats" or the reader himself/herself will turn into a dog.
* LittleBitBeastly: One of the endings of ''Night of a Thousand Claws'' ends with you defeating the evil {{cat|folk}}people and leaving the island forever, only to realize on the drive home that you have grown a dog tail.
* MortonsFork: ''Night of a Thousand Claws'': You have been cornered and are about to be devoured by ghost cats. The book then presents you with a wordsearch puzzle to determine whether you'll survive. If you don't solve the puzzle, the cats eat you, and you are told it's your own fault for being too lazy to solve a simple puzzle. If you ''do'' solve it … the cats eat you anyway, because you were too absorbed in the puzzle to notice them advancing on you.

* ThisLoserIsYou: In ''Night of a Thousand Claws''; you have to make a list of words from the phrase "Spiral staircase", and if you don't get enough, the book insults you for your laziness in getting such a simple task wrong.

* AndIMustScream: ''House of a Hundred Horrors'' have several bad endings where the siblings, John and Wendy, turns out to be evil, where they then steal your 3-D glasses and escapes from the movie, leaving you permanently trapped in a horror film.

* HereWeGoAgain: In ''Invaders From the Big Screen'', you may successfully survive the ''House of a Hundred Horrors'' movie, but the cast promises to see you again "soon" and you then come across a poster for the sequel. In another ending, you save a kindly old lady from vampires and promise to visit her again, only to discover that she is a [[FurAgainstFang werewolf.]]

* MoonLogicPuzzle: ''Invaders From the Big Screen'' has one choice determined by whether or not you know the meaning of the word "pince-nez", but you continue with the story only if you ''don't'' know -- if you do, you get a bad ending. A similar thing happens in ''Welcome To The Wicked Wax Museum'', where you can only avoid a bad ending if you can't find your lifeline on your palm. If you can, you notice it's shorter than it used to be, and you end up dead.

* RealityWarpingIsNotAToy: In The "B" Storyline of ''It's Only a Nightmare'', you are able to control your dreams by (in a sense) "wishing" in your mind what happens next, but [[YourMindMakesItReal your dreams have an effect on you in the real world]], and can even kill you (ItMakesSenseInContext). To make it worse, each dream is controlled by your thoughts first, so it is possible to just randomly think of something, and have that come true even though you didn't really want it to.

* NoEnding: Should you choose to press a button marked "Time Loop" within ''Danger Time'', you're disappointed to find that the button doesn't do anything -- so you press it again, and again, and again and the book ends there.
* TimePolice: In the book ''Danger Time''.

* TimeTravel: Done in ''Danger Time''.

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: Taken UpToEleven in "Into the Jaws of Doom", in which every bad ending contains a hint towards what would have been a better choice to take.

* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: ''Into the Jaws of Doom'' does this trope very deviously for people who accidentally run into the giant magnet. To escape it, you need to discard ''almost every item'' you've acquired at that point. Only the boomerang gets a pass, but by that point of the game, you don't need it at all. This sets up an endless loop of bad endings, as the adventure's impossible to finish without the items you've left behind.
* GuideDangIt: ''Into the Jaws of Doom'' may be too difficult for some readers to figure out, so R.L. Stine included a guide in the back of ''Checkout Time at the Dead-End Hotel''.

* HereWeGoAgain: ''Into the Jaws of Doom'' has only one good ending, but that ending is this trope -- you are "rewarded" by being turned into your favorite action hero and having to battle dangers.

* InventoryManagementPuzzle: ''Into The Jaws of Doom'' has the most complex inventory system in the series. Not only can you discover numerous items, you can interact with them on multiple circumstances. You can even discard items if you feel like you won't need them any more. This flexibility comes with a price, of course. Grabbing some items [[ScriptedEvent triggers an event]], and if you don't have the proper item to counter said event (usually a monster appearance or death trap), you die. Some items aren't designed for multiple circumstances, and using them inappropriately will kill you. One item is completely useless, and if you choose it over a not-so-useless item, you're screwed. If you drop some items too early, you'll die when you'll need them later. If you haven't dropped enough items during one chase scene, the added weight will slow you down too much. [[ToughActToFollow No wonder the other novels couldn't replicate this]].

* MoonLogicPuzzle: ''Into the Jaws of Doom'': You're running from a man with no skin who's trying to kill you inside a museum. You need to kill him so you can use the stairs again and get to the third floor. You're in the gift shop along with a chemistry set, as well as a fire extinguisher you found previously. If you try to kill him by exposing him to the extinguishers intense cold, the recoil knocks you out and he strangles you. If you try to make the smoke bomb, a bad mixture causes it to blow up in your face. You make a noise bomb, he's still not incapacitated but you are. You make a stink bomb, you both suffocate. And no, there is no option to just kick him in the overly exposed balls. You're supposed to go into a maze, find the right direction without coming across the giant magnet that takes everything away from you permanently, find the laser gun guarded by the snake, throw a stinkbomb at the creature that likely wouldn't be bothered by it, take the laser, find your way out, and shoot the skinless man in the eyes to blind him so he falls down the steps, presumably knocking himself out. It's probably worth noting, the smoke bomb and the flash grenade do absolutely nothing positive and stop you from making the stink bomb, making the game unwinnable.\\\
Cheap endings aside (the germ and smoke bomb ones come to mind), ''Into the Jaws of Doom'' has more internal consistency than most other books in the series. As for the "Visible Man" stalking you, the book gives you specific instructions on how to beat him if you were paying attention. First, if you were lucky enough to get the hint about needing the fire extinguisher back in the fourth floor, you'll know to keep it for the fire ants when reaching the third floor (and even if you didn't, it's simple to figure out anyway). After snagging the key that was contained in the ant farm and you use it to open up the gift shop, your friend P.D.A. contacts you though a walkie-talkie and specifically tells you that only the Laser will work on the Visible Man, which is located in the giant mirror maze. The noise bomb is useless, but the intro in the book warned you that some items are worthless by design, so no loose logic here. The intro also said that most items are only good to use once, and using them multiple times may do more harm than good (only the fire extinguisher can be successfully used twice...the other times, it's worthless). Lastly, avoiding the giant magnet was easy, assuming you checked your notebook map on floor three and learn not to go north too often (though it's pretty tough to hit the giant magnet).
* NintendoHard: ''Into the Jaws of Doom'' has only one (ambiguously) good ending each, both of which are hard to get too without reaching almost [[TheManyDeathsOfYou every bad ending in them]]. This is lampshaded with the front cover reading "THERE'S ONLY ONE WAY OUT." (Instead of [[{{Tagline}} READERS BEWARE: YOU CHOOSE THE SCARE]]) and the blurb on the back of them.

* ShaggyDogStory: Even when reaching the one good ending in ''Into the Jaws of Doom'', it's debatable how good it really is. Yeah, you defeat the supercomputer, but then your friend P.D.A. -- the avatar helping you for much of the adventure -- "rewards" your heroic actions by turning you into your favorite action hero (an Franchise/IndianaJones Expy) and re-creating events from the movies he stars in. Fun watching it, but not so fun running for your life from a stampede, especially after dealing with a supercomputer who nearly killed you mere hours ago. The final words your character utters, "Oh no! [[HereWeGoAgain Here we go again!]]", ''perfectly'' encapsulates your ironic situation.

* ThisLoserIsYou: ''Into the Jaws of Doom'', cheating an inventory mission results in the book scolding you for it.

* CaveMouth: In one ending of ''Return to Terror Tower'', giving the wrong code to enter Morgred's tower turns it into a giant mouth that bites you in half.
* GenderFlip: In ''Return to Terror Tower'' you discover that Robin Hood is a woman.
* HeelFaceTurn: The Lord High Executioner is a major villain in ''Return to Terror Tower'' (and the main villain of the original Goosebumps book on which it's based) but in the best ending of the book, you defeat the evil king and the Executioner becomes good, having been under mind control the whole time.
* InventoryManagementPuzzle: ''Return to Terror Tower'' has you picking three items out of a possible four, and using them at a possibly appropriate time. Pick the ''wrong'' item to use during the events, and a humiliating death usually results. One item is useless, as the one time you could use the object, [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption it doesn't help you at all]].
* KillItWithFire: In ''Return to Terror Tower'' you can be burned at the stake for sorcery.
* LongLostRelative: In one of the good endings of ''Return to Terror Tower'', you help your two friends (a medieval prince and princess) overthrow their evil uncle and reclaim the throne. It is then discovered that you are their cousin and didn't know about it, so you get to rule the country with them.
* StrippedToTheBone: "Return to Terror Tower" has an ending where living skeletons (who were burned alive by a dragon) skin you alive so they can have your skin.

* InventoryManagementPuzzle: ''Trapped in the Circus of Fear'' makes the reader choose three items out of a possible twelve. It doesn't punish you too severely for picking a bad item or two though.

* NoEnding: ''Trapped in the Circus of Fear'' requires you to choose three items from a list to use at different points in the book. If you make a wrong choice, the book will sometimes allow you to avoid a bad ending, but then send you back to the first page to start the story again with a different inventory. In one case, information gained from one such wrong ending is necessary to survive the final confrontation, so it's [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in this case.

* BedsheetLadder: An option in ''One Night in Payne House'' [[spoiler:and in fact it's how you'll reach the only good ending.]]

* HereWeGoAgain: ''One Night in Payne House'' has only one good ending, but that ending is this trope -- you end up going back into the house for proof you were there.
* InventoryManagementPuzzle: ''One Night in Payne House'' makes the reader choose three items out of a possible twelve. Grabbing even one wrong item [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption will eventually lead you to failure, whether immediate or prolonged]].
* LuckBasedMission: ''One Night in Payne House''. You choose three of twelve items, and if you choose even ''one'' wrong item or go one incorrect route, you'll hit a bad ending. It's next to impossible to beat this one without running into nearly every bad ending in the book.
* NintendoHard: ''One Night In Payne House'' has only one (ambiguously) good ending each, both of which are hard to get too without reaching almost [[TheManyDeathsOfYou every bad ending in them]]. This is lampshaded with the front cover reading "THERE'S ONLY ONE WAY OUT." (Instead of [[{{Tagline}} READERS BEWARE: YOU CHOOSE THE SCARE]]) and the blurb on the back of them.
* NoEnding: ''One Night in Payne House'' has an "ending" where you run screaming through the house after someone startles you. The book then tells you that your friend was responsible -- but the story just ends there abruptly without explaining ''why'' it's the end.
* NoFairCheating: ''One Night in Payne House'', which uses an inventory puzzle, has an ending that punished you if you claim to have picked up an item that it's not possible for you to have acquired.
* NonStandardGameOver: In ''One Night in Payne House'', if you don't know a certain clue from a ''Goosebumps'' book, you can't continue any further as the clue is essential to surviving the story).
* RuleOfThree: A possible ending of ''One Night in Payne House'' is that you try to defend yourself with a baseball bat against a monster, but you miss three times and are then killed for this reason.
* ThisLoserIsYou: In ''One Night in Payne House'', cheating an inventory mission results in the book scolding you for it.
* TooDumbToLive: In the one good ending of ''One Night in Payne House'', you and your friend Trevor managed to escape Payne House, but both of you would've died without the help of two trick-or-treating teens helping you out of the house when you two were dangling from a white sheet. When both of you try to convince them that you survived the worst ordeal, and were bummed out that they didn't believe you, [[IdiotBall you two dare each other to go back in and get some proof so people will believe you, despite nearly dying that night in so many ways]].
* TheWallsAreClosingIn: Happens to you in ''One Night In Payne House'' when you encounter the Pink Room and need to have brought the right item to free yourself.
* WithFriendsLikeThese: In ''One Night in Payne House'', you can die when your friend lures you into falling to your death. He had been killed earlier in the story and you didn't realize that he was a ghost, so now he doesn't want to haunt the house alone.

* ExactWords: In "The Curse of the Cave Creatures" you agree to help a witch if she promises not to turn you into a frog, and she agrees. You save her, and she turns you into a snake, since you never said she couldn't do that. Another possible path/choice in the same book also has you try to stop a skeleton by pointing your magic wand at him and shouting "Stop skeleton!" but you accidentally hold the wand the wrong way, causing ''you'' to be affected by the spell instead since you have a skeleton underneath your skin too.
* FaceHeelTurn: In ''The Curse of the Cave Creatures'', a certain choice during your battle with the Cave Spirit results in you becoming more powerful than him -- causing you to switch bodies, because the Cave Spirit must ''always'' be the most powerful. You become evil and start plotting to kill him, as he is now in your human body.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: This can happen to ''you'' in the Spell Caster path of ''The Curse of the Cave Creatures''; you're warned by a shaman that the spells you can cast can wind up backfiring on you. The spell that lets you shrink your enemies will shrink you instead if you use it at the wrong time, the spell that summons rain can cause a flood, etc.

* InventoryManagementPuzzle: After you choose to be a hunter or spell caster on ''The Curse Of The Cave Creatures'', you have the choice to pick several potential weapons or casting spells. One of the items will always be the default tool, though you can choose three others to aid you. Pick the wrong items or choose the worst time to use them, and you're dead.
* MortonsFork: In ''The Curse of the Cave Creatures'', you can end up stranded in a Lost Land where the populace is being terrorized by a giant mastodon. If you choose to attack the mastodon with a heavy mace, it gets knocked out but you also end up crushed to death underneath its massive body. If you choose to attack it with a small knife that's said to inexplicably terrify him, it gets so terrified that it accidentally rams into its lair's entrance, completely caving it in -- and a horrified onlooker from the lost civilization tells you that entrance was the only possible way for you and them to return to the outside world and it'd take them over a hundred years to clear it out.

* TimeStandsStill: In ''The Curse of the Cave Creatures'', one of the talismans you can choose on the Spell Caster path is a watch that can stop time. However, it turns out to be [[UselessUsefulSpell the most useless talisman you can pick]], because the only two times you can use it result in either the watch breaking and freezing you in time forever or it not solving your biggest problem of being trapped in a pit in the middle of the desert.

* InventoryManagementPuzzle: ''Trick or... Trapped!'' has you searching for items throughout your quest and using them for the appropriate time. Unfortunately, the inventory system is so poorly implemented into the book, it doesn't enhance the experience.
* MusicSoothesTheSavageBeast: In ''Trick or ... Trapped!'' you can try this trope on The Thing (and it's even called by name), and you are given a choice of instruments.
* NoFairCheating: ''Trick or ... Trapped!'', which uses an inventory puzzle, has an ending that punished you if you claim to have picked up an item that it's not possible for you to have acquired.
* RandomEventsPlot: ''Trick Or ... Trapped!'' is noted for this. The premise of the book is that you choose which house to visit while trick-or-treating and then have to survive whatever's inside, but the houses tend to lead you into random and unrelated situations (such as being teleported to the North Pole or a jungle.)

* AdultsAreUseless: This is averted in three of the storylines in ''Weekend at Poison Lake''. One path in Storyline B (the ice cream hungry aliens) has you receiving help from Ben and [=JoJo=], the ice cream manufacturers, when you explain what's happening because you're not the first person the aliens have messed with. In one of the endings for Storyline C (the stolen jewels), your character is saved from the Bittermans by the old woman screaming "Fire!" This causes the townspeople to gather at the lake, where they see you being attacked and rescue you. In one of the good endings for Story D (the Moss-man story) you telling your parents that you're being stalked leads to them calling the police and having the man arrested.

* BittersweetEnding: ''Weekend at Poison Lake'' has one where you're stalked by a mysterious man trying to drag you into the titular lake. He does ... and then you find out that you're one of a species that live at the bottom of the lake, who gave you to humans to raise. You're sad to leave your human parents but happy to finally be where you belong.

* CursedWithAwesome: In an ending to ''Weekend at Poison Lake, you're forced to eat chocolate cake every day to keep a terrible smell from coming back.
* GoodFeelsGood: In ''Weekend at Poison Lake'', when you help the old woman recover her missing jewels, you feel good knowing you were able to help her even if you don't get a reward. But then you ''do'' get a reward from the old woman, along with the town renaming the lake after you for proving it's not poisonous.
* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: In one scenario of ''Weekend at Poison Lake'', your parents hire a guy to dress up as a lake monster to scare you (he even goes so far as to try to drown your dog in front of you.) It's played for laughs.
* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: ''Weekend At Poison Lake'' has a double example -- there's the titular lake, but you're also living in a house called "Vampire Lodge".
* LuckBasedMission: ''Weekend at Poison Lake'' is this, literally. You pick between four short adventures based on Poison Lake, which each come with their own designated lucky number between two to five, and you decide how (or if) to use your lucky number during any perilous moment. Interesting concept, but the problem is that there was no logical way to deduct when to appropriately use your luck, as it could backfire at anytime. Yeah ... there's a reason this book wasn't well regarded.
* RandomEventsPlot: ''Weekend at Poison Lake'' doesn't even hide this, since the trope ''IS'' part of the book's premise. The book has four varying storylines, which are equally weird and random.

* GenderBlenderName: Drew Mortegarth in ''Checkout Time at the Dead End Hotel''. It's a plot point that you don't know Drew's gender and thus, which of two potential Drews is the right one.
* HellHotel: ''Checkout Time at the Dead-End Hotel''.
* IntercontinuityCrossover: Jenna from ''Scream of the Evil Genie'' has a cameo in one ending for ''Checkout Time at Dead-End Hotel''. If you accept her help, she actually transports you into ''her'' book.
* NoEnding: In ''Checkout Time at the Dead-End Hotel", choosing to drink clam juice will lead to the book telling you that clam juice can cause strange affects on people, such as causing the books they're reading to have missing letters. The remainder of the page begins leaving out random letters itself, and then ends saying the book is now unreadable (even though this shouldn't affect the characters themselves) .
* SpotTheImposter: A plot point in ''Checkout Time at the Dead-End Hotel'' is the reader having to decide which of two people is Drew Mortegarth, who has promised to help you escape. But because the reader has never met Drew (and [[GenderBlenderName Drew's name leaves their gender ambiguous]]), picking out the real one may prove difficult.

* CainAndAbel: Jacob and Katrina Madd in ''Night of a Thousand Claws'' play with this trope, as the roles of Cain and Abel switch depending on the storyline.
* CatsAreMean: ''Night of a Thousand Claws'' is ''built'' on this trope, and the reader's character is all too aware of it. Other examples include Dora's cat Puff in ''Beware of the Purple Peanut Butter'', and Uncle Darius' cat Sapphire in one dimension in ''Elevator to Nowhere''.

* CursedWithAwesome: In an ending to ''The Werewolf of Twisted Tree Lodge'', you now know that monsters are terrified of dust, and you can't ever clean your home again, so you won't have to do any more chores.
* GetIntoJailFree: In one ending of ''The Werewolf of Twisted Tree Lodge'', you accidentally set off a burglar alarm whilst trying to escape from the lodge. Police arrive and arrest you, thinking you were trying to break ''in'' ... and you happily play along with this so you can go to jail where the werewolves can't get you.
* MortonsFork: ''The Werewolf of Twisted Tree Lodge'' presents an interesting scenario when you're trapped in the middle of the woods, facing a bunch of creatures that could easily eviscerate you for their own amusement. One option is to trick them into playing a game of tag and running like hell to escape, but they easily catch up and kill you. The alternative? Convince them that they'd all turn on each other if they try to eat you, because they're all different creatures, and require different needs when it comes to eating humans. By doing that, they'd either let you live to prevent turning on each other, or go all divide and conquer to see who gets to eat you. Instead, they claim that they're diplomatic monsters, and that their different needs doesn't interfere at all with feeding on you, so you still wind up dead.
* ShoutOut: In ''The Werewolf of Twisted Tree Lodge'', you see a man in black with a suitcase, and [[Series/{{Goosebumps}} the papers start falling out of it]].
* SilverBullet: Explicitly subverted in ''The Werewolf of Twisted Tree Lodge''. There are silver items at the titular lodge, but the werewolves aren't affected by this.

* BittersweetEnding: ''It's Only a Nightmare'' has an ending where not only is your adventure in the book revealed to be just a dream, [[SchrodingersButterfly but so is your entire human life]], and you're really just an animal. It ''sounds'' like a bad ending at first, until you realize that you are happy with your "new" life (mostly because it's your REAL life).
* NotWearingPantsDream: In one bad ending of ''It's Only A Nightmare'', you confront Lord Morphos on a stage in front of a packed auditorium, only to suddenly find yourself in just your underwear. While the audience starts laughing at you, the Sleep Master appears to tell you that you're now trapped in this nightmare forever.
* RandomEventsPlot: ''It's Only a Nightmare!'' tends to randomly shift from event to event, so much so it's difficult to determine what choice will do what (even more so than normally). Kind of [[JustifiedTrope justified]] as the book takes place in a dream world most of the time.

* SelfDeprecation: As mentioned below, one part sees you noticing a ''Give Yourself Goosebumps'' book that is marked as number 456, poking fun at how many books the series, and the franchise in general, had.
* ShapedLikeItself: At one point in ''It's Only a Nightmare'', you have the choice of reading either an ancient book of sleep remedies, or a ''Give Yourself Goosebumps'' book titled "Nightmares Are No Fun." If you pick the ''Give Yourself Goosebumps'', of course it's about the same subject as the book you're reading in the real world; so you have to go to page 1 and start the story again.

* NeverTrustATitle: The titular elevator in ''Elevator to Nowhere'' does take you somewhere; you use it to travel to other dimensions.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: In an ending in ''Hocus Pocus Horror''; you can wish for a ton of gold, which the genie makes appear directly above you, so it kills you when it falls.
* TheDogBitesBack: One storyline of ''Hocus-Pocus Horror'' involves you trying to help a dog that was being used in an evil magician's stage act. At one point, should you try to run away and leave the dog to its doom, it attacks you while invisible and you get killed.
* KarmicDeath: Choosing to wish for "a ton of gold" rather than wishing to save your friend in ''Hocus Pocus Horror'' causes the gold to fall on you, and kill you. LaserGuidedKarma indeed.
* KnifeThrowingAct: You can be forced into this in ''Hocus-Pocus Horror''. The trick is designed for you to get your hand chopped off in front of the audience, but [[spoiler:you're decapitated when you sneeze and move your head.]]
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: In ''Hocus Pocus Horror'', you're running from an evil magician who plans to use you in his stage act. You think that a dog he was holding captive is now hidden inside his bag of tricks; but you decide not to take the bag with you, because you believe it's wrong to steal. This punishes you with a bad ending by having the now-invisible dog attack and presumably kill you -- even though you were trying to do the ''right'' thing by not stealing, and you didn't even know for certain that the dog was in the bag.
* VideoGameCrueltyPunishment: In ''Hocus-Pocus Horror'', if you try to abandon the dog you were supposed to rescue and save your own skin, the dog will attack and kill you.

* AdultsAreUseless: Averted in one ending of ''Escape From Horror House'', where your teacher helps you to defeat the poltergeists using magnets.
* EnemyMine: In ''Escape From Horror House'', one storyline involves you deciding whether to work with a medium or a ghostbuster in order to defeat poltergeists. The two hate each other and each accuses the other of being a fraud, but you have the option of making them work together just this once.
* HauntedHouse: ''Escape from Horror House''. The latter book has you trying to get rid of poltergeists that are making your house haunted.
* MindOverMatter: A possible outcome in ''Escape From Horror House'' is that there is no poltergeist -- the mysterious events in your house are caused by you, or your sister, being telekinetic and not knowing about it.
* NeverTrustATitle: Nowhere in ''Escape From Horror House'' are you required to escape from a house -- the story is based around you getting rid of poltergeists that have invaded a house.
* YourHeadAsplode: One of the bad endings in ''Escape from Horror House''.

* FaceHeelTurn: One ending of ''Into the Twister of Terror'' is that you merge with the twister and have a great time destroying everything in your path.
* MortonsFork: No fewer than four examples in ''Into the Twister of Terror'':

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: A devious example comes up in ''Into the Twister of Terror''. During one sideplot, talking animals hunt you down, because you figured out a secret that they don't want any human to know. You try to reason with them a few times to no avail, and they eventually trap you inside an abandoned school. You decide to release a bunch of small animals that were trapped behind cages and glass habitats as a sign that you're a trustworthy human. The animals' response to your messianic efforts? [[{{Irony}} Use the small rodents you just liberated to attack and kill you]]. And ... [[CruelTwistEnding they do]].
* RandomEventsPlot: ''Into the Twister of Terror'' is one extreme example. The book contains several sideplots that go in many different directions with no cohesive center to tie all the madness together. Even the origin of the twister that causes all these events vary wildly between quests.
* ThisLoserIsYou: In ''Into the Twister of Terror'', if you choose to go into the storm cellar during a hurricane rather than search for your dog, you get out safely but are told what a wimp you are and that as a result, you didn't get to have any adventures.
* TimeTravel: Annoying a wind deity in ''Into the Twister of Terror'' gets you sent back hundreds of years in time.

* AdultsAreUseless: Played with in one ending of ''Scary Birthday To You!'' where the lady next door breaks up your birthday party, deciding it's getting out of hand, because your parents asked her to supervise and make sure everyone was safe. Sure, she ruined your party, but at least your parents asked someone to look out for you (whereas in most of the other books they happily sit back and let you wander into danger.)
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Happens in two endings of ''Scary Birthday to You''! In one ending, after your birthday has been ruined, you blow out the candles on your cake and wish you could have had a better day -- so you get sent back to the start of the book to do the story over again. In another, you're trapped with a sadistic entertainer holding you hostage, so you make a wish to be "as far away from him as possible" which sends you to the middle of a desert.
* HollywoodAcid: ''Scary Birthday To You!'' has an ending where Dr. [=MacDeath=] sprays acid over you during a paintball game, resulting in instant death.
* ImpossibleTask: In ''Scary Birthday to You!'', one of the items you need to get in a scavenger hunt is "blood from a turnip". However, it ''is'' possible to get this -- Dr. [=MacDeath=] even tells you how in one path.
* NonStandardGameOver: In ''Scary Birthday To You!'' (if you choose to talk it out reasonably with the insane entertainer holding you and your friends hostage, you cannot continue because the book says it should have been obvious that there was no way he would ever play fair with you).
* SchrodingersGun: In one ending of ''Scary Birthday to You!'', the creepy birthday entertainer Dr. [=MacDeath=] [[FriendlyScheming turns out to be just pulling horror-themed pranks on you without meaning any harm]]. In other subplots, he is actually evil.
* VideoGameCrueltyPunishment: Averted in ''Scary Birthday to You!'' where the only way to get a good ending in one situation is if you choose not to save your friend who's trapped in a ballroom with dancing ghosts. The book tells you it's [[InsaneTrollLogic his own fault for being boring enough to be interested in ballroom dance.]]

* BoardingSchoolOfHorrors: In ''Zombie School'', you're sent to an elite boarding school that turns out to be one of these when you discover that all your fellow students are zombies. The book is organized accordingly: you pick from a list of classes that you have to survive, and certain choices earn you "demerits" that will lead you to a bad ending in detention.
* InventoryManagementPuzzle: ''Zombie School'' has a scavenger hunt that works similarly, though not quite as good as the one in ''Shop Till You Drop... Dead!''.
* KickMePrank: In ''Zombie School'', your teacher writes "HIT ME, KICK ME, SHOVE ME" on your forehead because she caught you trying to de-program your fellow students. Unfortunately for you, it's not just a prank; the zombies can't disobey an order, so they beat you to death.
* LuckBasedMission: ''Zombie School''. You pick from a list of classes you have to survive, without getting too many "demerits" (and being sent to an automatic bad ending in detention.) Several important choices depend on factors like whether you can remember the last time you fell over in a gym class at school, or whether you are dressed correctly for the class you're supposed to be taking.

* ShoutOut: The plot of "Zombie School" is kicked off by [[Film/TheyLive the protagonist finding a monocle that lets them see subliminal messages and shows other students as non-human.]]
* ZombieApocalypse: Actually averted by ''Zombie School'', since the "zombies" referenced in the title are living people who have just been brainwashed.

* LuckBasedMission: In ''Danger Time'' you come up against the Zodiacs: representations of each star sign. Subsequently, certain choices are affected by your real life horoscope and, if you have the "wrong" sign, it's impossible to get around some of them without cheating.

* TimeStandsStill: One bad ending of ''Danger Time'' involves you being frozen forever in time when you accidentally break a watch that controls the flow of time.

* BittersweetEnding: ''All-Day Nightmare'' has an ending where not only is your adventure in the book revealed to be just a dream, [[SchrodingersButterfly but so is your entire human life]], and you're really just an animal. It ''sounds'' like a bad ending at first, until you realize that you are happy with your "new" life (mostly because it's your REAL life).
* FaceHeelTurn: The main choice you make in ''All-Day Nightmare'' will pit you against enemy secret agents, aliens, or werewolves. If you pick the latter, you can join a band of werewolf hunters, but you can also choose to become a werewolf yourself and hunt ''them''.
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Going with the "werewolf" storyline from ''All-Day Nightmare'' gives no real good ending: if you survive the book, you'll be a werewolf, a "were-hawk", or a regular wolf.

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Happens in ''All-Day Nightmare'' if you choose to [[spoiler:shoot your enemy into space.]] Another character points out that you just killed someone, but you respond that you did what you had to, because this person was extremely dangerous.

* LineOfSightName: In ''All-Day Nightmare'', the reader wakes up with amnesia, and meets a boy who also has amnesia. Since neither of you remembers his name, you decide to call him Max because of the slogan on his T-shirt. [[spoiler:In one ending you get your memories back and find out that Max is indeed his real name.]]
* MoonLogicPuzzle: In one scenario of ''All-Day Nightmare'', you've had your memories erased and have learned that you are a secret agent. You vaguely recall that pressing a button on one of your gadgets will summon paratroopers to help you, but aren't sure ''which'' button. The book gives you a choice of two: EMER or PARA. If you go with the obvious choice of PARA, this actually ''paralyzes'' you, and the bad guys will get you. (EMER was short for EMERGENCY and is the right choice.)
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Max in ''All-Day Nightmare'' is technically this, since neither you nor he remembers his real name, so you called him "Max" because of the slogan on his T-shirt. [[spoiler:Averted in one ending where you discover that it ''is'' his real name.]]
* SchrodingersGun: ''All-Day Nightmare'' starts with you and a boy called Max waking up with {{amnesia}} in an old creepy house. Depending on your choices, you and Max turn out to be either secret agents who underwent [[LaserGuidedAmnesia memory erasure]], [[AlienAbduction alien abductees]], or werewolves.
* SilverBullet: Comes into play in ''All-Day Nightmare'' where anything silver is dangerous to a werewolf.