History Main / ChessWithDeath

* Famously occurs in Ingmar Bergman's ''Film/TheSeventhSeal'', pictured above. This is the origin of the "chess with the reaper" form of this trope.[[note]]Not specifically the origin: The Knight mentions that he has seen Death play chess on paintings; this is true, the motif of Death playing chess exists [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0b/Taby_kyrka_Death_playing_chess.jpg/450px-Taby_kyrka_Death_playing_chess.jpg as a motif in a Swedish church]] (although whether or not the game is chess or checkers or some other game is hard to make out)[[/note]] Interestingly here Death isn't above cheating slightly. At one point he impersonates a priest the knight confesses his sins to, and mentions that he has a strategy that he is sure will beat Death. So Death (still pretending to be a priest) asks what it is. So the knight tells him. Death thanks him for the knowledge and leaves. The knight also tips over the chess board (mainly to distract Death so that Death won't see his friends slipping away) and claims not to remember where the pieces were. Death, however, has not forgotten.

* In TopTen spin-off ''{{Smax}}'', there is actually a specific Death responsible for playing chess with "wily peasants". His name is Lionel. Naturally, he even looks like the GrimReaper in ''TheSeventhSeal''. Just as naturally, he isn't very good at chess (that's why the peasants always win).
* In Grant Morrison's ''{{Seaguy}}'', the eponymous hero plays chess with a none-too-clever, black-white colorblind Death.
** Just to clarify, being color blind means that you can't distinguish between two colors, usually red and green. IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU CAN'T SEE "IN COLOR." Thus, black-white color blindness means you can't tell if somethings black or white. You can' see other colors just fine.(aAd yes, You can see black and white things, you just can't tell if they are black or white.)

->''{{Death}} looked long and hard at the board. The abbot waited to see what long-term, devious strategies were being evolved. Then his opponent tapped a piece with a bony finger. "[[AC:Remind me again,]]" he said, "[[AC:[[{{Bathos}} how the little horse-shaped ones move]].]]"''

* A Halloween-themed episode of ''{{Benson}}'' involved Benson challenging Death to a game of Trivial Pursuit, wagering his life against that of the person Death actually came to collect. He wins because Death just hasn't been keeping up with popular film..."Charles Bronson?!"

* ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'''s tribute to Gary Gygax has Gygax [[http://xkcd.com/393/ driving Death to desperation]] with a game of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''

* In the 2011 short film ''Dave Vs. Death'', David [[NameOfCain Kane]] dies, and in the void between life and the afterlife he propositions Death for a game of chess. The rules dictate that for every piece David loses, one of his loved ones will die. [[spoiler:By the end it's revealed as a XanatosGambit on David's part: all his friends were plotting behind his back, so if he beat Death then he would regain life, but if he lost, then he would take all his false friends with him to the grave. Death doesn't like the fact that Dave cheated on him, and starts a new game, although Dave's "friends" are still dead.]] Death is played by Julian Richings, who had earlier portrayed Death in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''.

* In ''VisualNovel/SocratesJonesProPhilosopher'', Socrates and his daughter Ari are sent to the philosophers' afterlife realm after getting into a car accident. Ari convinces the Arbiter there to let Socrates return back to the living world (she's actually still 'alive', but Socrates is not) if he can give an acceptable answer to a centuries-old "wager" of what the true source of morality is -- a wager that incidentally has been answered correctly only ''once'' in all of human history. Oh, and if he fails, ''both'' of them will become trapped forever in the afterlife. [[spoiler:He succeeds.]]

* In ''TheSims 2'', if a Sim dies one of their loved ones can bargain for the dead Sims soul in some cases. If Death accepts, he plays a game of "Which hand is their soul in?" with the living Sim, success or failure is based on the relationship points between the two Sims.

** This is happens in pretty much anytime Death appears. Various characters have defeated him at bowling and hot dog eating contests in order to retain their mortal souls.

* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'' and ''Literature/TheTalesOfBeedleTheBard''- "The Tale of the Three Brothers". In which case each brother "tricks" death by crossing the river safely, and each wins a "prize". They unknowingly are putting up their lives for bargain, as the first brother (who wins an unbeatable wand), shouts about his good fortune so that another man slits his throat and steals it form him. The second brother has won a stone to reawaken the dead, and recalls back a past flame; but as the dead cannot belong among the living, his lover suffered back on Earth, and the second brother took his own life to be with her in the afterlife. The third brother had won a cloak of invisibility, which he used to "hide" from death until he was old and ready to "welcome Death as an old friend".

* ReturnToZork's final showdown puts the player against the BigBad Morpheus in a game of Survivor [[AbsurdlyHighStakesGame for both their own lives and the Kingdom of Zork]]. The game is chess-like and only has two pieces. The Mage Canuk and The Wizard Trembyle, [[HumanChess who actually are those two characters]] that have been [[TakenForGranite turned to stone.]] As well as all the other major magic wielders in the game who's statues blankly observe the contest. If Morpheus wins, the player shares the fate of the others. If the player wins, the spell over the others is broken and [[BigDamnHeroes they use their considerable power to send him back to]]...[[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere where is he from again?]]

A character gets into a contest of some sort with TheGrimReaper, {{Satan}}, or some other supernatural entity, usually with some dire consequence if the human loses. This is OlderThanFeudalism, with examples dating back to Greek myths of the 5th century BC - Apollo had at least one musical duel, the Muses had another musical contest, and Athena had a weaving contest with Arachne (the details vary between different versions, but the end result is that Arachne ended up being turned into a spider).

Note that the Greek Gods were prone to throwing tantrums if they were beaten and cursing the mortals for it - having the supernatural entity take a defeat on the chin could have originally been considered a subversion.

* ''Seris/{{Scrubs}}'' once featured J.D. playing Connect Four with Death in an ImagineSpot, and Death wins on the diagonal, prompting J.D. to say "Pretty sneaky, Death!"

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "Hell Is Other Robots", the Robot Devil explains that the [[ContractualGenreBlindness Fairness In Hell Act]] requires him to give visitors the option of challenging him to a fiddle contest to win back a robot's soul (in this case, Bender's). A solid gold fiddle is even part of the deal[[hottip:*:Fry asks about its practicality, thinking it'd weigh hundreds of pounds and sound terrible; the Robot Devil says it's more for show than anything else]]. Losers only get a smaller, silver fiddle, and the Robot Devil may kill them at his discretion (in this case, Fry). Of course, playing well on a solid gold fiddle is pretty hard as it is, and the Robot Devil's prehensile tail serves as a third arm. Leela, who accepted the challenge with the explanation that playing the fiddle was just like the drums, yells "Time for the drum solo!" and [[SubvertedTrope beats the Robot Devil unconscious with the gold fiddle]].

* ReturnToZork's final showdown puts the player against the BigBad Morpheus in a game of Survivor [[AbsurdlyHighStakesGame for both their own lives and the Kingdom of Zork]]. The game is chess-like and only has two pieces. The Mage Canuk and The Wizard Trembyle, [[HumanChess who actually are those two characters]] that have been [[TakenForGranite turned to stone.]] As well as all the other major magic wielders in the game who's statues blankly observe the contest. If Morpheus wins, the player shares the fate of the others. If the player wins, the spell over the others in broken and [[BigDamnHeroes they use their considerable power to send him back to]]...[[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere where is he from again?]]

* In the PC game ''Wishbone and the Amazing Odyssey'', dying causes Wishbone to play an unnamed board game with Pluto (Hades). The first to the potion of Asclepius that restores life wins. Opting out of playing is an automatic game over.

* In ''TheWitcher'', the ghost of a gambler challenges Geralt to a popular dice game for the soul of a boy Geralt has become guardian of. When challenged to mortal combat by a more powerful spirit of death for a soul, Geralt remarks, "Thank god, I was afraid you wanted to play chess."

* ''TheSeventhSeal'' example is parodied in ''Film/BillAndTedsBogusJourney'', with our heroes besting the Reaper (who, in this movie, looks almost ''exactly'' like he did in ''TheSeventhSeal'') instead in games like [[BestOutOfInfinity Battleship, Clue, and Twister]]. The Reaper is a SoreLoser here, insisting a rematch each time he loses. Eventually the Reaper gives up [[DefeatEqualsFriendship and joins them]]. The multiple wins become a plot point in the novelization and comic adaptation, where the boys get killed several times during the final showdown with their {{Evil Twin}}s and make Death bring them back each time by citing all the games. Likewise, in the novelization, the villain tries to invoke this after he is killed, coincidentally suggesting the same games Bill and Ted played with Death. The Grim Reaper refuses since he just found out he is ''really bad'' at those games.

* Parodied in ''{{Bottom}}'' when Eddie -- as part of a ploy to trick Richie into letting him back into the flat after being kicked out -- plays on Richie's recent fortune-teller inspired paranoia about dying by dressing up as Death. Richie challenges him to the standard game of chess, which hits a snag when 'Death' admits he doesn't know the rules. Richie then suggests [[TabletopGame/{{Clue}} Cluedo]], which hits a snag when 'Death' reveals that he knows perfectly well that Richie always cheats by looking at the mystery cards. They settle on I-Spy, which hits yet ''another'' snag when 'Death' betrays an inability to spell.
* In ''Series/{{Reaper}}'', Sam plays quarters (a game bouncing coins into a shot glass) with the Devil. He loses. He plays again and is going to win... but an angel CRUSHES HIS HAND. Cause the forces of good don't want him to win. While it's all part of their plan, they really didn't need to be such assholes about it.
* ''{{Scrubs}}'' once featured J.D. playing Connect Four with Death in an ImagineSpot, and Death wins on the diagonal, prompting J.D. to say "Pretty sneaky, Death!"

** Music/TenaciousD's song "Tribute" describes the band's encounter with "a shiny demon" who demands that they play "the best song in the world" or lose their souls. They do so and blow the stunned devil out of the water, but afterwords inform the audience that they can't remember how that song went, and "this is just a tribute".

* From the ancient [[EgyptianMythology Egyptian]] tales of Prince Khaemwase, the sorcerer-prince Khaemwase Setna went on a quest to find the [[MacGuffin Book of Thoth]]. He found it, but it was guarded by an even better sorcerer, who challenged him to several games of draughts (checkers). Setna had no chance against a guy who'd been perfecting his game for several hundred years, and each time Setna lost, he would sink lower into the ground, and was due to be completely swallowed up on his fourth game. However, his brother managed to get [[FunctionalMagic the amulet of Ptah]] and save him before he was killed, allowing Setna to grab the Book of Thoth and run. Though Egyptian, this story is only known from the 1st century C.E.

* [[{{ComicStrip/Dilbert}} Dogbert]] once escaped death by walking away from the game (Scrabble in this case) on his turn and leaving the issue unresolved. Death should've specified a time limit beforehand.

A character gets into a contest of some sort with TheGrimReaper, {{Satan}}, or some other supernatural entity, usually with some dire consequence if the human loses. This is OlderThanFeudalism, with examples dating back to Greek myths of the 5th century BCE - Apollo had at least one musical duel, the Muses had another musical contest, and Athena had a weaving contest with Arachne (the details vary between different versions, but the end result is that Arachne ended up being turned into a spider).

** Wait a second, being color blind means you see the world in various shades of black, white, gray. How is Death unable to distinguish between white and black? [[{{Headscratchers}} Wouldn't that just make him blind?]]