History Main / GambitPileup

XanatosSpeedChess is simply an ordinary occurrence here. A PsychologicalThriller is more likely to have one of these. Expect lots of IKnowYouKnowIKnow. Expect a lot of people to be OutGambitted, a lot of {{Unwitting Pawn}}s, and ''maybe'' someone to have the LastPlanStanding. Compare GambitRoulette, where one person has an improbable plan that would only make sense if he/she is near omniscient. Also compare MultilayerFacade. Done well, strongly affirms TheVillainMakesThePlot.

A PsychologicalThriller is more likely to have one of these. Expect lots of IKnowYouKnowIKnow. Expect a lot of people to be OutGambitted, a lot of {{Unwitting Pawn}}s, and ''maybe'' someone to have the LastPlanStanding. Compare GambitRoulette, where one person has an improbable plan that would only make sense if he/she is near omniscient. Also compare MultilayerFacade. Done well, strongly affirms TheVillainMakesThePlot.

* ''{{Maverick}}'' has a honey. In the end, it's revealed that basically every named character in the movie was conspiring with one or more of the other characters against the rest of them.

** ''Oblivion'' has a fun example in the Brotherhood of Shadows. [[spoiler:You're getting your orders by finding them in specific containers, carrying out the kill, then finding the next note somewhere else nearby. Your boss finds you because you've started killing people within the brotherhood, but he's already worked out that someone is switching the orders. You find the note-switcher, and he's been hired by someone else, but won't tell you who. You return to your boss to find that the real traitor and the leaders of the brotherhood have killed him. You and the others go to meet the (dead) wife of your god, and the traitor starts killing the others. You're prepared for this and stop him. And of course, the Night Mother knew about all of this all along and decided to let it happen.]]

* The second season of ''{{WITCH}}'' ends with everybody trying to put the screws on everybody else. Nerissa is trying to get the Heart of Earth by killing Lillian's cat familiar Napoleon at the same time that the girls have [[spoiler:let Phobos out of prison to take ''her'' two hearts. Phobos]] decides to screw the girls over by using the power of Nerissa's hearts once he takes them, but the girls planned for this by [[spoiler:convincing Raythor to do a HeelFaceTurn. Raythor tricks Phobos]] into invading Kandrakar, which would cause him to relinquish control of the hearts he took, but just before [[spoiler:Phobos]] crosses the plane into Kandrakar, [[spoiler:Cedric eats him and gains his powers AND Nerissa's]]. Also, Raphael Sylla and the government, who watched the final battle, planned to discover the girls' secret identities by registering Sylla as a teacher at the girls' school, but [[ScrewedByTheNetwork we probably won't get to see that]]. Note that, while most of this Xanatos Gambits weren't there in the original comic, the started Sylla-Gambit was eventually pulled of in it and even worked - until the oracle pulls a literal DeusExMachina (it's even {{Lampshaded}}) and hits the reset button.

** Planners include: Clow Reed, Fei Wong Reed[[hottip:*: the BigBad, who in and of himself creates so many overly complex gambits that even ''he'' gets confused]], Yuko Ichihara, Tsubasa "Syaoran Jr." Li, CardCaptorSakura Kinomoto, Ashura-O, Syaoran "Syaoran Sr." Li ([[spoiler:aka Cloney]]) and his wife Sakura Li, Tomoyo-Hime, Queen Nadeshiko and King Fujitaka ([[spoiler:before being [[RetGone Ret Gone'd]]]]), and probably several others offscreen. None of these people collaborated to any significant degree when planning their gambits, except ''maybe'' Clow and Yuko, who collaborated on the early and penultimate stage details and loose end tying. The rest was all independent {{Xanatos Roulette}}s crashing from all conceivable directions into one another. ''Diagrams are of absolutely no use here''.

* The end of the Yellow Chapter of ''PokemonSpecial'' started with {{EvilPlan}}s, continued into some ''heroic'' {{Xanatos Roulette}}s, and in the end [[spoiler:Giovanni's apparent BigDamnHeroes moment]] actually turned out to be part of Lance's plan and Yellow somehow managing to outwit him. It gets crazier later on. Suffice it to say ''everyone'' gets to play XanatosSpeedChess at some point - even ''[[spoiler:[[IdiotHero GOLD]] disguised as Guile Hideout]]''!

* ''ASongOfIceAndFire'' is nothing but one long GambitPileup, combining all of the characters' various {{Xanatos Gambit}}s and {{Xanatos Roulette}}s with an AnyoneCanDie setting.

->'''Solidus:''' I'll leave you alive, Jack, because you're still manipulable!
->'''Fortune:''' Speaking of manipulation, it's time for me to steal Arsenal since I've been manipulating you from the start!
->'''Solidus:''' Actually, I tricked Ocelot into manipulating you into manipulating me!
->'''Ocelot:''' Fools! I've been manipulating everything from behind the scenes!
->'''Magic Hand:''' But actually, ''I've'' been manipulating ''you''!
->'''Raiden:''' Alright, this has officially become a load of crap.

* The ''RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'' [[PerspectiveFlip reinterpretation]] ''[[RavagesOfTime The Ravages of Time]]'' outdoes just about every other example on this list, with the main characters coming up with incredibly complex, multilayered plans, that often predict each others steps with incredible accuracy, to the point where the characters seem literally psychic. Even the MINOR characters come up with what would normally be seen as competent strategies, but for the more important ones, it gets to the point where you swear that they have to be able to see into the future. You literally have whole arcs where it's completely a back and forth between plans, [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow with one strategist predicting the other strategist predicting him predicting them etc.]]

* ''{{Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels}}''. And how.

* The climax of ''{{Curse of the Golden Flower}}'' after a couple [[TheReveal Reveal-bombs]] are dropped ends up being something like this, with several different plots (sometimes literally) crashing into each other, including some that seemingly come out of nowhere.
* The first two ''{{Pirates of the Caribbean}}'' movies show signs of this. The third one simply explodes with it in the scene where ''The Black Pearl'' changes owners about five times in thirty seconds (where half the cast suddenly reveal they've been plotting against everyone else for the ''Pearl'').

* ''{{House of Flying Daggers}}'' is a tangled web of intrigue in which pretty much everyone is found to be secretly deceiving or plotting against pretty much everyone else.

* The entire oeuvre of FyodorDostoevsky. Dostoevsky is likely the most famous pioneer of the GambitPileup. The stupendously complex mindgames played by nearly every character in ''TheBrothersKaramazov'' require several readings and maybe a college course to comprehend at the basic level. ''[[Literature/CrimeAndPunishment Crime and Punishment]]'' plays similar games starring Porifiry Petrovich, whose mindbending "Ah, but [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow if you knew that I knew that one of us was to know"]] arguments drive Raskolnikov to confession and the reader "seven versts" (4½ miles) from St. Petersburg, to a mental institution referenced in the book.

* K.J Parker's loves this one and is good at making it ''logical'' which seems challenging. In ''[[TheScavengerTrilogy Scavenger Trilogy]]'' half the fun is the giddy sense of all those grand plans coliding in the dark.

* They're slightly less Xanatosy than most examples here, but ''[[BabylonFive Babylon 5]]'' definitely tries. Every major character has at least one major scheme going on that the other races (hell, often the other members of their own race) don't know about.

* ''[[TwentyFour 24]]''. So, it goes (more or less) like this: in the first season, there's a conspiracy formed by German extremists to assassinate the most popular Senator in the California Presidential Primary, which involves two separate moles inside the Los Angeles Counter Terrorist Division (one of whom is unaware of the other's mole status), a goverment agent being used against his will, several different assassins (including a woman who turns out to be plotting her own side gambit with her lesbian lover to split the money she gets from her job) and a mastermind who was thought killed in a black-ops mission several years before the events of the series. The second season has a L.A.-based terrorist group, another group of terrorists led by a foreign extremist, a private military contractor, the President's ex-wife and a German terrorist/businessman team (who are revealed to be the employers who contacted the final mole from the first season) all enacting gambits within the same 24-hour period. The third season has a soldier involved [[ContrivedCoincidence with the black-ops mission from Season 1]] returns to Los Angeles and tries to deploy a virus throughout the city, using the help of Columbian druglords (who are trying to run their own game in L.A.) and one of the aforementioned CTU moles from the previous season (who is working for an unknown employer and executing her own plan). The fifth season involves a shadowy cabal of government executives trying to assassinate key figures who've foiled their plans in previous years - but wait! They're controlling the President, who has his own agenda - BUT WAIT! It turns out in the sixth season that the leader of this cabal is Jack's brother, and his father is the one pulling the strings because he's working with the Chinese government - ''[[OverlyLongGag BUT WAIT!!!]]'' It turns out that all of these people were being controlled by another man who organized the events of the last three seasons. This is ignoring the fact that there are moles in every season - some of whom are secretly working to aid the main characters, some of whom are working for the terrorists and some who have their own motives. Did you get all that?

* The ''{{TabletopGame/OldWorld of Darkness}}'' took this almost to the point of parody. The Jyhad in ''[[TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade Vampire: The Masquerade]]'' is run, depending on your sourcebook, by one of about thirty different sources ranging from Caine to Tzimisce to {{God}}, or it may just be a giant practical joke pulled by Malkav through his HiveMind descendants, or... The New World of Darkness takes a giant step away from this - now there's only a giant chain of conspiracies if the Storyteller says there is.

* ''[[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons Dungeons & Dragons]]'' examples:

** Patchouli Knowledge gets a sense of what [[spoiler:Eirin]] is planning, and [[strike:is biding her time]] has no interest in getting involved. This [[spoiler:prevents Eirin from stabbing her in the back with an arrow, as she has a lot invested in this.]]

* A smaller example is presented near the end of [[http://www.youtube.com/user/balloonshop?blend=1&ob=4#p/u/2/sbv5R6CHz3E this funny video skit.]]

* In the first season finale of ''{{Beast Wars}}'' Tarantulas, Megatron, Blackarachnia and the Maximals all had their own individual plans for dealing with the destruction of the planet by the alien Vok and almost all of their plans hinged on the different known factors of everyone else's plans. Tarantulas was originally planning on escaping the planet in a stasis pod, Blackarachnia secretly planned to steal his stasis pod for herself and use it to escape, Megatron purposefully allowed the two of them to go about stealing said pod with the plan of forcing that pod (with the escapee still inside) to become a makeshift bomb used to destroy the alien Planet Buster. Optimus and the Maximals planned to use the pod for the same purpose, but with the idea that Optimus would escape the pod at the last second (Megatron's version, which ultimately won out, involved Optimus not escaping and dying in the explosion.) Interestingly, after Optimus died in the explosion (which Megatron had originally meant for one or both of the spiders), Tarantulas's reaction was that of smug laughter, the kind he only ever does when he's just pulled something deceitful off. This leaves the implication that Tarantulas was well aware of Megatron's schemes too, and that his plan was to ready the pod and assume that either Blackarachnia, Inferno (on Megatron's orders) or Optimus would intercede (all tried to) and would die in Megatron's scheme, rather than him. Considering his ultimate scheme [[spoiler:is to destroy the Ark and both Autobots and Decepticons to negate the existence of ''all'' Cybertronians which, it turns out, Tarantulas is not one of]], it wouldn't have made sense for him to be willing to leave the planet anyway. Claims that he wanted to were likely for Blackarachnia and Waspinator's benefit, so that it would get back to Megatron. Thus, ultimately, it's Tarantulas pulling all the strings. When all but ''two'' Predacons, and several non-Predacons, try their hand at TheStarscream, this is to be expected.

* The first two ''MetalGear'' games where simply cases of complex [[XanatosGambit Xanatos Gambits]]. But starting from ''Metal Gear Solid'', it's easiest to say that Gambit Pileups are the entire concept of the series. Some things remain completely incomprehensible three games, ten years, and about 100 hours of gameplay later, and then there's also the Portable Ops/Peace Walker spinn offs which just add several more layers and Gabits to the whole mess. In several cases, later games manage to connect characters from earlier ones, that were completely unrelated when the games were written ''10 years before'', without even [[RetCon RetConning]] anything. For example [[spoiler:[=MGS4=] reveals that Medic from [=MGS3=] became a member of Patriots, which were introduced in [=MGS2=], and on their behalf created the Cyborg Ninja from [=MGS1=]. The Cyborg Ninja was actually a character that was thought to have died in the even earlier ''Metal Gear 2'', but that fact was already included when [=MGS=] was written.]]

* The ending of ''MetalGearSolid2''. Some of the characters may have been manipulated by others, and don't even get us ''started'' on where Revolver Ocelot falls.
** Why don't we replace the description with "think of the Metal Gear Solid plotline" and call it done?
** Even then, they may all have been manipulated (and are possibly still being manipulated) by the Patriots, the Philosophers, [[spoiler:EVA]], or [[spoiler:Big Boss himself, in a MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning starting in the very first MetalGear for the MSX.]] And one or several of these parties might even be manipulating the others into manipulating them.
** ''MetalGear Solid 4'' explains everything [[spoiler:by retconning the backstory of one master manipulator, Major Zero (the "colonel" role from [=MGS3=]), and revealing Revolver Ocelot's motivation: to free the world from The Patriots from within.]].

* ''DeathNote'', it's basically over 40 episodes of Gambits tropes [[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs on crack]]. [[LogicBomb Despite being 37 episodes long.]] For instance, during the last few chapters/episodes: [[spoiler: Near replaces Mikami's Death Note with a fake copy. But wait, that copy was fake, and a real one was in a vault somewhere. However, Mello comes in and tricks Mikami into using his real note, letting Near replace the real one with the fake one. Your brain hurts? Good.]]

* ''DeathNote'', it's basically over 40 episodes of Gambits and GambitPileup[[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs on crack]]. [[LogicBomb Despite being 37 episodes long.]] For instance, during the last few chapters/episodes: [[spoiler: Near replaces Mikami's Death Note with a fake copy. But wait, that copy was fake, and a real one was in a vault somewhere. However, Mello comes in and tricks Mikami into using his real note, letting Near replace the real one with the fake one. Your brain hurts? Good.]]

* ''DeathNote'', it's basically over 40 episodes of Xanatos [[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs on crack]]. [[LogicBomb Despite being 37 episodes long.]] For instance, during the last few chapters/episodes: [[spoiler: Near replaces Mikami's Death Note with a fake copy. But wait, that copy was fake, and a real one was in a vault somewhere. However, Mello comes in and tricks Mikami into using his real note, letting Near replace the real one with the fake one. Your brain hurts? Good.]]

* Brandon Sanderson is also really fond of these. His fans can it the Sanderson Avalanche. ''{{Mistborn}}'' is probably the most notable example to date, if only because the plot had the longest to develop.

* Brandon Sanderson is also really fond of these. ''{{Mistborn}}'' is probably the most notable example to date, if only because the plot had the longest to develop.
** The end of Warbreaker defiantly qualifies.

A PsychologicalThriller is more likely to have one of these. Expect lots of IKnowYouKnowIKnow. Expect a lot of people to be OutGambitted, a lot of {{Unwitting Pawn}}s, and ''maybe'' someone to have the LastPlanStanding. Compare XanatosRoulette, where one person has an improbable plan that would only make sense if he/she is near omniscient. Also compare MultilayerFacade. Done well, strongly affirms TheVillainMakesThePlot.

** The fans aren't the only ones who mess up trying to figure things out. By chapter 230, it begins to look like the villain wasn't exactly on top of things- it appears that his ludicrously complex XanatosRoulette to save a loved one's life from death by HeroicSacrifice is, in fact, what caused her to HeroicSacrifice. And it is entirely likely that ''somebody'' planned this.

* ''FullmetalAlchemist'' gave 4 good guy {{Chessmaster}}s 6 months to plan against the BBEG's culmination of a XanatosRoulette that began by founding an entire nation. The number of smart and powerful pieces and tools each side has boggles the mind. And throughout all of this the various parties are all trying to maintain good PR on themselves, leading one set of protagonists to claim they support TheDragon in an attempt to protect themselves.
* The various [[TheChessmaster Chessmasters]] in ''{{Gundam 00}}'' are locked in a covert struggle to determine who gets to mold the future of the world into their ideal design, with the constantly-unfolding [[MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning posthumous]] XanatosRoulette of their centuries-deceased predecessor (a plan several of the aforementioned schemers hijacked for their own ends, with mixed results) contributing to the already convoluted web of machinations for which the original planner may have already planned for. It doesn't make it any easier when several of the key characters on all sides of the conflict all believe themselves to be carrying out the original plan.

* ''{{Demonbane}}'' has a surprising lack of Chessmasters, considering that there are no less than five different XanatosRoulette going on throughout the series, some of which are so insane that one wonders how they even ''thought'' of their ultimate goals: [[spoiler:[[ManipulativeBastard Vespasianus]] does a lengthy XanatosRoulette to take control of Cthulu that nobody's even aware of until it fails, which was undone as part of two otherss: One by a book to revive Cthulu, and one by [[TheChessmaster Augustus]] (really an avatar of Nyarlathotep) to ''become Cthulu's heart'' so that he would have absolute control over Cthulu. Then we have [[ArchEnemy Master]] [[OmnicidalManiac Therion]], who's powering up [[TheChosenOne Kurou]] (really an avatar of Nyarlathotep) so that he can kill him ''65 million years before he's born''. And of course, in the background, we have [[TheWoobie Ennea]] manipulating both sides so that the next time the universe is reborn so that the [[CrapsackWorld Crapsack Universe]] isn't quite so crapsack, and finally [[MagnificentBastard Nyarlathotep]], who's been manipulating ''everyone'' since ''before the dawn of time'' as part of a plan to unleash [[CosmicHorror Azathoth]], who will immediately undo all existence, including Nyarlathotep.]] Of all of them, only one manages to succeed, and it only manages to succeed in an alternate universe.

* Cho-Katsu Komei from GiantRobo OVA continuity has, according to his backstory, once created this on ''purpose'' of his giant, incredibly convoluded XanatosRoulette and the effect was such a huge mess that even his boss, Big Fire, ordered him to stop it all at once, because he has no idea what's goin on anymore. And OVA itself has few gambits playing on one another. And Komei claims it is all part of ''his'' plan all along.
* Anime/{{Windaria}} The shadowland king wants Lunaria's water, Roland and Veronica want peace, Lunaria Queen wants more money from Shadowland king, Lagado seeks more power, and Alan wants to protect his homeland.

** Every film in Wild Things series strives to go [[SerialEscalation escalate]] to make each plot twenty times more convoluted and confusing than the previous film's. Chances are, if you are the protagonist, the antagonist, the victim, a background character... hell, if you're ''in the film'', you are in on the scheme and may be weaving some [[XanatosRoulette incredibly complex plans]] of your own. If there are two things that "Wild Things" is known for, it's the incredibly sexy lesbian scenes, and this trope.

* If you thought ''{{Dune}}'' was complicated, you really need to read ''The Dosadi Experiment''. You more or less have 800 million people, all of which are currently involved in some form of XanatosRoulette against everyone else.

* Most of {{Isaac Asimov}}'s works can be considered big Gambit Pileups. In fact, literally the entirety of his amalgamated universe (from ''The Complete Robot'' through the ''Empire'' series to ''Foundation and Earth'') tells the story of R. Daneel Olivaw's enormous plots to [[spoiler:aid humanity, going through planetary rebellions (a LOT of them), the foundation of an Empire that eventually collapses to make way for a Foundation plan, that itself makes way for a utopian Second Empire and the union of all minds in the galaxy. The entire timeline encompasses over 30,000 years of human history and requires more XanatosRoulette than you can shake a stick at.]] Phew.

** Also note that said SufficientlyAdvancedAliens have likely spent literally [[spoiler:''millions of years'' enacting XanatosRoulette against one another, using what by now probably amounts to hundreds of less advanced species as proxies in a war of ideas that essentially boils down to a dick-waving contest]].

* In Judaism, (as well as Christianity and Islam which inherited the moral and theological traditions of Judaism), the God Yahweh always comes out ahead in any GambitPileup ''every single time''.

** Some players positively revel in the XanatosRoulette aspects and play a dizzying array of contradictory and/or complicated rules to cover what they're actually trying to get done.

** As a general rule of thumb, any creature that has a lifespan greater than that of an average human being in ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'' is a {{Chessmaster}}. You have at least five entire organisations made up ''entirely'' of these. They don't get along. At least three of them are practically immortal and pull XanatosRoulette that can take ''centuries'' to unfold. One of them exists on another plane of existence where time is greatly slowed relative to the Material Plane, a fact they frequently use to spend ''weeks'' planning their next move while only a few hours pass in the real world. And if that's not bad enough, you've got the ''mortal'' {{Magnificent Bastard}}s to deal with, who may not have goals as lofty as complete cosmic domination but are still spinning their dangerous schemes none the less.

[[folder: Theatre]]

* CyranoDeBergerac: This is a play who mixes {{Farce}} and {{Tragedy}} with great success. Given is a farce, there are a lot of ASimplePlan, UnwittingPawn and SpannerInTheWorks, but given is also a Tragedy, PlayingCyrano, one of the few DespiteThePlan, it’s GoneHorriblyRight and dooms the protagonists.

** ''VideoGame/ExitFate'''s plot effectively starts out as a XanatosRoulette on the part of the [[spoiler:Almengan Emperor]] and it just builds on from there. Plus, with seventy-five playable characters, a good portion of your group will be throwing their own hats into the ring.

** The plot of ''SuperRobotWars Z'' essentially comes down to this, as Gilbert Durandal, Lord Djibril, Paptimus Scirocco, The Frost Brothers, Gym Ghingham, Dewey Novak, Alex Rosewater, The Gaizok, Zeo Gattler, The Vegans, The Elda, The Zeravire, The Shadow Angels, The Chirams, The Hundred Demon Clan, The Chimera Corps and The Black Charisma are all engaged in a massive contest of who is EvilerThanThou for control of the world and the dimensional power. The heroes of ZEUTH of course play the SpannerInTheWorks who wrecks all their plans by blowing them all to kingdom come. [[spoiler:Everything was, in fact, a huge XanatosRoulette by Black Charisma/The Edel. His reason? Cause he though it'd be ''fun''.]]

* ''TalesOfSymphonia''. At the start of the game, it's a simple BlackAndWhiteMorality story with the good guys (Church of Martel) versus the bad guys (Desians). The Church of Martel is [[spoiler:[[CorruptChurch corrupt]] on two levels: the Pope just wants to accumulate personal power, while the organisation as a whole is controlled by Cruxis, who also control the Desians]]. Yggdrassil is controlling Cruxis so he can pull off a XanatosRoulette [[spoiler:that will revive his DeadLittleSister]]. Yuan is a member of Cruxis [[spoiler:but is also a double agent who started the Renegades to stop them]]. Kratos is [[spoiler:also a member of Cruxis]] but ''also'' [[spoiler:a DeathSeeker double agent working on his own agenda to engineer a SuicideByCop scenario]]. Zelos is [[spoiler:acting as a ''triple'' agent for the Renegades, Cruxis and the party so that he can join whichever side looks like they're going to win]]. Then there's the individual power plays by the Desian Grand Cardinals, [[spoiler:including one who is trying to overthrow the organisation itself]]. And finally, [[IdiotHero Lloyd]] just wants to protect Colette from everyone and everything that is trying to manipulate them, despite all of her best efforts to [[HeroicSacrifice become a martyr]].

* ''DominicDeegan'' is famous for his [[XanatosRoulette overly-elaborate schemes]], but during the Storm of Souls arc, and again during the War in Hell, he was only one [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]] among many.

* ''TheLastDaysOfFOXHOUND'' has a lot of these (understandable, considering [[MetalGearSolid its source]]), although given the ending most of them don't come to fruition. For extra fun, you could consider the author's plot having gotten into a pile-up with Kojima's as one of these. There was more than one occasion where the author introduced retroactive, massive [[XanatosRoulette Xanatos Roulettes]] just to explain the gulf between how ''he'' wrote the story and the new elements Kojima introduced. And the result was so convoluted it actually fit ''perfectly'' with the MGS universe, hilariously so.

** The major plot developments of season 4 and the entirety of season 5 gets into this territory, involving three distinct active factions (government agent Bishop, demi-god quartet the Ninja Tribunal, and the quintet of schemers collectively known as the Shredder's heralds), and three passive factions (the Turtles, the Foot, and a quartet of kidnapped martial artists). It all ends up being a XanatosRoulette involving most of the events of the series up until then.

* This is pretty much the normal state of affairs in TheTudors. Ironically, Henry VIII is often the only character ''without'' an overt agenda for the episode, due to his preoccupation with procreation.

* Season Three of {{Sons of Anarchy}} has everybody trying to screw everybody else over, SAMCRO, SAMBEL, Agent Stahl, two factions of the Real IRA, Charming PD, just EVERYBODY. [[spoiler: SAMCRO wins.]]

* It is hard to find someone in the Vampire Diaries, hero, villain, or neither that is there just to screw with some of the cast for an episode or 2 and disappear when they are done, it's just one attempt at out gambitting after another. For the first 2 seasons the show followed more of a villain of the week format, but that villain is always either working with or against one of the next villains in line, which combined with the I know you know nature of the more manipulative of the villains and the heroes' attempts to kill them off or otherwise get rid of them, it can get very complicated. This has ultimately cuminated thus far into Klaus, who has manipulated the ''entire world'' for over a thousand years to various ends.

* The original ''{{World of Darkness}}'' took this almost to the point of parody. The Jyhad in ''Vampire: The Masquerade'' is run, depending on your sourcebook, by one of about thirty different sources ranging from Caine to Tzimisce to {{God}}, or it may just be a giant practical joke pulled by Malkav through his HiveMind descendants, or... The New World of Darkness takes a giant step away from this - now there's only a giant chain of conspiracies if the Storyteller says there is.

* ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'s'' [[EldritchAbomination Chaos God]] Tzeentch is unique in that he ''deliberately'' creates Gambit Pileups. Being a god of change and fundamental disorder, Tzeentch literally engineers his plots and plans to the point where they will outright conflict with one another. Not only is foiling one of his plans probably what he wanted you to do all along, but it probably also set in motion different aspects of seventeen other plans at the same time, any of which might in turn be derailing a dozen ''other'' plots by Tzeentch. But mostly he just does it to gleefully watch the pieces go flying everywhere when they crash into each other.

* ''[[DungeonsAndDragons Dungeons & Dragons]]'' examples:
** As a general rule of thumb, any creature that has a lifespan greater than that of an average human being in ''{{Eberron}}'' is a {{Chessmaster}}. You have at least five entire organisations made up ''entirely'' of these. They don't get along. At least three of them are practically immortal and pull XanatosRoulette that can take ''centuries'' to unfold. One of them exists on another plane of existence where time is greatly slowed relative to the Material Plane, a fact they frequently use to spend ''weeks'' planning their next move while only a few hours pass in the real world. And if that's not bad enough, you've got the ''mortal'' {{Magnificent Bastard}}s to deal with, who may not have goals as lofty as complete cosmic domination but are still spinning their dangerous schemes none the less.

* ''{{Shadowrun}}''. You've got the AAA megacorps scheming to consolidate and expand their power, the AA corps scheming to become [[MegaCorp AAAs]], and the governments of the world trying desperately to hold on to whatever power they have left. And then there's the dragons... and the insect spirits... and a million other entities all trying to control everything. And you're a rag-tag group of freelance covert-ops mercenaries caught in the middle of it all, offering your services to the highest bidder. Sound like fun? You don't know the half of it, chummer.

* The second-season of ''{{WITCH}}'' ends with everybody trying to put the screws on everybody else. Nerissa is trying to get the Heart of Earth by killing Lillian's cat familiar Napoleon at the same time that the girls have [[spoiler:let Phobos out of prison to take ''her'' two hearts. Phobos]] decides to screw the girls over by using the power of Nerissa's hearts once he takes them, but the girls planned for this by [[spoiler:convincing Raythor to do a HeelFaceTurn. Raythor tricks Phobos]] into invading Kandrakar, which would cause him to relinquish control of the hearts he took, but just before [[spoiler:Phobos]] crosses the plane into Kandrakar, [[spoiler:Cedric eats him and gains his powers AND Nerissa's]]. Also, Raphael Sylla and the government, who watched the final battle, planned to discover the girls' secret identities by registering Sylla as a teacher at the girls' school, but [[ScrewedByTheNetwork we probably won't get to see that]]. Note that, while most of this Xanatos Gambits weren't there in the original comic, the started Sylla-Gambit was eventually pulled of in it and even worked - until the oracle pulls a literal DeusExMachina (it's even {{Lampshaded}}) and hits the reset button.

* ''DangerMouse'' and ''SamuraiJack'' have both done the [[OverlyLongGag "I knew that you knew that I knew that you knew..."]] thing with their heroes and their respective arch enemies.

* The Flying Pussyfoot arc of ''{{Baccano}}!'' can be accurately summed up as "clusterfuck." Trying to elaborate is an effort in futility, but it would probably sound like the start of an old joke: "So a cult, a gang, 2 [[spoiler: immortal]] bank robbers, a Senator's family, [[spoiler: a psychopathic hitman,]] and the Chicago mafia all walk onto a train one day..."

* HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality features at least '''''[[UpToEleven seventy five]]''''' plots during the final battle, though not all of them are actually depicted. Especially notable is the presence of a quintuple agent who thinks he's a quadruple agent in a game with only three sides.

* ''TheWorldEndsWithYou'': Joshua, Hanekoma, Minamimoto, Konishi, and Kitaniji all have their own respective gambits. The ending [[GainaxEnding doesn't even make it very clear whose gambits succeeded or failed]]. [[spoiler:Konishi definitely failed, due to being erased by Neku; Kitaniji got erased but partially succeeded, as Shibuya still exists; Minamimoto was found [[DeathByIrony under a pile of his own garbage]] (inverting NeverFoundTheBody, the fact that his body stayed while everyone else that died [[EverythingFades disappeared]] has lead plenty to think he ''survived''); Joshua's plan to get the ultimate proxy in his game with Kitaniji worked (i.e. Neku), though whether he had any plan beyond that is unknown, and Mr. Hanekoma... He's obviously saving the results of his for the sequel.]]

* The plot of ''XenoSaga'' is a Gambit Pileup of epic proportions, made even more confusing that usual by the fact that most if not all of the interlocking schemes are secretly being run [[spoiler: ''by the same man'']].

* TheVentureBros season 4 finale Operation:P.R.O.M. is this trope:[[spoiler:Col.Hunter gathers was planning on using Monstroso as a barganing chip to get OSI of SPHINX's back but it turns out that Treisters a hulk.... except that his right hand men, Mr.Doe and Mr.Cardholder are actually double agents planning to reveal Treisters snapped from finding out he has cancer and take over and plan on Axing Monstroso in order to keep their secret.... Except Treister knew all of this and set up the fake Monstroso that SPHINX brought as a trojan horse with the help of his plant, Sky Pilot, and then Treister reveals he's shooting himself into space to cure his cancer and that Hunter is in charge of OSI now.]]

* Half the named characters in ''FinalFantasyTactics'' are trying to manipulate the other half, and each other. By the end of the game, the pileup has been cleaned as they start killing each other off [[spoiler:and Delita tricks Ramza into killing off his remaining rivals]].

* ''FinalFantasyXII'': Ashe is plotting to take her kingdom back, [[spoiler:Vossler seems to be helping her, but is in fact plotting with Vayne while hoping that Vayne's little brother Larsa will eventually help Ashe's ambitions]], Balthier is helping her in order [[spoiler:to settle the score with his father]], Ba'Gamnan is plotting to kill Balthier, Vayne is plotting to [[spoiler:become the next emperor, dissolve the senate, destroy the the resistance led by Ashe and start a war against Rosaria]], Gabranth is used by [[spoiler:GenreSavvy Emperor Gramis against Vayne, then used by Vayne against Judge Magister Drace, who did not like all the plotting]], The Archadian senate is plotting against Vayne, Cid is plotting with Vayne [[spoiler:and Venat]] in order to fulfill his ambitions and [[spoiler:screw the Occurias along the way]], then we have [[spoiler:Occuria's king Gerrun who's plotting against everyone and who tries to turn Ashe into his willing puppet]], Ondore who is playing the role of a DoubleAgent from the beginning of the game, Al-Cid who is plotting [[spoiler:against his own family plotting against Archades while being in fact manipulated by Vayne's [[TheChessmaster Unnatural cunning]]]] and finally Larsa who by the end of the game [[spoiler:has outsmarted everyone and everyTHING]]. Made by the creators of ''FinalFantasyTactics'' and ''VagrantStory'': no kidding.

* ReservoirDogs. Good God.

* If there are actually fewer than 30 different {{Batman Gambit}}s going by the various factions in the ''{{Wheel of Time}}'' series, I would be surprised. A partial list:

* In ''{{Animorphs}}'' book 53: The Answer, [[spoiler:Jake uses the auxiliary Animorphs, and the U.S. National Guard to distract Visser Three, so he can sneak above the Pool Ship. Or so Visser Three thinks. ''Actually'', Jake is relying on him to believe that, so he doesn't realize that Jake and the other Animorphs are '''already''' aboard the ship, with help from Tom, who wants Visser Three dead himself, and plan on fighting him with the help of the free Taxxons. '''''But''''', Tom decides to betray Jake to Visser Three at the last moment, which Jake saw coming and avoided dying with help from the Chee, who Tom and Visser Three didn't even know existed.]] Yeah.

* If there are actually less than 30 different {{BatmanGambit}}s going by the various factions in the ''{{Wheel of Time}}'' series, I would be surprised. A partial list: