History Main / MysteryBox

[[folder:Game Shows]]

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]
* In Music/WeirdAlYankovic's ''Film/{{UHF}}'', there is a game show parody called ''Wheel of Fish''. The contestant wins a very tasty red snapper fish, but is given the choice to take a box. The contestant chooses the box and is mocked: "You took the box! Let's see what's in the box!" ... ''(box is opened; audience gasps)'' ... "NOTHING! Absolutely NOTHING! Stupid! You're so stupid!"

[[folder:Other Live Action TV]]
* At one point in ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'', Eric tries to bribe some information out of a hotel desk clerk. The clerk refuses to divulge the information for "Mr. Washington" (a $1 bill) but says he might for "Mr. Franklin" (a $100 bill).
-->'''Eric:''' Mr. Franklin isn't here, but how about two Mr. Lincolns ''($5 bills)'' and ... a mystery bag! ''(pulls out small bag with a clown face on it and dangles it in front of the clerk)'' Maybe it's good. Maybe it's not.
* On ''Series/JustShootMe'', Nina wants a raise, and Jack offers her one... or what's inside the box. She takes the box, of course, which only has a picture of an ugly baby inside (it's one of Maya's baby photos).
* Parodied regularly on ''Series/TheLateLateShow''. Craig will ''imagine'' a box, [[InsaneTrollLogic the contents of which he somehow does not know, and ask the guest to guess what's in it]]. They always guess "correctly."
* Inverted in several cooking shows, most notably ''Series/{{Chopped}}''. The mystery boxes are what contestants compete ''with'', as they contain ingredients (and occasionally other instructions.)

-->'''Kermit:''' What?! How can you give up?! It's something you eat that's round and orange! It's an orange! ''It's an orange!''
-->'''Cookie:''' Me like that fourth clue. Is it an orange?
-->'''Kermit:''' OF ''COURSE'' IT'S AN ORANGE! I JUST ''TOLD YOU'' IT WAS AN ORANGE!

[[folder:Music]]
* The 1950 song "The Thing" by Phil Harris is basically this trope. A man finds a box on the beach and is overjoyed by what is inside, but everyone else is horrified by it and refuses to have anything to do with him. What exactly is inside the box is never stated. He spends the rest of his life trying to get rid of the box, to no avail. The last line of the song is a warning to never open a box you find on the beach...
[[/folder]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Mr. Burns pulls this out when trying to bribe some nuclear safety inspectors.
-->'''Mr. Burns:''' You can either have the washer and dryer where the lovely Smithers is standing. Or you can trade it all in for ''(pulls out a box with question marks all over it)'' what's in this box.\\
'''Male Inspector:''' The box! The box! ''*is barely stopped by his companion*''
* In ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', Peter's offered the chance to get a free boat, but he decides to take the Mystery Box instead, which merely contains tickets to a stand-up comedy show.

* In one ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' cartoon, Daffy Duck turns down the "million box" which has a million smaller boxes inside it... and once Bugs gets the box, it's revealed that each tiny box had a dollar bill inside.
* In the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/The13GhostsOfScoobyDoo'', Shaggy and Scooby are offered their choice of a fancy doghouse, the airplane in which they arrived or the Mystery Box. The last is actually the Chest of Demons; when opened, it releases the 13 demons that had been trapped inside.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheJetsons'' and the Spacelys entered a game show and the Jetsons won. George then had a choice: collect the Grand Prize or whatever was behind the force field. If he picked the force field, Mr. Spacely would get the Grand Prize. Fearing for his job, George chose the prize hidden behind the force field. The force field then revealed a new stove (it was earlier shown to the viewers that the Jetsons needed one) and Mr. Spacely got a set of [[TheRival Cogswell]] products.
* [[ComicStrip/USAcres Roy Rooster]] won 1 ''[[EleventyZillion skillion]]'' dollars, a mansion with two kidney-shaped pools (to be anatomically correct) and several other prizes but traded everything for whatever was behind curtain number three. He got a dirty sock. The host commented that he's been on it for years and never gave any money but got rid of several socks already. The story started with Roy chasing the end of a rainbow to get a pot of gold but the leprechaun he met there said he no longer had it so he instead gave Roy a dirty sock and a chance to trade it for whatever was behind curtain number one. He got a car and was allowed to trade it for whatever was behind curtain number two and that's how Roy won the prizes he traded for whatever was behind curtain number three.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'': Slappy Squirrel once left a can at somebody else's garbage bin. The owner didn't like this and the two of them fought to pass it over to each other. One of Slappy's moves was having her rival trade prizes for whatever was behind a curtain. [[spoiler:It was the can]].
* WesternAnimation/{{SpongeBob|SquarePants}} and Patrick once tag teamed in a wrestle match and won. They could choose the money or whatever was behind the curtain. The trope was averted because, in that case, the winners were allowed to know what the prize behind the curtain was before they made their choice. Their option was trading the money prize for a trip to a wrestling-themed camp. Much to [[TheScrooge Mr. Krabs']] dismay, they chose the camp.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheMrMenShow'' had the episode "Game Shows." In the first segment in that episode, there was a game show entitled ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Guess What's in the Box]]'', hosted by Mr. Nosy and Mr. Small.
-->'''Mr. Small''': The rules are simple. We'll show you a box, and you must guess what's inside.
-->'''Mr. Nosy''': Answer correctly, and you'll win whatever's in the box!
** The contestants were Mr. Rude, Miss Chatterbox, and Mr. Grumpy. Guess who won, and what was in the box; Miss Chatterbox, who ended up winning a [[{{Zonk}} donkey]].

Compare CrateExpectations, LootBoxes (this trope's gaming-related sister), and BlindBagCollectables. Has nothing to do with Creator/JJAbrams' favorite trick; you probably want JigsawPuzzlePlot for that.

Although this is mainly a game show trope, this can apply to any medium.

* The 2019 Food Network game show "Supermarket Stakeout" has four cooks competing for $10,000 outside of a supermarket, with $500 to get groceries which must last three rounds. The catch? They can only get their groceries from people who'd already shopped in the market, and in the first round must "buy them blind" (which means they can't look inside the bags before buying them). If two or more people see a shopper, they can go into an Auction to see who can offer more.

* The UrExample may be ''Pick a Box'', one of the earliest shows on Australian TV. It started on radio in 1948, moved to television in 1957 and ran until 1971. The CatchPhrase of the program was "The money or the box?".

Compare CrateExpectations, LootBoxes (this trope's gaming-related sister), and BlindBagCollectables.

'''Peter:''' [[WhatAnIdiot We'll take the box.]]

* In general, loot boxes tend to play this role in games.

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