History Main / SecretTest

** This story has also been associated with Thomas Watson, the long-time chief of International Business Machines, and for the same reason, that a single wrong wire or character in code can make a multimillion dollar [[UsefulNotes/MainframesAndMinicomputers System/360]] into a bunch of furniture.

* ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite''. When Booker is about to enter the Good Time Club the villain Fink tells him over the PA system that "The best kind of interview is one where the applicant doesn't know he's being evaluated." When Booker enters the audience area he attacked by a series of opponents. After the end of the fight, he learns that Fink was testing him for the job of Head of Security for Fink Enterprises.

* ''Dangerous Journeys -- Mythus'' main rulebook, adventure "High Time at the Winged Pig". The {{PC}}s go to an inn to interview with a merchant for jobs. It's actually a setup: all of the occupants in the inn are there to play out various scenarios to test the {{PC}}s and find out if they have appropriate personalities to be the merchant's employees.
* ''[=Top Secret/SI=]'' adventure ''The Final Weapon''. The {{PC}}s are relaxing in a hospital while undergoing their annual physicals or recuperating. Suddenly the hospital is attacked by commandos and the {{PC}}s can't find any weaponry to fight them. They must overcome the attackers and disarm a bomb, only to have their boss appear and tell them it was just a training exercise. The Administrator (game master) is told to cheat to make sure that none of the {{NPC}} "commandos" is killed by the {{Player Character}}s during the session.

** 1st Edition TabletopGame/{{Dragonlance}} adventure [=DL12=] ''Dragons of Faith''. The {{PC}}s encounter a group of rebels (who oppose the Dragonarmies) wearing Dragonarmy colors. If the {{Player Character}}s fight them, the rebels know the {{Player Character}}s oppose the Dragonarmies as well and will offer to take the {{Player Character}}s to their chief, who may give them aid and advice.

*** Issue #35, adventure "The Undead Bole". The priestesses of Mielikki believe that the PlayerCharacters may be Evil, so they decide to test them to make sure. They tell the {{PC}}s that one of them is Evil and command the rest to kill him. If the {{PC}}s do so, they have acted in an Evil manner and fail the test. If they refuse, they have proved themselves to be Good and the priestesses will aid them.

* ''TabletopGame/InNomine'' supplement ''Angelic Player's Guide''. When an Archangel is trying to decide which oif his Servitor angels deserves a word, they may observe and test all of the angels to determine which are worthy to compete for the Word without telling the angels what's going on.

* ''TabletopGame/MarvelSuperHeroes'' supplement ''Uncanny X-Men'' boxed set "Adventure Book". In chapter 2 "Lunch Break", while the {{PC}}s are eating lunch with the Beast they're attacked by a SpiderTank with six 12-foot long CombatTentacles. It turns out to be a test arranged by the Beast to find out if the {{PC}}s are worthy to be superheroes.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'':

** ''Ka•Ge'' magazine Vol. 1 Issue 4 (2nd quarter 1992), adventure "The Retching Rat". The {{PC}} shadowrunners are hired to retrieve a spirit focus (magic item). If they astrally scan the focus after they retrieve it, they discover that it's specifically used to summon and control toxic (evil) spirits. If they tell the fixer who hired them what they've discovered, he congratulates them and pays them a bonus, as well as promising them a larger payment for their next job.

** Basic D&D adventure X11 ''Saga of the Shadowlord''. The cloud giant Azor gives a PlayerCharacter a potion which he claims is a potion of Animal Control. If the {{PC}} drinks it in hope of charming the giant's guard wolves, he'll discover that it's actually a powerful sleeping potion.
** 1st Edition TabletopGame/{{Dragonlance}} adventure [=DL12=] ''Dragons of Faith''. The {{PC}}s encounter a group of rebels (who oppose the Dragonarmies) wearing Dragonarmy colors. If the {{PC}}s fight them, the rebels know the {{PC}}s oppose the Dragonarmies as well and will offer to take the {{PC}}s to their chief, who may give them aid and advice.
** 2nd Edition TabletopGame/DarkSun boxed set rule book. When elves encounter a stranger, they will set up tests of the stranger's friendliness and trustworthyness. These tests range from leaving out a valuable object to see if the stranger steals it up to a life-threatening situation.
** 2nd Edition TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms supplement ''Code of the Harpers''.

** 2nd Edition ''Monstrous Manual'' supplement. When a Talking Owl first encounters a party of {{PC}}s, it will pretend that one of its wings is broken and see how they react. If they try to kill it, it will know that they're evil and therefore enemies.

*** Issue #38 adventure "Things That Go Bump In The Night". While traveling through the Brettonwood the {{PC}}s will find an owl lying on the ground, apparently with a hurt wing. This is actually a trick by the (intelligent, talking) owl to find out if the {{PC}}s are friendly and worthy of its help. If they try to heal it, the owl will speak to them and offer to be their guide through the forest. If they don't (or worse, if they try to kill it) then they will lose this potentially valuable source of assistance.
*** Issue #67 adventure "Training Ground". During the adventure, the PlayerCharacters will meet a ranger named Rogart who serves the kingdom of Cormyr. If the {{PC}}s successfully defeat the evil Zhentarim, Rogart will consider offering them jobs serving Cormyr. However, he will test them first to make sure they are worthy of such an honor.

** Basic D&D adventure X11 ''Saga of the Shadowlord''. The cloud giant Azor gives a {{PC}} a potion which he claims is a potion of Animal Control. If the {{PC}} drinks it in hope of charming the giant's guard wolves, he'll discover that it's actually a powerful sleeping potion.

* ''[=Top Secret/SI=]'' adventure ''The Final Weapon''. The {{PC}}s are relaxing in a hospital while undergoing their annual physicals or recuperating. Suddenly the hospital is attacked by commandos and the {{PC}}s can't find any weaponry to fight them. They must overcome the attackers and disarm a bomb, only to have their boss appear and tell them it was just a training exercise. The Administrator (game master) is told to cheat to make sure that none of the {{NPC}} "commandos" is killed by the {{PC}}s during the session.

* In Literature/TheOdyssey, Penelope administers one to the scruffy beggar she suspects is her husband Odysseus; she tells her servant to pull the bed out from her bedroom. Since one of the posts of the bed is a tree Odysseus planted and told only Penelope, she knows it must be him when he flies into a rage that she cut down the tree.

** In the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E07LetHeWhoIsWithoutSin Let He Who Is Without Sin...]]", a group of terrorists burst into a room on the planet Risa and threaten the occupants. Shortly thereafter it's revealed that the whole attack was a hoax carried out by members of the New Essentialists Movement, who are trying to test the Risians' reaction to violence and prove the Federation's lack of preparedness.

* One of the most famous real-life examples is Music/VanHalen's [[http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/vanhalen.asp way of making sure the technical specifications of their performance contracts were being read and followed]]: the document called for them to be provided with a bowl of M&Ms with the brown ones removed, and included a clause that they could cancel the show and walk away with the money if this was not followed. This was not Van Halen being a bunch of divas; rather, it was their way of making sure the venue was actually paying attention and reading everything in full. Van Halen's shows had flying harnesses, enough pyrotechnics for a small war, and unprecedented lighting. Their rigs were immense and ''very'' dangerous if they collapsed. Early in the band's career, they and their roadies suffered so many near-misses due to substandard preparation that it's a miracle no one died on tour. The potential consequence (which they never enforced) ensured that no venue would knowingly fail to comply with this directive, so if the directive was violated, it could only be by pure carelessness or oversight, which meant there were likely to be problems elsewhere. If there were brown M&Ms in the bowl (or if there ''was'' no bowl), it indicated to the tour staff that they needed to personally check the setup for other, more serious mistakes. In fact, ''any'' time you hear about musicians having some ridiculous random thing in their venue contracts, like Music/LadyGaga demanding a mannequin with a bright pink merkin, it's almost certainly along the same train of thought.

* One of the most famous real-life examples is Music/VanHalen's [[http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/vanhalen.asp way of making sure the technical specifications of their performance contracts were being read and followed]]: the document called for them to be provided with a bowl of M&Ms with the brown ones removed, and included a clause that they could cancel the show and walk away with the money if this was not followed. This was not Van Halen being a bunch of divas; rather, it was their way of making sure the venue was actually paying attention and reading everything in full. Van Halen's shows had flying harnesses, enough pyrotechnics for a small war, and unprecedented lighting. Their rigs were immense and ''very'' dangerous if they collapsed. Early in the band's career, they and their roadies suffered so many near-misses due to substandard preparation that it's a miracle no one died on tour. The potential consequence (which they never enforced) ensured that no venue would knowingly fail to comply with this directive, so if the directive was violated, it could only be by pure carelessness or oversight, which meant there were likely to be problems elsewhere. If there were brown M&Ms in the bowl (or if there ''was'' no bowl), it indicated to the tour staff that they needed to personally check the setup for other, more serious mistakes.

* ''WssternAnimation/''LegendOfTheThreeCaballeros'': In the second episode of the series, Xandra, the Goddess of Adventure leads the titular trio to Crete. She promises them treasures when they are brave enough to fight the Minotaur who lives there. At the end it turns out there is no treasure - the Minotaur is revealed to be a PunchClockVillain who was hired by Xandra to test the trio to be worthy successors of their ancestors, the original Three Caballeros.