History Main / TheComplianceGame

* ''Literature/{{Fudge}}'': In "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing", after Fudge hides his baby sister Tamara "Tootsie" Roxanne, his big brother Peter gets him to show where she is by playing the "hot, cold" game (saying "hot" when he searches and gets close to finding her and "cold" when he gets farther away).

* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King|1994}}'': a villainous example. Scar draws his nephew Simba into a gorge (an otherwise uninteresting place) under the excuse his father will bring him a surprise to "die for", when [[NotHyperbole he actually wants to have him trampled by thousands of wildebeests]] grazing nearby. Just before leaving Simba alone to call his dad, he advises his nephew to practice his roar before he comes back. This is actually an excuse to keep Simba occupied while he gives the hyenas the signal to drive the wildebeest heard down into the gorge. It also has the unintended effect (still, Scar easily exploits it in two different situations) of leading Simba to [[FalseCause the conclusion his roar caused]] both the stampede and his father's death (the herd rushes down the forge a few seconds after Simba's roar echoes in the canyon).

* In ''Literature/DrFranklinsIsland'', after Semi and Miranda become convinced that they can't escape Miranda, who CopesByPretending that there's hope and things aren't all bad, tells her friend that they're going to pretend to be volunteers. Semi initially thinks that's insane but sees Miranda's point, that if they're going to die they don't have to die screaming. Conveniently, acting like volunteers rather than going berserk as Semi tends to on her own means they're treated better, allowed to wait out the SlowTransformation in a replica hotel suite rather than in straitjackets in cells too far apart to let them talk to each other.

* The WW-II film, ''Heroes of Telemark'' ends with Professor Rolf Pedersen trying to evacuate the children on a soon-to-be-sunk ferry loaded with German superweapons by convincing the kids to partake in a "drill game" with the vessel's lifeboats, moments before it goes down.

* ''Series/TheHauntingHour'': PlayedForHorror in "Uncle Howee." The titular character, a [[SubvertedKidsShow creepy kiddie show host]], comes into the real world to punish Jared, a BigBrotherBully who's been cruel to his little sister Cynthia. Uncle Howee makes Cynthia disappear and challenges Jared to locate her, but he calls the situation a game named "Find Your Sister Before Mom Gets Home and Grounds Ya for the Rest of Your Life!" [[spoiler: Jared ultimately loses and, in a KarmicTransformation, is forced to become a puppet character on Uncle Howee's show forever.]]

-->'''Homestar Runner:''' ''[tired and bandaged up]'' Okay, Strong Mad... We're gonna have a little something I like to call "Migraine Time". We can play your new favorite game: "Feathers... & Cotton." Ready? Go. ''[He places a hot water bottle on his head]''
-->''[As he's talking, a [[BombWhistle whistling sound]] is heard off-screen, until after he's finished, at which point an asteroid crashes through the ceiling of Homestar's house and crushes him]''
-->'''Homestar:''' WAAAAUGH!!!
-->'''Strong Mad:''' [[NoIndoorVoice THIS ONE'S NOT MY FAULLLLT!]]
-->''[Nebulon rises from inside the asteroid, with his usual stock sound effect]''

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Munro}}'', four year old Munro does a self-inflicted version to do his daily routine at boot camp. He interprets doing drills as a game called "Face" ("Right Face", "About Face", etc.), and doing chores as a game called "Get This Man Down" (where someone would pick soldiers out for duties around camp). Being only a kid, and surrounded by adults who refuse to see him as one, nobody bothers to correct him.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Munro}}'', Four year old Munro does a self-inflicted version to do his daily routine at boot camp. He interprets doing drills as a game called "Face" ("Right Face", "About Face", etc.), and doing chores as a game called "Get This Man Down" (where someone would pick soldiers out for duties around camp). Being only a kid, and surrounded by adults who refuse to see him as one, nobody bothers to correct him.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Munro}}'', Munro does a self-inflicted version to do his daily routine at boot camp. He interprets doing drills as a game called "Face" ("Right Face", "About Face", etc.), and doing chores as a game called "Get This Man Down" (where someone would pick soldiers out for duties around camp). Being only a kid, and surrounded by adults who refuse to see him as one, nobody bothers to correct him.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Munro}}'', Munro does a self-inflicted version to do his daily routine at boot camp. He interprets doing drills as a game called "Face" ("Right Face", "About Face", etc.), and doing chores as a game called "Get This Man Down" (where someone would pick soldiers out for duties around camp).

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseTheMovie'': To prevent Spinel from following her to Earth, Pink Diamond tells her that they're going to play a game in which Spinel stands very still. Spinel, who was created for the sole purpose of amusing Pink, stands in that spot for ''millennia'' after Pink leaves. [[spoiler:PlayedForDrama in that Spinel eventually learns not only that Pink is dead, but that she lived a whole life on Earth without her. She realizes that Pink tricked her, figures that Pink never had any intention of coming back for her, and becomes furious.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseTheMovie'': To prevent Spinel from following her to Earth, Pink Diamond tells her that they're going to play a game in which Spinel stands very still. Spinel, who was created for the sole purpose of amusing Pink, stands in that spot for ''millennia'' after Pink leaves. [[spoiler:PlayedForDrama in that, after Pink's death, Spinel learns that Pink started a whole new life on Earth without her. She realizes that Pink tricked her, figures that Pink never had any intention of coming back for her, and becomes furious.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseTheMovie'': To prevent Spinel from following her to Earth, Pink Diamond tells her that they're going to play a game in which Spinel stands very still. Spinel, who was created for the sole purpose of amusing Pink, stands in that spot for ''millennia'' after Pink leaves, only stopping when she learns Pink is dead.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing'': a villainous example. Scar draws his nephew Simba into a gorge (an otherwise uninteresting place) under the excuse his father will bring him a surprise to "die for", when [[NotHyperbole he actually wants to have him trampled by thousands of wildebeests]] grazing nearby. Just before leaving Simba alone to call his dad, he advices his nephew to practice his roar before he comes back. This is actually an excuse to keep Simba occupied while he gives the hyenas the signal to drive the wildebeest heard down into the gorge. It also has the unintended effect (still, Scar easily exploits it in two different situations) of leading Simba to [[FalseCause the conclusion his roar caused]] both the stampede and his father's death (the herd rushes down the forge a few seconds after Simba's roar echoes in the canyon).

* ''WesternAnimation/CoconutFredsFruitSaladIsland'': In one episode, Fred attempts to feed a baby, which was actually a [[GooGooGetUp fruit bat in disguise]]. The fruit bat refused to eat the baby food, so Fred pretends that the spoon is a flying saucer place and a real one came along to put baby food in his mouth.

* ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'': When Marlin and Dory are surrounded by jellyfish, he determines that they need to bounce on the tops of the jellyfish to reach safety. To prevent Dory (who has a very short attention span) from dawdling, he makes it into a race.

* ''Series/TheHauntingHour'': In "Uncle Howie", the titular character comes up with the game for Jared. He has to find his little sister, Cynthia, in under a few minutes. [[spoiler:Jared lost the game and is forced to become Uncle Howie's new friend, as well as a new character of his show.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/PeppaPig'': In one episode, Peppa's cousins Chloe (who's about elementary school age) and Alexander (a baby) come to visit. The family tries to spoon-feed Alexander, but he refuses until they pretend the spoon is an airplane.

* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'', "Play Date": Homestar tries to plan a meet-up with others in the cast, but it seems they're all busy with other plans or in-trouble, and the only one left is Strong Mad. Unfortunately, Strong Mad's idea of "playing games" is too intense for Homestar, and tries to tone it down:
--> '''Homestar Runner:''' ''[tired and bandaged up]'' Okay, Strong Mad... We're gonna have a little something I like to call "Migraine Time". We can play your new favorite game: "Feathers... & Cotton." Ready? Go. ''[He places a hot water bottle on his head]''
--> ''[As he's talking, a [[BombWhistle whistling sound]] is heard off-screen, until after he's finished, at which point an asteroid crashes through the ceiling of Homestar's house and crushes him]''
--> '''Homestar:''' WAAAAUGH!!!
--> '''Strong Mad:''' [[NoIndoorVoice THIS ONE'S NOT MY FAULLLLT!]]
--> ''[Nebulon rises from inside the asteroid, with his usual stock sound effect]''

** In "Dunny", Chilli tells her daughters to use the word "toilet" instead of "dunny" (which is an Australian slang word), as "dunny" is "not the word the Queen would use". When she claims she would give the girls chocolate if she said it, they try to trick her into saying it by roping her into a game of Pass It On and using "[[CallingYourBathroomBreaks Oh man, I need the dunny]]!" as the phrase. Chilli, however pretends she couldn't hear it properly.

* In a particularly horrible real life example, Nazi scientist Josef Mengele tricked countless children into going along to the gas chambers by telling them that they were playing a game called "walking to the chimney", with the promise of sweets if they "won".

[[folder:Films - Animation]]

[[folder:Films - Live-Action]]

* ''Series/TheHauntingHour'': In "Uncle Howie", the titular character comes up with the game for Jared. He has to find his little sister, Cynthia, in under a few minutes. [[spoiler: Jared lost the game and is forced to become Uncle Howie's new friend, as well as a new character of his show.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': PlayedForDrama. [[spoiler:After the Draining Spell is activated, everyone in the Boiling Isles begins to die slowly and painfully. King is then left with the choice to free The Collector- a [[GooGooGodlike childlike god]] who is the only one capable of stopping the spell. As the entity is solely interested in playing games, King convinces them to save everyone by suggesting they play a game called The Owl House, which requires an entire island's worth of players. Unfortunately, this subsequently results in the Boiling Isles becoming The Collector's personal playground]].

* In the 1956 Walt Disney short "In the Bag", the park ranger first tries to get the bears to clean up the park by making it a game.

* ''Film/NationalTreasure'': When fugitive Ben Gates can't get into the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia to see the Silence Dogood letters, he has his friend Riley go instead and he recruits a young boy to go in and out, searching for the exact letter of the alphabet he needs from particular words in particular rows so that he can crack a code. Riley pays him for each sequence they bring him back, so he's excited to do it for him. The villain Ian notices the kid running back and forth and gives him 100 dollars to tell him what letters he gave Riley.

* ''Film/NationalTreasure'': When fugitive Ben Gates can't get into the Smithsonian see the Silence Dogood letters, he recruits a couple of young boys to go in and out, searching for the exact letter of the alphabet he needs from particular words in particular rows so that he can crack a code. He pays them for each sequence they bring him back, so they're excited to do it for him.

!!Examples

->'''Will Riker''': "Get the damned control chips back in place in the correct order. Now!"
->'''Wesley Crusher''': "It's like a game. How fast can you do it?"

-----