History Main / Whammy

** Bowser usually fulfills this role in various titles in the series. A wide variety of things can happen at his spaces, but all of them end in loss of coins or stars for one or more players, and no player ever gains from the spaces. Unless they are completely broke; then he can feel pity. Or he'll give you stuff just so you have something for him to take from you. Depends on which game you're playing.

** Pass the Buck plays it straight - hidden among the six[[note]]originally eight[[/note]] spaces are two[[note]]originally three[[/note]] "Lose Everything" spaces which eliminate all of the contestant's previous earnings (but the game still continues, provided the contestant still has a pick remaining). It's not all that uncommon to see contestants [[EpicFail uncover both Lose Everythings back to back]].

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog:''

* ''Series/PressYourLuck'' is the TropeNamer. Not only does the Whammy cause the player who gets it to lose all their money and prizes, but a player who gets [[FourIsDeath four Whammies]] is eliminated from the game. Adding to the sadism is the fact that players could pass their remaining spins (after taking at least one) to a designated player, and that player ''had'' to use all the spins passed to them (but all unused passed spins were moved to the "earned" column once a Whammy was hit, provided it was not #4). Almost always done by the player who's ahead by a wide margin, and doesn't want to hit a Whammy, but occasionally (and entertainingly) done by a player who's far behind and whose only hope of victory is for the leader to "Whammy Out". The Whammy is so iconic that at least one revival actually uses ''Series/{{Whammy}}!'' as the title.

** The [[Creator/GameShowNetwork GSN]] [[Series/WhammyTheAllNewPressYourLuck revival]] raised the ante with the introduction of the '''Double''' Whammy in Round 3, which is just like the Whammy only it also throws in [[CoveredInGunge random physical humiliation]], like dropping flour, feathers, or even dirty laundry on the player.

* Parodied in the [[{{Calvinball}} nonsensical game show]] Joey's auditioning for in the ''Series/{{Friends}}'' episode "The One With The Baby Shower". At one point, Chandler gets ''all of Ross' points'' for no real reason. Then at the end Chandler "gets Bamboozled", which apparently means that [[GoldenSnitch Ross wins...somehow]].

** The "Flip Cards" game has you [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin flipping cards]] to reveal items, Toadies (which [[{{Zonk}} do nothing]]), or Kamek (who causes you to lose everything). You can exit the game before flipping every card and keep whichever items you've accumulated, but if you manage to flip every card besides Kamek, he will fly out and the card will flip to reveal a [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome 10-Up]]. Kamek could be placed behind more than one card, rendering the 10-Up prize UnintentionallyUnwinnable in some cases. This issue was corrected in the GBA port.

** The [[Series/WhammyTheAllNewPressYourLuck GSN revival]] raised the ante with the introduction of the '''Double''' Whammy in Round 3, which is just like the Whammy only it also throws in [[CoveredInGunge random physical humiliation]], like dropping flour, feathers, or even dirty laundry on the player.

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* VideoGame/MarvelSnap

* The Locker Room of ''Series/ThinkFast'' has the dreaded ''RedHerring''. The Red Herring is a character or item with no match at all. If the next match is that character or item, The player must pull the handle and continue making more match.

->''"Stop at a Whammy."''
-->-- '''Peter Tomarken''''s occasional response.

** If, upon landing on a Bankrupt, a contestant has [[ExtraTurn the Wild Card token]], the Million-Dollar Wedge, and/or any [[DoubleUnlock "1/2 Car" tags]], ''all'' that are in the player's possession are forfeit. (The Wild Card and the Million Dollar wedge are gone for good. However, two "1/2 Car" tokens are in play during the first three rounds, regardless if any contestant lost one or both via Bankrupt). The only tokens safe from Bankrupt were the Free Spin and the short-lived Double Play.

** The spaces where you must backtrack are a subversion. They slow down your progress, but it also gives your opponents more of an opportunity to get trapped in the Cheese Wheel before you.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures 2: Montana's Movie Madness'', when Buster finds Gogo Dodo, Gogo takes him to a bonus roulette where he can earn extra health, points, or even invincibility, depending on which character he lands on.[[note]]Babs adds an extra heart to Buster's life bar, Plucky and Hamton restore his health, Furrball and Sneezer give him 10 carrots, Fifi and Concord give him 100 points, and Shirley temporarily makes him invincible.[[/note]] Dizzy Devil, however, takes five carrots from Buster's inventory, and he is the only character on the roulette with four spaces (one for each corner of the screen).

A Whammy is a GameShow's sadistic streak personified in a condition that ''takes'' from the unlucky player who gets it, usually everything. A player who gets a Whammy can pretty much throw in the towel right then and there, unless of course his opponents (if there ''are'' any opponents) also hit them.

-->-- '''Peter Tomarken'''[='s=] occasional response.

Any good game show features its fair share of hazards; they're what make the show interesting and effective, like a round of golf.

* Stopper tiles on ''Series/{{Scrabble}}''. Still, as Chuck Woolery explained on the 1993 finale, if you picked two of these tiles and knew it, you could guess the word and thus ship the no-win off to your opponent.

* ''$100,000 Fortune Hunt'' was a WGN game show for winners of the Illinois Lottery. The board had positive and negative dollar amounts, but also had a few whammies:

* Non-luck-based variant in TabletopGame/{{Chess}} and TabletopGame/{{Shatranj}}: The form of [[StupidityIsTheOnlyOption zugzwang]] called the [[https://www.chess.com/chessopedia/view/trebuchet trebuchet]]. In Chess, it means all legal moves give your opponent an unstoppable passed pawn that will queen for a King-and-Queen checkmate net. It's even more immediate in Shatranj, since all legal moves enable your opponent to bare your King on the next move; GameOver, you lose.

* ''VideoGame/MarioParty'': Bowser usually fulfills this role in various titles in the series. A wide variety of things can happen at his spaces, but all of them end in loss of coins or stars for one or more players, and no player ever gains from the spaces. Unless they are completely broke; then he can feel pity. Or he'll give you stuff just so you have something for him to take from you. Depends on which game you're playing.

* The Sega Genesis version of ''[[VideoGame/AladdinVirginGames Aladdin]]'' has Genie tokens which allow you to play a roulette-style bonus game at the end of each level. One slot has Jafar holding a "Lose!" sign; hitting him means you lose the rest of your tokens.

* ''TabletopGame/MouseTrap'':

* ''TabletopGame/MysteryDate'' requires players to have all the cards in an outfit set to open the door, and call which outfit if they have more than one set. If the date who shows up doesn't match the set, the player has to discard all the cards in that set.