| 1 | %% Image selected via crowner in the Image Suggestion thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/ImagePickin/ImageSuggestions68 |
| 2 | %% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread. |
| 3 | %% |
| 4 | [[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/CampLazlo https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/second_place_is_for_winners.png]]]] |
| 5 | |
| 6 | ->''"The witches show off tricks and spells developed during the year in a spirit of friendly co-operation (har har) to see who is going to come second to Granny Weatherwax."'' |
| 7 | -->-- ''[[Franchise/{{Discworld}} Nanny Ogg's Cookbook]]'' |
| 8 | |
| 9 | A character enters a contest where the nominal first prize isn't actually their preferred one, so they'd be happier winning second place or maybe doing even worse. |
| 10 | |
| 11 | This can take several forms: |
| 12 | # The character doesn't know beforehand what the prizes are, or only knows what first prize is. This generally leads to a TwistEnding where they try their best at the contest, are disappointed to learn they didn't win, and then overjoyed to learn that they got what they wanted anyway. For example, if first prize is money which the character wants in order to buy X, then second prize will turn out to be X. |
| 13 | # The character does know beforehand what the prizes are, resulting in a non–video game version of DoWellButNotPerfect. For added hilarity, they might [[SpringtimeForHitler win anyway despite trying to come in second]]. |
| 14 | # The character is a rookie having his or her first shot at the big-time, and would have no realistic chance of winning this soon ([[UnderdogsNeverLose despite what most sports movies would have you believe]]). The fact that he or she manages to place ''at all'' is considered a victory. |
| 15 | # Similarly, the character is in some other way disadvantaged compared to the competition, so doing well enough to place is still a huge accomplishment.[[note]]In RealLife, this variation can also play out if the first-place winner is exceptional even compared to other top competitors to the point where unless they have a massively off day, they're all but guaranteed to win (e.g. Usain Bolt on the track, Simone Biles in gymnastics), but this is extremely rare in fiction because having a virtually unbeatable competitor (other than as a setup for the protagonist to [[DarkHorseVictory defeat them for a shocking victory]]) doesn't make for a good story.[[/note]] |
| 16 | # The structure of a competition is such that not finishing first now will give the character an advantage in finishing first at a later event or portion of the event. |
| 17 | # A variation of this is when the runner-up is remembered more than the actual winner. This often happens in sports and reality shows (see TheRunnerUpTakesItAll). |
| 18 | |
| 19 | In real life, some contests avert this by allowing winners to choose a prize out of all the prizes the people who placed below them could get, or just making every prize include all the lower-place prizes. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | Compare TheRunnerUpTakesItAll and DeliberateUnderPerformance. Compare and contrast SecondPrize, when a character was expecting a different outcome in a competition. Contrast SecondPlaceIsForLosers. See also DisqualificationInducedVictory and VictoriousLoser. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | !!As this is a [[VictoryAndDefeat Victory/Defeat Trope]], [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff unmarked spoilers abound]]. [[Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned Beware]]. |
| 24 | ---- |
| 25 | !!Examples: |
| 26 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 27 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 28 | * The episode of ''Manga/BlackJack'' where they first meet the future TeamPet, Largo. A normally rather lazy dog, Largo displays surprising bursts of prescience, often causing trouble that unexpectedly draws people away from dangerous areas. When Pinoco realizes this, she decides to try and profit from it, having Largo pick a number for a Lottery for her, hoping to win the First Prize - a romantic holiday on a southern island, just perfect for her and her 'husband', Black Jack. Instead, they win a lesser prize -- several pounds of Steak. Over a steak dinner, she complains to Black Jack that Largo apparently isn't psychic after all, but he corrects her: to Largo, a pallet of delicious meat is simply far more valuable than some vacation he probably wouldn't get to go on anyway. |
| 29 | * In ''Manga/BoysOverFlowers'', Tsukushi enters a fashion contest where (due to nepotism) the 1st place winner has been preordained. She wins second place, but since that was the highest spot that hadn't been "reserved," it effectively makes her the winner of the contest. |
| 30 | * ''Franchise/DragonBall'' uses this once or twice. |
| 31 | ** When [[ChewToy Krillin]] faces Piccolo Jr. in the final tournament, he manages to withstand the NoHoldsBarredBeatdown much longer than expected. When he finally declares "I give up", Piccolo's UnsportsmanlikeGloating turns to confusion and anger when the crowd starts cheering for Krillin. Turns out Piccolo was impressed by Krillin, so much that he used his full power for a few seconds. After noticing that Krillin isn't the strongest by any means, Piccolo thinks conquering Earth might not be as easy as planned. |
| 32 | ** Of course also used with Goku himself during the first two tournaments, which he notably lost by the end, but still managed to do so well that everyone was proud of his efforts. Additionally, after the first tournament, Goku lost but still ultimately got to use the prize money, as he was so exhausted from fighting that he ate everything at a restaurant during the group's celebratory dinner. The bill was so high that Roshi had to pay with all his winnings he won in disguise. |
| 33 | * Team Sugo Asurada from ''Anime/FutureGPXCyberFormula'' does not expect much of a success. After all, their racing crew is consists of only handful of TrueCompanions which barely fills the pitlane and a 14-year-old driver who had no experience in racing. That Hayato finishes third or fourth a number of times makes them more happy than people who get a win, much to [[TheRival Randoll]]'s confusion. |
| 34 | * Used by Shikamaru Nara in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' during the Chunin exam finals. Up against Temari, he starts off struggling to keep up with her brute force until he finally gets the upper hand. And then decides to throw in the towel, much to all of the exam participants' disappointment. However, the team leaders note this actually shows off Shikamaru's tactical skill in that he knows when to quit, rather than continue on in vain. |
| 35 | ** Note that it had been made clear beforehand that passing the exam was not dependent on winning the tournament. That Shikamaru managed to fight well enough, yet had the levelheadedness to concede when he reached his limits, led to him being the only one who actually passed the exam anyway. Though with the tournament being interrupted in the midst of the final match of the opening round by the Sound-Sand invasion of Konoha, it's impossible to know whether anybody else would've been able to impress the examiners enough for promotion. Since there's no limit on the number that can earn the promotion from Genin to Chunin, this wouldn't have changed anything for Shikamaru, but it's likely that at least some other people would've been promoted too. |
| 36 | * ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesXY'': |
| 37 | ** Ash enters with his three Flying-Type Pokémon Fletchinder, Hawlucha and Noibat the Pokémon Sky Ralley contest, a contest where a team of three flying (or levitating or gliding) Pokémon are doing a race. They become the runner-up, since the newborn Noibat just learned how to fly during that contest... which is the point why they entered the tournament in the first place: to motivate Noibat to learn flying. Ash, Hawlucha and Fletchinder are more than happy that Noibat finally learned it and they forget the fact that they lost the ralley. |
| 38 | ** Though Ash ultimately lost at the finals during the Lumiose Conference, he fares better than the actual victor, Alain. During the League ceremony, Team Flare launch their attack upon Lumiose City. Alain, being involved with Team Flare, suffers the worst kind of loss when he realizes that his entire goal was a lie, and his boss Lysandre only cares about power, ignoring Mega Evolution in favor of a potentially more powerful Bond Phenomenon that Ash possesses. In the aftermath of the Flare crisis, Ash is constantly recognized and praised by young trainers as the Conference League finalist while Alain quietly rebuilds his life with Prof. Sycamore, and privately admits Ash to be the superior trainer. Since the League ceremony wasn't finished when Team Flare attacked, it is heavily modified and officially makes everyone who stood against Lysandre champions of the Kalos League, rendering the League results moot. |
| 39 | * At the end of ''Anime/PrincessNine'' the girls' baseball team loses to the boys' team from their same school, in the playoff game that was right before Koshien. They're not all that upset about it, considering they pulled together nine people in a matter of weeks and made it that far when most of the administration was saying that they were a disaster waiting to happen. |
| 40 | * One ''Manga/{{Saiyuki}} Reload'' omake chapter has the Sanzo party enter a local martial arts tournament for a 1 million yen cash prize. The four quickly beat their way to the top, with Sanzo and Hakkai becoming the finalists. At that point it doesn't really matter who wins, as they'd all share the prize money anyway but someone does have to win, and they'd probably earn more bragging right. However, just before the final round starts, both Sanzo and Hakkai notice that the champion would have to wear an embarrassing outfit when they are crowned, and both feign illness and withdraw from the tournament. Since Goku is disqualified for accidentally hitting the referee during his fight with Sanzo, Gojyo is crowned the winner, to his mortification and his teammates' amusement. |
| 41 | * ''Manga/SgtFrog'' has the 1st beach comedy contest. Keroro enters to get a Gundam knockoff (because it's really rare due to poor sales). He doesn't find out that it's a consolation prize for everyone who doesn't win until near the end, [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption and he can't stop himself.]] He wins the first prize instead: a refrigerator. |
| 42 | [[/folder]] |
| 43 | |
| 44 | [[folder:Asian Animation]] |
| 45 | * ''Animation/BoBoiBoyGalaxy'': [=BoBoiBoy=] and Fang enter the Nova Prix Space Race to save the power sphera Trophybot that was being given as a prize. Adu Du participates as well to get the power sphera for himself, and ends up 1st place by the length of his antenna, with the heroes in 2nd place. Trophybot turns out to be the 2nd place prize, while Adu Du wins a year's supply of Bago Go's cosmetic products, much to his anger. |
| 46 | [[/folder]] |
| 47 | |
| 48 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 49 | * Common TwistEnding for the ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'': |
| 50 | ** There's a Scrooge [=McDuck=] story where the Billionaire's Club announces a variety of extravagant, chess-themed prizes for whoever makes the most money during the year... a gold-and-platinum chess-set for the first place, a gold-and-silver chess-set for the second place, and a silver-and-bronze chess-set for third place. And, as a consolation-prize for whoever makes the ''least'' money during the year, an Ebony pawn and a waived membership fee (said fee had just been raised by a small percentage, causing Scrooge to faint). At this announcement, Scrooge declares his intention to win the Last Prize, no matter the cost, with most of his colleagues assuming that he'd just gone nuts due to the increased membership-fee. Of course, even when he ''tries'' to lose money, he can't manage it -- and in the end, he had to put WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck in charge of his business-empire for a month in order to drive down his stock-prices sufficiently to wind up dead last. Having finally succeeded, he reveals to Donald the ''[[UnspokenPlanGuarantee real]]'' reason he was after the consolation-prize: The Ebony Pawn is actually an antique, originally part of a gem-encrusted chess-set owned by the Queen of Sheba. Said chess-set was in his possession, and with the last, missing pawn restored, the total value of the now-complete, historic chess-set redoubles sufficiently to more than make up for the losses he suffered during the contest. |
| 51 | ** There's another where the main attraction of an auction is a gazillion-dollar bill. Scrooge and another billionaire are soon the only two left making increasingly larger bids. Strangely, Scrooge seems to lose interest at one point, so Donald steps in and announces a bigger price, to Scrooge's anger. Then the rival tops that, Scrooge fails to follow up, and the auction is closed. As the billionaire starts to gloat, Scrooge gently reminds him that he paid two gazillion dollars for a ''one''-gazillion dollar bill. |
| 52 | ** Lots of different stories where Donald goes against his impossibly lucky cousin Gladstone use one of three variants (see also under BornLucky): |
| 53 | *** Donald seems to beat Gladstone's luck, but in the end, it turns out the "first prize" (which can mean a lot of things from an actual contest to, say, a date with Daisy or the lead role in a play) isn't actually desirable after all, so Gladstone wins anyway, if nothing else because he gets to gloat. |
| 54 | *** The reverse: Gladstone's luck seems to be ensuring his victory, but in the end, it turns out the first prize isn't desirable after all, so he actually loses, and Donald wins at least by getting to see him lose. |
| 55 | *** Donald gets the main prize and is happy with it, but Gladstone's luck gets him something else, such as money, that he's at least as happy with. |
| 56 | ** In one story, a billionaire is selling a small house he has by the beach and, under the belief he means his [[BigFancyHouse beach manor]] and being arrogant about how he describes it, Scrooge [=McDuck=] and Flintheart Glomgold want to buy it. Since neither of them is willing to pay more than one million dollars, the billionaire will sell the place to the buyer who defeats the other buyer in a game of rock-paper-scissors and they'll have one day to decide what each one will call. Scrooge's spies find out what Glomgold will call, but his nephews find out the "small house" is an old and broken place instead of the manor as initially assumed, and Scrooge decides to lose the game on purpose. Subverted because Glomgold finds a treasure in the place and it's worth ''ten'' million dollars. |
| 57 | * In the graphic novel ''ComicBook/DoctorStrange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment'', Strange and Doom are the first- and second-place finishers in a contest of mages to determine the title of Sorcerer Supreme. Strange wins/retains the title, and an obligation to do a favor for the person who finished second. He's not pleased. Doom, on the other hand, is only too happy to have Strange in his debt. Fortunately for Strange, Doom simply wants his help to free his mother's soul [[DealWithTheDevil from Mephisto]]. It's implied that Doom entered the contest knowing he wouldn't win, just to get the favor. Strange, who would've done this even ''without'' being under an obligation, asks why Doom went to such trouble. Apparently asking for help would be a bigger blow to Doom's {{Pride}} than finishing second place (which is itself something Doom definitely does not like). |
| 58 | -->'''Strange:''' Why didn't you just ask? |
| 59 | -->'''Doom:''' Doom does not beg. |
| 60 | * In a ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' comic story, Po is finally getting the best of his old rival, Heng, a pig who used to cruelly taunt him in any competition he put them in when they were kids. However, he remembers after one race he lost against Heng, his own father, Mr. Ping, warmly congratulated him for doing his best, while Heng was coldly berated by his own parents for being too slow ''despite'' having just won. At that, Po realized that Heng was emotionally abused and decides to deliberately lose the current race as he knows he has nothing to prove. |
| 61 | * In ComicBook/ArchieComics, a bicycle race is held in Riverdale, with first prize being some extravagant vacation and second prize being a year's worth of hamburgers. Jughead, naturally, wants second prize and has to walk a delicate balance to keep a second-place position. Finally, the finish line is in sight, and Jughead is right behind Reggie, the frontrunner. But Reggie thinks Jughead is trying to overtake him and tries to force him off the road. This slows them down enough that [[DarkHorseVictory Big Ethel slips past them]] to win the race. Jug laments that after all his careful work to place second he ended up in third place, but then Reggie is disqualified for his misconduct, and Jughead receives the prize he wanted all along. Betty congratulates Ethel, saying it takes hard work and dedication to win first prize. Jughead, devouring hamburgers, says, "You think that's hard? Try winning ''second'' prize sometime!" |
| 62 | [[/folder]] |
| 63 | |
| 64 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 65 | * ''Fanfic/TheMoonstoneCup'': Twilight figures that she won't win the eponymous Moonstone Cup', given that no one has ever won from her age division. Trixie berates her for such a defeatist attitude. Despite the fact that it was ''her'' strategy too, as one of the entrants was an undefeated wolf god who considers himself a peer to Celestia and Luna -- [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu whom Twilight narrowly defeats in the final]]. |
| 66 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10390405/1/Learning-to-fly Learning To Fly]]'', Astrid and Hiccup both compete in the All-Viking Tournament at an annual meeting of the various Viking tribes. Despite being considered underdogs due to their smaller size (and Hiccup's peg leg) they both make their way into the finals, a four-person melee. Hiccup and Astrid each manage to defeat their respective opponents, and find themselves facing each other as the finalists. When he realizes that Astrid had broken her arm during her bout, but that she's still holding her axe in her good hand, Hiccup drops his sword, ceding the match to Astrid. Stoick congratulates Hiccup on taking the honorable route rather than attacking an injured opponent. Considering that he didn't expect to make it past the first round, Hiccup was quite pleased with his performance. |
| 67 | * While sparring with Sebastian in ''[[https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/mana-based-system-foz-gamer.22317/threadmarks Mana Based System]]'', [[Literature/TheFamiliarOfZero Louise]] does her best but ultimately yields. However since Sebastian is not only a Triangle class mage, but also a retired mercenary, she never had a chance of winning; Louise's goal was to impress him by not losing too badly. She succeeds and Sebastian is willing to vouch for her when she tries her hand at being an adventurer. |
| 68 | * In ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'', Ash is perfectly happy with coming in second place in the Battle Dome Tournament for several reasons. 1) He only barely lost. 2) One of his opponents had six gym badges to his three because one of his technically counts as eight. 3) It's hardly the first time he's failed to win a tournament, [[PeggySue even if it's the first time in this timeline]]. |
| 69 | * Lampshaded by Gary in ''Fanfic/{{Traveler}}'' that both that year's champion and the previous one were longtime trainers with close to a decade experience each, yet no one even remembers latter. Meanwhile, Ash is a rookie with less than a year experience who made it all the way to second place. |
| 70 | [[/folder]] |
| 71 | |
| 72 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 73 | * Happens to Lightning [=McQueen=] at the end of ''WesternAnimation/Cars1''. In this case, however, Lightning sabotages his own win. He was well ahead and could easily have dropped the chequered flag, but seems to have chosen not to win a race in which the reigning champ had been unfairly taken out. So it ends with Chick in first, The King in second, and Lightning in third. [[TheRunnerUpTakesItAll The King has his dignity restored, Lightning is praised for his sportsmanship]], and Chick's victory is [[MeaninglessVillainVictory rendered meaningless]] because no one is going to sponsor someone so publicly amoral and unsportsmanlike. |
| 74 | * At the end of ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles1'', Dash competes in the school race and comes in second, to the overwhelming cheer of his family. Given that he has super speed, coming in ''first'' would have been too easy, but being able to control himself enough to nail second spot is an accomplishment -- as well as giving up the chance for attention and fame at school for being the winner. |
| 75 | [[/folder]] |
| 76 | |
| 77 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 78 | * First started by ''Film/TheBadNewsBears'', where the team comes within reach of winning but ultimately loses by one run because the coach decides to give the less talented players a chance. The fly ball that would have been a game-winning home run is instead caught at the fence. Because they came very close and did the honorable thing by letting everyone play, they won the moral victory by living up to the spirit of Little League. |
| 79 | * ''Film/BringItOn'': In the first film, the protagonist's cheer squad is guaranteed a trip to the national competition as they're the defending champions. However, after learning that their previous captain stole the winning routines from a rival squad, they decide to play fair and develop their own routine. When the rival squad manages to raise funds to compete in the national competition themselves, the protagonists knew they'd be runners-up at best. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when the love interest asks the protagonist how she feels about coming in second place. "It feels like first." |
| 80 | * The Iranian movie ''Film/ChildrenOfHeaven'' concerns a boy who loses his sister's shoes. The family is too poor to buy another pair, so the boy decides to enter a race where shoes are the third prize. Unfortunately, he places first. He eventually goes on to a racing career, and his father (who was unaware of her missing shoes or his son's plan) buys her a new pair due to getting a raise on his new job. |
| 81 | * ''Film/CoolRunnings'': In the end, the Jamaican Olympic bobsled team ultimately loses the competition because of a faulty sled, but their determination allowed them to win the respect of both the crowd and the other Olympic teams. |
| 82 | * ''Film/MarryMe2022'' ends with Lou Gilbert making it to the finals of a major school math contest. While she loses in the final round because she gave the answer ''literally'' as the buzzer went off after overcoming her stage fright, her father Charlie assures her that he's proud of her overcoming her fears and getting the question right (and the contest also saw the return of Lou's new stepmother to her and Charlie's life). |
| 83 | * In the French film ''Microbe & Gasoline'', the titular characters end up entering a children's drawing contest. They get second place, but the second place prize is a round-trip ticket to their home -- since they're currently lost with no easy way to get back, they manage to convince the judges to make it two one-way tickets instead. |
| 84 | * In the ''[[Series/TheRedGreenShow Red Green]]'' movie ''Duct Tape Forever'', in order to pay off a $10,000 fine, Harold suggests the lodge enter a duct tape sculpture contest to win the money. The lodge members are skeptical, but when Harold tells them the $10,000 is the ''third''-place prize, they figure it's within their abilities. |
| 85 | * In ''Possums'', the titular High School football team loses their match, but considering that they hadn't played a game all year, had only two weeks to practice, held their own against the state champions, and scored their first touchdown in over a decade, it's definitely this. |
| 86 | * The first ''Film/{{Rocky}}'' and ''Film/RockyBalboa''. They bookend the saga with this trope. In the first movie, he's trying to make a name for himself and prove to the world that he belongs. In the last, he wants one last great fight so he can retire with honor. In each he loses by decision against a heavily -- and rightfully -- favored undefeated opponent, but the moral victory was in having gone the distance. |
| 87 | * In ''Film/RealSteel'', robots Atom and Zeus fight for the champion's title. Atom beats Zeus heavily by the end, but Zeus is saved by the bell and wins by points. But the very fact that a custom-built robot can beat a corporate killer machine so badly is a slap in the face of Zeus's masters. Furthermore, nobody was betting over the ''outcome'' of the fight; the biggest bet of the game was over whether Atom would survive one round against the monster. |
| 88 | * Happens twice in ''Film/{{Rush 2013}}'', once for Niki Lauda and once for James Hunt. In Lauda's case, finishing fourth just six weeks after his near-fatal crash. In Hunt's case finishing 3rd in the Japanese Grand Prix earns him enough points to win the World Championship over Lauda (with a margin of one point). And again with regards to Niki: he may have gotten second to James, but he was alive to try again. He tells Marlene he has no regrets. |
| 89 | * In ''Film/SilverLiningsPlaybook'', Pat and Tiffany enter a dance competition. Tiffany is a good dancer but not professional caliber, and Pat has never done anything like this before at all, he's just doing it because he owes Tiffany a favor. Them winning the competition is unimaginable, but Pat's father bets a large amount of money on their getting an average score of 5 or better out of 10. That's exactly what they get. When their family and friends go absolutely nuts, the judges and other contestants and fans are baffled at anyone being so thrilled by such a low score. |
| 90 | * ''Film/SnowballExpress'': Despite being a novice snowmobile rider, Johnny enters the snowmobile race, not expecting to win but hoping he can come in second or third and still get a cash prize. He almost ends up coming in first, but then he gets turned around at the finish line and comes in last by a ''huge'' margin. |
| 91 | * ''Film/ThoseMagnificentMenInTheirFlyingMachines'': Orvil is about to win the race when he sees that Count Ponticelli's plane has caught fire and so performs a daring mid-air rescue. Richard wins, but is so impressed that he offers to split the prize money with Orvil. Dubois ends up coming in third place, but he still receives a hero's welcome from his fellow French. |
| 92 | * ''Film/WhipIt'': "We're Number Two! We're Number Two!" |
| 93 | * This trope becomes literal in ''Film/TroopBeverlyHills''. Though the troop from Culver City, the "Red Feathers", finished first, they abandoned their injured leader along the way, so they were disqualified. The titular troop from Beverly Hills finished second--ironically, dragging the injured leader along with them--and were declared the winners of the competition. |
| 94 | [[/folder]] |
| 95 | |
| 96 | [[folder:Folklore]] |
| 97 | * There's an old riddle about an eccentric millionaire who offers his estate to his two sons, but the catch is that they must have a horse race and whomever's horse finished second would get the prize. They initially start out dawdling along as slowly as can be, but after several days of this, they come to a plan and race full speed to the finish. How? [[ExactWords Whomever's horse finished second.]] They switched horses. |
| 98 | * Which is, itself a modernization of an [[OlderThanPrint Arabic story]] about two quarreling Bedouin, both of whom are claiming that their camel is the slowest in all of Arabia, and the wise man who helps them sort it out. There is also a German board game ''Das Letzte Kamel'' (''The Last Camel'') inspired by this story. |
| 99 | [[/folder]] |
| 100 | |
| 101 | [[folder:Gamebooks]] |
| 102 | * In ''Literature/DemonsOfTheDeep'', if you hire the fencing instructor Cyrano and beat him in a spar, he'll acknowledge that you're a master of the sword but even a swordmaster will learn something from him and you'll get an excellent prize of +1 to your Initial Skill. However if you lose against him, you'll actually learn a lot more and you get an even better +2 to your Initial Skill. So do your best to lose against him. |
| 103 | [[/folder]] |
| 104 | |
| 105 | [[folder:Jokes]] |
| 106 | * Grand prize is a new ''[insert name of TheAllegedCar here]''? What's second prize? Two of them! |
| 107 | * This is essentially a [[MadLibsCatchPhrase Mad Libs]] joke. The location variation usually takes the form of ''Third place: a weeklong trip to [city], second place a weekend stay in [same city], first place: nothing!'' Sometimes shows up in national stereotype jokes featuring three different nationalities, with the "simplest" stereotype evading death by staying in second place. |
| 108 | * An ObfuscatingStupidity joke recounts the tale of a kindly shopkeeper and a little kid named Billy. The shopkeeper often witnessed older boys teasing Billy by offering him a choice between a nickel and a dime, then laughing at him choosing the nickel, supposedly because the nickel was larger and Billy was too slow to realize that the dime was worth more. Eventually, the shopkeeper took pity on Billy, and took him aside for a quiet word on the matter... only for Billy to reveal that he knows very well how much the two coins are worth, but if he ever picks the dime, the kids will stop giving him free nickels. |
| 109 | [[/folder]] |
| 110 | |
| 111 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 112 | * One ''Literature/TheBabySittersClub'' book had the sitters helping their charges prepare for a beauty pageant. First prize was a savings bond and the chance to compete in another pageant. Second prize was a shopping spree at a local toy store. Unsurprisingly, the 6-to-10-year-old girls that the BSC members were helping all massively prefer the second prize. As the eventual second place winner explains to all the adults who are indignant about the fact that she didn't win, "But then [if I had won] I wouldn't get any toys!" |
| 113 | * In James Marshall's book ''The Cut-ups Carry On'', protagonists Spud and Joe try to win a dance contest to win a "lunar walker" from one of their favorite TV shows. In the end, the boys are thrilled to win second place and tickets to a sports game while their rivals for the story win first prize, which turns out to be little more than a two-person cardboard car. |
| 114 | * The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' short story "The Sea and Little Fishes" reveals that Nanny Ogg quite likes coming in second in competitions because people buy her lots of drinks to cheer her up, and also she thinks that "well done, you almost win" is better sounding than anyone saying "you nearly lost that one" as they do to those who come first in close competition. |
| 115 | * ''Literature/EncyclopediaBrown'': |
| 116 | ** One story has a girl who deliberately wins second prize in a trivia contest, because she knows the watch that goes to the first-prize winner is broken. |
| 117 | ** Another story has one of Encyclopedia's friends trying to finish last place in a race, figuring that the last-place finisher will get the most time with the media. Another girl had the same idea, so Encyclopedia has to prove she cheated [[ConvictionByContradiction by shooting a hole in her story about stopping near a theater to hear the music being played within]]--apparently, to know the ''actual'' name of the song they were playing (rather than a more common song with the same tune), she'd have had to have gone ''inside'', and therefore off the race course.[[labelnote:Side note]]For the record, [[ConvictionByCounterfactualClue the "clue" that solved the case for Brown wasn't even correct]].[[/labelnote]] He was right--she'd left the race course after two miles and only returned to the course for the last mile. |
| 118 | * The last book in ''Literature/TheGreatBrain'' series features a spelling bee. The winner gets a new bicycle. The title character and his love interest are the finalists. He could easily win, but chooses to maintain a tie by deliberately misspelling words as necessary. By postponing a resolution he forces the adults to call a draw and give both of them the bikes (they had to have a boy's bike and a girl's bike available). And since he didn't beat his girl, she doesn't hate him, either. |
| 119 | * In one of the ''Literature/{{Jennings}}'' books, Jennings enters bowling competition at the village fete, for which the first prize is a live pig. He has no intention nor expectation of winning, since there's a local man named Clive who always scores at least fifty -- he just wants to impress Darbishire. Unfortunately, Clive never shows up.... |
| 120 | * ''Literature/JohnPutnamThatcher'': In ''Going for the Gold'', Olympic skier Dick Noyes comes in second to last in his event, but is perfectly content, as he sees qualifying in the first place as a sufficient achievement. |
| 121 | * In ''Literature/OutOfTheDust'', protagonist Billie Jo is pleased and proud of herself for winning third prize in a TalentContest with her piano playing, since she's less than a year removed from a horrific freak accident that left her hands so badly burned she [[DreamCrushingHandicap wasn't sure she'd ever be able to play again]]. One contestant who didn't win a prize tries to suggest that the panel just gave Billie Jo the prize to be nice due to her story, but the other competitors disagree and say that she won it fairly. |
| 122 | * Creator/RobinMcKinley's ''Literature/TheOutlawsOfSherwood'' uses the traditional Myth/RobinHood story of an archery contest set up to lure Robin in by using a golden arrow as the prize, and comments in passing that the other contestants are likely to miss their shots to win the lesser prizes of livestock. (This being an unusually pragmatic version of Robin, he has no interest in the contest at all, demanding to know what on earth he'd do with a golden arrow.) |
| 123 | * The Creator/DanielPinkwater book ''Slaves of Spiegel'' is about a literal CookingDuel run by an alien warlord. The main characters win second prize, which turns out to be six hundred pounds of Spiegelian blue garlic and deluxe transportation back to Earth; since they'd been coveting the blue garlic for the entire book and had been planning on asking for some as a reward if they won, they're naturally overjoyed. First prize would have been the "opportunity" of being forced to be the warlord's permanent chef (along with such knickknacks as a lifetime supply of peanut-butter flavored aftershave). |
| 124 | * In the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' novel, ''Literature/TheVulcanAcademyMurders'', there is a flashback to a coming of age cross country race trial which Vulcan youths are expected to complete within a certain time limit. When Spock sees a rival trapped and in trouble, he abandons the race to help him, but can't get any of the other runners passing by to stop and help as well. Eventually, a rescue crew arrives to get Spock and his rival to safety, leaving them in dead last. However, the race's judges declare that of all the kids involved in this incident during the race, only Spock passed because he showed proper maturity to stop to help a competitor in distress while the others displayed a poor choice of priorities. |
| 125 | ** A similar scenario happened in an episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' during Wesley's timed exam to enter Starfleet Academy. He took time out to help another candidate, but was pointedly not penalized for doing so. |
| 126 | * ''Literature/StoneFox'' has a tragic double subversion. Willy and his dog are about to win the sled dog race until the latter dies from a heart attack. However, the titular rival convinces him to cross the finish line anyway and makes sure none of the other racers do. |
| 127 | * In ''Literature/{{Yendi}}'', the Dragonlords consider being the Dragaeran Emperor to be an extremely boring job that one of them occasionally has to accept out of duty. Being the Warlord, on the other hand, is considered an awesome job. The plot concerns a plan by a Dragonlord and her Yendi accomplice to get the top three heirs out of the way so that an uninvolved third party will become Emperor and make her Warlord. She is eventually disqualified entirely for dishonorable behavior. |
| 128 | [[/folder]] |
| 129 | |
| 130 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 131 | * In ''Series/{{Eureka}}'', Zoe wins second prize in the [[SeriousBusiness Tesla High science fair]]. She is ''far'' happier with the second prize--a car--than she would be with the first prize--an internship at Global Dynamics. On the other hand, the prizes weren't announced until the winners were, so it's entirely possible that Zoe won a car because Stark knew she wouldn't want the internship... |
| 132 | * In one episode of ''Series/{{Monk}}'', a man enters a children's contest in a town fest and deliberately wins second place. It turns out that he had murdered a woman that day and there was a high risk the crucial piece of evidence got accidentally put in a pie that was the prize. |
| 133 | * Something like this is part of the premise of ''Series/BlueMountainState.'' The main character Alex Moran is the team's second string quarterback, and he wouldn't have it any other way. He gets all the fame and benefits of being on a high-ranking team, but doesn't have to do any of the work. It winds up being subverted in the third season when Alex becomes the starting QB and finds that being the starter on a winning team, while requiring more work, is ultimately more rewarding. After being suspended from the national championship, he tries to drink his sorrows away only to find he doesn't enjoy it as much as before because he's "had the taste of winning". |
| 134 | * There's an episode of ''Series/TheVicarOfDibley'' where the titular Vicar is trying to win second place in a contest put on by a chocolate manufacturer. First prize is a trip to Disneyland, second is a year's supply of chocolate. The entry she sent in wins first place anyway, much to her disappointment. |
| 135 | * In ''Series/MagnumPI'', Magnum is excited to win second prize in a "create a slogan for our product" contest: a trip to [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Disney World]] in Florida. When the grand-prize winner is disqualified for plagiarism, Magnum gets the grand prize instead: a trip to Hawaii. Since Magnum already lives in Hawaii, he's less than overjoyed. |
| 136 | * ''Series/TheBradyBunch'': In "The Winner," where Bobby desperately tries to win at ''something'', anything, he tries his hand at selling magazines to his brothers and sisters. The friend who gives him the idea waves off first prize as "some kind of scholarship", but is excited about second prize - a dirt bike. |
| 137 | * ''Series/SesameStreet'': A segment called "The Remembering Game" (a parody of the long-running game show ''Series/{{Concentration}}'') featured Cookie Monster and an Anything Muppet playing the game. Cookie wins the grand prize of an airplane, while the Anything Muppet gets the booby prize... a cookie! When the Anything Muppet is offended and Cookie disappointed, the two trade prizes. Apparently, it was allowed. |
| 138 | * In ''Series/TheOfficeUS'', the company is bought out by a rival and the CEO decides that Michael and Jim being co-managers is a stupid idea. She will leave one as manager and demote the other back to salesman. Jim finds out that the new company does not have a commission cap for its salesmen, so if he gets demoted he can make way more money than the manager. Since he hates being a manager, he tries to make sure that Michael will get the job. However, Michael finds this out and decides that he wants the demotion as well. Hilarity ensues until Michael realizes that he prefers the extra status over the money. |
| 139 | * On ''Series/DanForMayor'', Dan enters the race for mayor of Wessex in order to show his ex-girlfriend that he is not a complete loser. By election day they got back together and are planning to move to Vancouver where she is was offered a great new job. The main candidate is way ahead of him in polls and Dan's main concern is to beat out Wheelo (a clown) for second place. The main candidate drops out in the last moment and Dan wins. |
| 140 | * In the finale of ''Series/TedLasso'', AFC Richmond comes from behind in their final match to get the win they need to potentially win the UsefulNotes/EnglishPremierLeague, a triumphant victory even though they end up with second place because they also needed Man City to lose its final match, which they did not. However, finishing in second also gives the club its first ever place in the UsefulNotes/UEFAChampionsLeague, which is considered an impressive achievement in of itself for a smaller Premier League squad like Richmond. |
| 141 | * In ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "A Game of Pool", Jesse Cardiff, a bitter pool player tired of being overshadowed by the memory of late legendary pool player Fats Brown is offered the chance to become a legend himself when Fats Brown returns from the afterlife to answer his challenge. Jesse defeats Fats and becomes the new pool legend. What great reward does Jesse get in the end? [[AndIMustScream Spending eternity]] [[IronicHell defending his pool title until he loses.]] The original story (and remake of the episode) defies this trope, however: Cardiff loses the match and Brown makes it clear before disappearing that Cardiff's destiny is to become a forgotten has-been. So no matter what, Cardiff just can't win. |
| 142 | * An episode of ''Series/FantasyIsland'' had Tattoo spend a lot of money trying to win second prize in a jingle contest (a fur coat - not to wear but to give to a pretty lady of his choosing). Unfortunately, he won the much grander first prize: a trip to Fantasy Island. |
| 143 | * A GameShow example: second and third place in ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' now take home $2000 and $1000 instead of a ConsolationPrize. This means it's possible, and has sometimes happened, that the champion's first-day winnings are ''less'' than what the losers go home with. Of course, the losers ''have'' to go home, while the champion gets the chance to win more money, but it can still be odd seeing a champion with under $1000. |
| 144 | * ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': In the episode "Take Me Out to the Holosuite," the [=DS9=] crew play baseball against an all-Vulcan team. As Vulcans are physically superior to the species on Sisko's team, and his team is also much less experienced, there's no realistic way for them to win. And for the first eight innings, they're completely scoreless against the dominating Vulcans. However, the worst player on the team, Rom, accidentally manages to get a bunt which lets one of their players score in the ninth inning. The Niners end the game right there, considering it a victory for their team and hailing Rom as a hero. The Vulcan captain's annoyance with this display only makes their "victory" sweeter. |
| 145 | [[/folder]] |
| 146 | |
| 147 | [[folder:Roleplay]] |
| 148 | * The [[Anime/YuGiOh Duelist Kingdom tournament]] in ''Roleplay/NothingIsSacred'' actually has ''three'' prizes. The winner can receive a cash prize of three million yen, or an even greater prize by defeating Maximillion Pegasus. However, if one doesn't desire money and has no interest in facing a [[{{Telepathy}} mind reader]] in [[BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame the game he literally created]], then the third set of prizes hidden on the island will be the most appealing: two [[Characters/YugiohGXCards Legendary Planet]] cards. |
| 149 | [[/folder]] |
| 150 | |
| 151 | [[folder:TabletopGames]] |
| 152 | * The game ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBaronMunchausen'' (basically "who can tell the best bullshit story in the style of the movie") is [[DirectLineToTheAuthor presented as]] something the Baron invented and is now explaining. Near the end, he mentions a session whose winners got the cushier bedrooms while spending the weekend at their host's manor, and deliberately shooting for something like fourth place so he could sneak out and chat up one of the daughters later. |
| 153 | * In ''TabletopGame/{{Munchkin}}'', it is somewhat common for games to play out like this. When the player in the lead is close to winning, the other players will gang up on the leader to prevent him/her from winning. Once everyone has used all their cards and abilities to prevent the strongest player from winning, the second strongest player usually has an easier shot at victory. This can also sometimes have elements of a KingmakerScenario or DoWellButNotPerfect. |
| 154 | * Perhaps this shows up in Warhammer Fantasy for the Skaven's Clan Eshin. Clan Eshin are very happy to be 2nd fiddle as a reward for saving the other Skavens from the Clan Pestilens onslaught. Being in 2nd place amongst the clans means a guarantee of perks such as police powers, steady source of warpstone, plenty of slaves and food. Had they tried to make a bid for the throne they'd have to contend with all the major Clans out there for dominance. By enforcing the Grey Seers and Clan Skryre's leadership, they always have their backing which forces everyone else to duke it out for 3rd place. |
| 155 | * There's an interesting variation in ''TabletopGame/{{Catan}}'': When initially setting up the board, each player places two settlements. The order in which the settlements are placed[[note]]The players go around the table placing one settlement each, then go around the table in reverse order and place another settlement each.[[/note]] usually means that the first player gets the best and worst locations, the second player gets the second-best and second-worst, and so on. Some players prefer to go last in the order, as there can be some tactical advantage in having two "average" locations and being able to place both settlements at once, like being able to select potentially better first resources. (The players get free resources as their second city would produce. While the first players have to scramble for location, the last can place his both cities in any order). |
| 156 | ** As the endgame approaches, anyone emerging as a [[https://catanshop.com/catan-victory-chant-tee clear leader]] tends to run into difficulties as the others refuse to trade with them, build roads and settlements with an eye toward cutting off their opportunities, and target them with the robber. The result may be similar to the ''TabletopGame/{{Munchkin}}'' example above. |
| 157 | * The card game called "Asshole" in which the loser has to give his best cards to the winner in the next round, the last-but-one to the second place and so on. Some consider it preferable to take the middle place, where you get the leftover cards, than the place one better than that. |
| 158 | * Some bases in ''TabletopGame/SmashUp'' award more points for second-highest power than for highest power when the base breaks. |
| 159 | [[/folder]] |
| 160 | |
| 161 | [[folder:Urban Legends]] |
| 162 | * Getting a raise puts you in a higher tax bracket, meaning you take home less pay and it's better to get a promotion with more benefits but the same wage. Why is this in "Urban Legends?" Because that's not how tax brackets work. It's a scare tactic some employers use to deter employees from accepting a raise. |
| 163 | [[/folder]] |
| 164 | |
| 165 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 166 | * In ''VideoGame/MySimsKingdom'', Barney enters the Wandolier contest and aims for second prize, a toaster oven. If one pays attention to him and the only other competitor, Princess Butter, Barney does seem to be giving a DoWellButNotPerfect performance: he will 'search' for the Mana chests in the first mission, and occasionally take his wand out and wave it in the later ones. Contrast Butter, who does nothing and expects her father to give her the win, and the player, for whom this is a TutorialLevel. |
| 167 | * ''VideoGame/MarioParty9'': This happens during a "Reverse Mini-Game" in a Bowser Event. You play a standard mini-game, but the objective is to ''lose'' as quickly as possible instead of trying to play the normal way. The first person to lose the game will win. In the case of the minigame Chain Event, you have to "win" by being the ''last'' player to touch the bottom after going down through the chain, so in this case you have to drag yourself for as long as possible. |
| 168 | * ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'': There is a BossRush challenge pitting you against all bosses you've fought up to the point by which you unlock it (excluding Levias for technical reasons, but including a MultiMookMelee sequence from the endgame in case it was unlocked prior) in the main storyline, which you can quit after defeating any of them. Quitting after winning 4 boss battles nets the player a Piece of Heart, while quitting after winning 8 nets the player the classic Hylian Shield, which is unbreakable (it averts the BreakableWeapons trope, unlike the other shields) and thus the best prize in that minigame, and ''much'' more valuable than whichever prize you get afterwards, including the 9900 Rupees you get in the NewGamePlus for winning all 11 battles plus the Horde sequence in-between (though you can just go through the challenge again with your new shield and get that, too). |
| 169 | * Code Master's UsefulNotes/FormulaOne games have a special reaction for a player driver who finishes better than expected. For example, Tier-3 teams like Williams and Toro Rosso are happy enough if you grab a podium finish. The lowest-tier drivers from Caterham and Marussia will celebrate even if they finish barely at 16th, since compared to their performances in real life, such a position is almost impossible. |
| 170 | * ''VideoGame/MarioAndSonicAtTheOlympicGames'' features missions that require the player to place in a specific position. The easy ones are placing first or last. You could be asked to finish in second or third, which requires watching the competitors closely and screwing up inputs to keep in pace with them. |
| 171 | * In ''VideoGame/BillyVsSnakeman'', this is the fundamental basis of the party game ''First Loser''. Every participant bets a random amount of money, and the ones getting into first place (the number changes from game to game) get the [[SarcasmMode highly coveted]]... kunai. Meanwhile, the one ending up just below the "winners" get the consolation prize, either a rare permanent item or a large stack of otherwise coveted items (unidentified runes, sugary candy, treasure, etc). The ones getting in after that get their money refunded (minus a 5% cost). |
| 172 | * In ''VideoGame/FallenLondon'', you can compete in a "Shroom-hopping" contest. If you win, you gain a fair amount of money-type items (that are available in many other places too). If you don't win, you gain "Second Chances", powerful items that let you retry failed challenges. If you come in second place, you gain some money items (not as much as first place) ''and also'' the Second Chances. This means coming second place will often be much more desirable than first. |
| 173 | * ''VideoGame/FableI'': Winning second place in the {{fishing|Minigame}} or chicken-kicking competitions nets you a rare Silver Key, which provides access to unique artifacts and is necessary for HundredPercentCompletion. For first place, [[AndYourRewardIsClothes Your Reward is Clothes]], specifically a novelty hat. |
| 174 | * In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', the first prize (100+ points) for doing the drill exercises correctly in front of Rufus and Heidegger in Junon is a weapon for Cloud called "Force Stealer", and the second prize (60-90 points, inclusive) is a "HP Plus" Independent Materia. Savvy players may intentionally aim for the minigame's second place because the Force Stealer can be bought for 2,200 Gil soon after in North Corel, whereas you will need to wait until reaching Cosmo Canyon to buy HP Plus for 8,000 Gil. Also, HP Plus needs tons of AP to level up, so it helps getting it in Junon to start grinding for it earlier on. |
| 175 | * In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' one participates in the traditional Hunt in Lindblum. If your protagonist wins, the prize is simply Gil (money). However, if he doesn't win and instead Freya wins, one gets a Coral Ring, an excellent accessory at the point of the game where you have few accessories and none quite as good as it. One has to make sure Freya is not KO'ed oh well one gets the third place prize, a card in the card game that few players care to play and has little value in the main game. |
| 176 | * In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', your reward for toughing out the torture, coming out on top, and rescuing Meryl earns you The Bandana, a BraggingRightsReward at best that gives you unlimited ammo in a game where you will never, ever, want for ammunition. Your reward for [[DirtyCoward wussing out]], letting her die, and getting the bad ending? ''[[GameBreaker Otacon's Stealth Camouflage]]'', an item that renders you wholly invisible in a StealthBasedGame. That said, you're free to get both endings and then do a third playthrough with both items ''and'' a [[BadassInANiceSuit sharp tuxedo]] instead of the Sneaking Suit... |
| 177 | * A meta example in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'': the Meet Your Match update included a "war" event where players could choose between Heavy and Pyro; the winner would receive an update first. Pyro won, and with the Jungle Inferno update, the class received four weapons... all of which are, for one reason or another, of questionable utility. Meanwhile, the Heavy received as a "consolation" prize the Second Banana, a powerful lunchbox item that's equally as useful as the fan-favorite Sandvich. |
| 178 | * In ''VideoGame/ToonStruck'', there is a mini-game where you're required to win a [[PlotCoupon fish]]. Top prize is actually useless - you need the second-best sole to proceed. |
| 179 | * In ''VideoGame/YuGiOhLegacyOfTheDuelist'', losing a Duel provides a consolation reward... equal to about a third of what you'd get for winning a Duel. And starting a Duel and immediately surrendering is a lot faster than playing it to completion. This means the easiest way to grind out resources is to surrender immediately. |
| 180 | [[/folder]] |
| 181 | |
| 182 | [[folder:Visual Novels]] |
| 183 | * The third variation of this trope features in ''VisualNovel/LongLiveTheQueen'', during the tournament in which Princess Elodie herself can choose to enter any of the events (including archery, fencing, jousting, and falconry). How well Elodie can do in these events depends on the skills she has acquired from her lessons in the year up to that point, and, as a result of still being relatively new to them, she won't actually place first in them even if you have the relevant skill(s) maxed out. Placing well does still raise the commoners' opinion of her, however, as she still exceeds their expectations in that case. The only exception to this is the music contest, which is possible for her to win if she has both the Instrument and Voice skills maxed out. |
| 184 | * During Mayucchi's route in ''VisualNovel/MajikoiLoveMeSeriously'' she enters a race following instructions from Yamato so that they can win some autographs from a reclusive manga artist. The mayor announces beforehand that first place will win a very special prize. Racing against her are the likes of Azumi sponsored by Hideo Kuki, and right before Mayucchi crosses the finish line Azumi barely manages to get ahead of her and steal first place. Hideo starts gloating, but Yamato laughs instead: Hideo normally doesn't participate in town events, so he doesn't know that the mayor is a narcissist who gives out statues of himself as top prizes. Yamato had no intention of taking first place at all and goes home with the autographs. |
| 185 | [[/folder]] |
| 186 | |
| 187 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 188 | * ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' |
| 189 | ** In the 100th ''WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail'', "[[Recap/StrongBadEmailE100Flashback flashback]]," Homestar and Strong Bad have a ten-step footrace to determine who gets a giant egg. Homestar, being a terrific athlete with longer legs than Strong Bad, easily wins, leading the Prince of Town to declare "And the duckie-man is the winner! Loser gets the egg!" And that's how Strong Bad met his The Cheat. |
| 190 | ** The Videlectrix game [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/kidspeedy.html Kid Speedy]] has you playing as an obese boy and only concerned with placing at least third in a four-man race. In this case, there's no penalty at all for getting second or first (though you won't be getting first unless you play as [[SecretCharacter Homestar Runner]]); it's just that third is all you need to continue (and often all Kid Speedy can manage.) |
| 191 | * In episode 7 of ''WebAnimation/BowsersKingdom'', Hal and Jeff enter the Villains Olympics to win the money to buy a TV. However, they end up in 2nd place and get the cash prize. The winners ended up in VideoGame/YoshisIsland where hungry Yoshis try to eat them and third place got a lifetime supply of milk, but [[VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine Petey]] was lactose-intolerant. |
| 192 | * WebAnimation/InfernoCop enters the America Grand Prix hoping for the prize money obtained by placing 1st. He places second, only to learn that the runner-up gets the same amount of money as the winner. |
| 193 | * WebAnimation/TurnaboutStorm sees a rare fictional example of the first place being so far ahead or rather, blackmailing the other racers that everyone else just competes for second place. |
| 194 | [[/folder]] |
| 195 | |
| 196 | [[folder:Web Videos]] |
| 197 | * LetsPlay/PartyCrashers: |
| 198 | ** The entire premise of "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETjSiaIZOQA Mario Party but SECOND Wins]]", as they compete for who can end the game in 2nd place rather than 1st place. |
| 199 | ** {{Discussed}} in their ''VideoGame/MarioKart64'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhwXCJtpf-8&t=531s video]], where the others decide that getting 2nd place is the real victory due to how good Brent is at the game: |
| 200 | --->'''Sophist:''' Why don't we just pretend Brent's not here and we'll just pretend that second is first?\ |
| 201 | '''Nick:''' Exactly, that's literally it. Whoever gets second actually wins. |
| 202 | ** In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7u3THzJ7Ns This Mario Party CPU lost me $100]]" and "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk4tlLanDhY we bet money on Mario Party CPUs]]", despite placing in 2nd place on both videos, Nick still ended up gaining the most amount of money with $150, as he gained $50 in the former and $100 in the latter. In comparison, Sophist only made $100, as he lost $100 in the former but made $200 in the latter, Vernias didn't make any profit whatsoever, as he made $100 in the former but lost $100 in the latter, and Brent lost a whopping $250, as he lost $50 in the former and $200 in the latter. |
| 203 | [[/folder]] |
| 204 | |
| 205 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 206 | * ''WesternAnimation/CampLazlo'': Edward wins a race, but finds that Lazlo's Middle Place trophy is bigger and fancier than his First Place trophy. The ending shows that Chip and Skip's Last Place trophy is shiny, golden, and big enough to bathe in. He even {{lampshade|Hanging}}s that it makes no sense that the losers get better trophies than the winner. |
| 207 | * There's an episode of the ''[[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUS Dennis the Menace]]'' 1980s cartoon where Mr. Wilson enters a contest for a vacation. He wins first prize, but the vacation package is second prize. First prize is... a pet goose or duck. |
| 208 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "The Losing Edge", the entire South Park Little League baseball team ''hates'' playing baseball, finding it excruciatingly boring, and only play it because their parents make them. When they make it into the playoffs, they start actively trying to lose all their games so that they won't have to waste their whole summer playing. Unfortunately, every other team also hates baseball just as much as they do, and are better at purposely losing. |
| 209 | * In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheDreamstone'', there is a contest among the villain army with free sandwiches to win... but immediately after two guys win, the sergeant reveals the free sandwiches were actually the second prize. [[DoomAsTestPrize The first prize is being press-ganged into the new mission.]] |
| 210 | * On the Creator/TexAvery cartoon ''The Chump Champ'', Spike and Droopy compete for King of Sports, with the winner getting a kiss from the Queen of Sports. Although Droopy bests him at every opportunity, Spike wins by framing him for cheating. Turns out Droopy dodged a bullet, as the Queen of Sports turns out to be [[ButterFace really ugly]], sending Spike heading for the hills. |
| 211 | * ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' features an episode like this, where Zim and Dib compete for selling candy (as each believes that the secret grand prize will allow him to win over the other). Zim wins, but the grand prize is literally nothing. No one expected anyone to actually sell that many. |
| 212 | * ''WesternAnimation/TwoStupidDogs'' once had the main characters go on a game show called ''[[Series/LetsMakeADeal Let's Make]] [[Series/ThePriceIsright a Right Price]]'', where they continuously won first prize (money, a sports car, etc.) [[SpringtimeForHitler when what they really wanted was the consolation prize]] (a box of dog biscuits). |
| 213 | * ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': |
| 214 | ** The subplot of "Boyz 4 Now" has Gene entering a table-setting competition and ending up coming in 4th place thanks to a rather...tactless theme cobbled together out of desperation. Gene, Bob, and Linda are still happy about his placement, since it's apparently the highest any of the Belcher kids have ever placed in anything. It helps that the father and the son they were specifically competing against (though mainly the obnoxious dad, who was forcing his kid to do this and is pathetically sobbing after the loss) didn't place at all. |
| 215 | ** In "Best Burger", Bob enters a burger-off against a well-respected professional chef. (And Jimmy Pesto, but he doesn't know anything about burgers and comes in dead last.) Bob lost by a narrow margin, but he earned the respect of the professional chef and the judges' praise of his burger resulted in many members of the crowd coming to his restaurant. |
| 216 | ** In "Paraders of the Lost Float", the family enters a float into a parade in hopes that, with only four other floats competing, they would win the $500 prize for fifth place. |
| 217 | ** In "The Hurt Soccer" Louise's soccer team is overjoyed to score a single point against a superior team at their final game (which allows the game to continue), as they've had nothing but shutout games their entire season. |
| 218 | ** In "Live and Let Fly" Bob and Linda join a paper airplane competition at an airshow so they can win the grand prize: a new washing machine. They decided Linda is the best at throwing the planes and Bob is the best at designing them. Linda however pulls a shoulder muscle during the contest so Bob has to do it. He ends up overshooting and missing the washing machine, but it lands in a blender which they're equally ecstatic about winning. |
| 219 | ** In "Motor, She Boat" Tina comes in second place in the Thunder Girls' annual father/daughter boat-making contest. Considering how every previous year her and Bob's boat sunk and Tina came in dead last, she and Bob are overjoyed to not only even place but to get ''second.'' |
| 220 | * ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': |
| 221 | ** When Hank and Bobby enter a father-son shooting contest together, they wind up taking second place. Hank is initially disappointed and expecting Bobby to feel the same way, but is happy to find out Bobby is pleased with coming in second on their first try. |
| 222 | ** Bobby enters a rose-growing competition and quickly has the project hijacked because of his dad's hyper-competitive nature. When their arguing costs them first place, Hank is still proud enough of Bobby's roses to plant them in front of the house. |
| 223 | ** Hank and Bobby end up competing against each other in a dog dancing contest. Bobby and Connie's dog, Doggy, take home second place, while Hank and Ladybird don't win anything. Bobby is ecstatic upon placing second regardless of whether or not he beat Hank. |
| 224 | ** One episode has Luanne get into boxing after being objectified by her sexist male students, and ultimately goes on to want to box Freeda Foreman. Naturally she gets the abject crap kicked out of her and loses the match, but she lasts three rounds which had ''the entire audience'' cheering for her and earned her the respect of everyone, including her students. |
| 225 | ** Hank and his friends all compete against each other in a lawnmower race. Boomhauer ends up winning, Bill [[EpicFail crashes his mower right at the starting line]], and Dale and Hank place 6th and 7th respectively. Dale is ecstatic to place in 6th because as he put it, beating Hank is "better than winning." |
| 226 | * ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': With [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E16SonicRainboom one exception]], any time the ponies take part in a competition they'll never win. However, they will either learn a lesson or otherwise be happy with the result nonetheless. |
| 227 | ** A variation of type 3 occurs when Twilight enters the Running of the Leaves marathon in "Fall Weather Friends", despite never having run a race before. She's rather happy at achieving fifth place, a very respectable placing for a first-time racer. Meanwhile, favorites Applejack and Rainbow Dash get so caught up sabotaging each other that they end up tied for dead last, teaching them not to let their personal rivalry get in the way of what they're doing in the first place. |
| 228 | ** "The Show Stoppers" features the Cutie Mark Crusaders putting on a serious musical number only to win the prize for Best Comedy Act. They're disappointed for all of a minute before declaring that [[ComicallyMissingThePoint their special talents must lie in comedy]]. |
| 229 | ** Happens again in "Sisterhooves Social", where Rarity and Sweetie Belle compete together in a race, and end up getting second place. They don't win, but the fact that they worked together and did so well helps them reconnect at the end of a FeudEpisode. |
| 230 | ** In "May the Best Pet Win", Rainbow Dash holds a race to determine which of a group of critters will be her new pet. One of the contestants is a tortoise, whom Rainbow Dash allowed to compete only at Fluttershy's insistence. However, the tortoise manages to impress Rainbow Dash by being the only pet to stop and help her when a rock slide causes her wings to get pinned under a heavy boulder. So even though the tortoise ends up dead last, Rainbow declares him the winner on the grounds that [[ExactWords she said earlier]] that the winner would be the one who crossed the finish line with her. |
| 231 | ** In "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000", Applejack and her family take on a cider-making contest with two brothers and their cider making machine. Despite the Flim Flam brothers looking like they will win, the Apples [[HonorBeforeReason refuse to compromise the quality of their product]] and end up losing. However, due to the brothers' rush for quantity, they sent their ''quality'' down the tubes and ruined their own plans after none of the ponies would buy their bad cider, proving the Apples' integrity the right way to go. |
| 232 | ** Rainbow Dash's hopes of a world record as part of a special task given to Ponyville's Pegasi are finished before they begin in "Hurricane Fluttershy" due to several ponies she needs falling sick. However, Rainbow perseveres and they complete the task they set out to do, despite having to abort getting the record. |
| 233 | ** Played with in "Brotherhooves Social", which also features the Sisterhooves Social event. Big Macintosh - a stallion who disguises himself as female cousin Orchard Blossom - completely steamrolls the competition and wins him and Apple Bloom first place... only to have wrecked the course and get disqualified on top of being outed for his disguise, which gives second place the victory. However, when Apple Bloom confronts Big Macintosh for his actions, he and Apple Bloom have one of the series' most heartwarming heart-to-heart conversations about how he wants to be seen as a hero again when he feels Applejack has taken the spotlight as one of the heroes of Equestria. Apple Bloom confirms and consoles her big brother, and the two's relationship is better than ever. |
| 234 | ** In [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E24EquestriaGames "Equestria Games"]], though Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Bulk Biceps ultimately place silver in the relay race, they're still happy with the result. It helps that Ponyville still had the highest medal count at the end, and Rainbow Dash had accepted from the start that beating the Wonderbolts was a long shot. |
| 235 | * In ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'', Doug Funnie helps his football team score a touchdown. This does not win the game -- indeed, the game is so lopsided that it's been long over -- but the fact that they scored at all is a humongous victory, breaking a long string of shutouts against their unstoppable rivals. |
| 236 | * ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': |
| 237 | ** In "Back to the Barn", professional engineer Peridot and self-taught Pearl get into an argument over who should lead a drill construction project. To settle things they have a contest between two robots they built, which eventually devolves into a straight up fight. Even though Pearl ultimately loses, she demonstrates her engineering talents to the other Crystal Gems, who already believed in her, and to Peridot, who eventually acknowledges Pearl's abilities and agrees to work side by side with her. |
| 238 | ** In "Beach City Drift", once Stevonnie decides to race [[{{Jerkass}} Kevin]] for fun instead of trying to teach Kevin a lesson, they don't mind coming in second, since they did pretty well for their first time driving a car. |
| 239 | * An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheWeekenders'' has this, although it's not immediately obvious, and only Bluke realized it with his SimplemindedWisdom. The game in question was a scavenger hunt played by teams of five. First prize was a pool table, second prize was a pizza. When the team consisting of Bluke and the four main characters get second place, the main four are disappointed, but Bluke isn't, and says that the pizza is actually the better prize out of the two. Why? Because a pizza can be easily shared between five people, but a pool table can't. We then see the winning team arguing bitterly about which one of them gets to keep the pool table in their house and how they're going to divide up its use between them. |
| 240 | * {{Exaggerated|Trope}} for laughs in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''. There's a billboard saying "Welcome to Mexico. Silver Medal Winner of the American-Mexican War". |
| 241 | * In ''[[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} You're the Greatest, Charlie Brown]]'', Charlie Brown is competing in a decathlon, and comes in last in the first event, the 100-meter dash. To Charlie Brown's confusion, Peppermint Patty tells he did great since in the decathlon, he is running against tables that evaluate performance on points. In this case, the winner, Freddie Fabulous, ran such a fast race that all the competitors got good points, which means even Charlie Brown got off to a good start in the competition. |
| 242 | ** Averted in "A Boy Named Charlie Brown": Charlie makes it to second place in the national spelling bee (''national'', mind, and he would have gotten first if he [[{{Irony}} had remembered how to spell "beagle"]]). He is utterly devastated and nobody cares to point this fact out in the aftermath (the best Linus can think of when he attempts to give Charlie a speech to lighten him up is to point out that, yeah, he became an embarrassment to all of his friends because he lost... but still, "the world didn't come to an end"). |
| 243 | * In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'', Arthur enters a riddle-themed quiz show after playing along at home and realising how good he is. The current reigning champion has been on the show for ''months'', and just as Arthur is about to give the winning answer in the final round, he realises that he's good enough to keep winning and potentially get stuck doing the show ''forever''. He lets his opponent win, happily takes the consolation prize (a year's supply of chocolate from the show's sponsors), and is given a hero's welcome by his classmates. |
| 244 | * Similar to the ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' example above, there's an episode of ''WesternAnimation/DragonsRidersOfBerk'' where Hiccup deliberately comes in second, because his father is proud of his efforts, while Snotlout's father blames him for even allowing anyone else to score as much as one point. |
| 245 | * ''WesternAnimation/AngelaAnaconda'': Angela wasn't interested at all in the school's relay race until one of her friends found a clue suggesting the first prize had the initials [="MB"=] and they assumed it meant "Mapperson's Bakery" and the winning team would eat for free there. Originally, Angela's team won, but Nanette conned her way into doing a do-over, where her team won. However, karma came back to bite her as the first prize turned out to be [[UndesirablePrize watching slides from Mrs Brinks' vacation trip]]. Being a TeachersPet, Nanette couldn't refuse. The consolation prize turned out to be what they thought the first prize would be. |
| 246 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Lisa is asked to take a dive in a prestigious spelling contest in exchange for a Seven Sisters college scholarship of her choice during the events of the episode "I'm Spelling As Fast As I Can". Lisa declares her refusal to do so in front of the entire audience, so when she does genuinely misspell a word, she ends up with nothing. The citizens of Springfield don't care, however, since Lisa became the town's biggest winner it could ever have. She even gets a monument on a mountain. |
| 247 | ** In another episode, "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E19LisasSubstitute Lisa's Substitute]]", Bart runs against Martin Prince in the Class President election. Bart loses and is dejected at first, until Homer cheers him up, telling him that all he would have gained was just the title, and extra responsibilities. |
| 248 | * The ''WesternAnimation/MuchaLucha'' episode "Getting Ahead" had Rikochet getting his head shrunken so his decreased center of gravity would allow him to win a wrestling tournament with the prize of an El Rey luchador mask. At the last second, the prize is replaced with a year's supply of donuts and the mask becomes the runner-up prize. [[SpringtimeForHitler He tries and fails to throw the finals]] against Potato Potata Jr., but they later switch prizes anyway. |
| 249 | [[/folder]] |
| 250 | |
| 251 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 252 | * The Iditarod Dog Sled Race in Alaska takes racers from Anchorage to Nome. The first person to make it to the halfway checkpoint on the trail receives a cash prize, but becomes ineligible for the larger cash prize for reaching the finish line first. Some racers decide to let an opponent reach the checkpoint first, then try to win the First Place prize. It also has a prize for finishing dead last, a red lantern. Rick Reilly once wrote an essay about a completely hopeless, luckless entrant who actually intended to win the lantern to show to his kids and was disappointed when he learned [[SpringtimeForHitler he finished ahead of two other teams]]. The Tour de France bicycle race uses the same term for the racer who comes in last place (''La lanterne rouge''), although there is no actual prize other than the notoriety. |
| 253 | * Philosopher Søren Kierkegaard came from a very disciplined household. When he proved to consistently be the best student in his classes, his father feared the boy would become complacent and arrogant in his superiority, so he charged Søren with the considerably harder task of getting the second-highest scores in all of his classes. Which Søren did. |
| 254 | * Some rural parts of Germany have a tradition of holding a yearly ''Schützenfest'', where the men of the village have a shooting competition. The winner has to throw a party for the whole village. Usually, who will win this year is agreed upon beforehand, and the rest are competing for second place. |
| 255 | * Talent competition shows like ''Series/AmericanIdol'', ''Series/SoYouThinkYouCanDance'' and ''Series/AmericasNextTopModel'', where contestants compete for high-profile contracts or starring acting roles, often have losing competitors who still impress enough people that it benefits their careers. |
| 256 | ** On ''America's Next Top Model'', contestants often do better finishing anywhere outside of first. Fan theory holds that the contestant eliminated in third place is the most likely to be successful, as [=CoverGirl=] (the show's longest-running sponsor) cares less about "actual model potential" than protecting their image. As the show has [[SeasonalRot declined and become increasingly campy]], former contestants take the risk of being turned down due to "guilt by association," so being unmemorable is a good strategy. |
| 257 | ** On ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over_the_Rainbow_(2010_TV_series) Over The Rainbow]]'', where actresses competed for the starring role in {{Creator/Andrew Lloyd Webber}}'s musical adaptation of ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', some of the losing competitors ended up playing Dorothy in later productions anyway. |
| 258 | * Anecdotal evidence suggests that making the second place prize worth more is a common tool used by adults to manage arrogant children. This may be a cultural (Eastern European / Russian) thing. The first place is taken by the talented kids, for whom the contest was not enough of a challenge. The second place is for the hard-working kids, i.e. socially approved winners. Therefore the first prize is a poster to put on a wall (among many others), the second prize is a field trip (likely to be one and only). |
| 259 | * Motor racing in general, particularly F1, is this trope when a driver is satisfied with a second (or worse) position at the end of the race, provided that he gets enough points to still win the championship. It's often a valid strategy to drive safely to all but ensure a decent finish and a few points rather than push for first place and have a greater risk of a crash. Sometimes this results in a world champion who has fewer race wins than the second driver but overall the best placements and thus points. |
| 260 | * Fernando Alonso lost the 2007 F1 championship at the last race, yet he was happy and smiling on the podium as if he had won, while being second behind the new world champion Kimi Räikkönen. The reason? His teammate Lewis Hamilton lost too, despite having almost dominated the season up until the end, since the relationships between the two had deteriorated to the point of open conflict, mutual disesteem and even hindering. While not a sporting victory, to him that was a personal victory. |
| 261 | * During the 2012 Olympics, there was a match between two tennis players: world #1 Novak Djokovic and world #2 Andy Murray. In their previous meetings Djokovic had comprehensively beaten Murray almost every time, but at the Olympics he seemed strangely off his game. He lost the match and left the Olympics, while Murray went on to win a gold medal. Some viewers couldn't help but suspect that Djokovic threw the match (or just didn't try) in order to get himself eliminated as soon as possible and return to professional competition, [[MoneyDearBoy which pays much better]]. In a subversion, though, Murray went on to beat Djokovic again at the very next Grand Slam (the US Open) a few weeks later, and would beat him yet again at Wimbledon the following year. |
| 262 | * At the London Olympics: |
| 263 | ** Four Asian badminton teams didn't do much to hide the fact that they were intentionally playing to lose an early match because, due to the tournament structure, a loss would give them better placing in the next round. They were all summarily disqualified. |
| 264 | ** Several other athletes also deliberately threw or purposely didn't give it their all in order to focus on events they specialized in. It all came to a head when in the Track and Field event, a French and Algerian runner didn't try their hardest in order to focus on their specialist events, and only the Algerian was initially disqualified under the "fair play" rule, and the British track cycling team crashed on purpose to take advantage of a loophole. [[DoubleStandard Only the non-white athletes were subject to scrutiny under the "honest effort" rules.]] |
| 265 | * Some American colleges aggressively recruit students whose standardized test scores place them in the 80th to 90th percentile. These applicants are more likely to be offered scholarships and "honors" programs than applicants who max out in all categories. Some of this is practicality -- students with test scores far above the school's average are likely to be offered admission to a more competitive school, so it's unlikely they'll be swayed into attending -- while some of it is a psychological gamble: schools assume that students who do well but not perfectly are diligent workers prepared to take on the [[SeriousBusiness hard work]] [[SarcasmMode that is university scholastics]]. For schools looking to increase their competitiveness, the best move is to offer heavy rewards to all "second place" candidates, as their average and median scores and [=GPAs=] will create an entry class with a great statistical profile. Playing this strategy every year is how schools outside of the top tier raise their ranking. Of course, since the tacit assumption is that "second place" students only came in second place due to hard work ''and'' some kind of ability cap (such as simply not being as good at taking the SAT as someone with a perfect score), this can also backfire. For many smart students, percentile rankings and GPA are easy achievements, and it's possible to be highly ranked without applying effort or developing study habits -- causing this trope to backfire spectacularly. Grade inflation, lack of test anxiety, elimination of stereotype threat, and the knowledge of "what the test is testing" are all in play. Since the drinking age in America is 21 but many universities are hotbeds of underage drinking, students used to placing in the 85th+ percentile without breaking a sweat often encounter... ''difficulty'' when forced to budget their own time. |
| 266 | * While technically second or even middle of the road academically, a lot of schools like students that do extracurricular activities and still maintain a decent but not perfect GPA. It means they're well rounded and can handle college, which often puts them into situations that they need to do more than school. Harvard College in particular has gone on record as saying it likes students who are very well-rounded or very "well-lopsided." In other words, you've got a shot if you have a stellar academic record but not very much outside of that ''or'' if you have a middling academic record but a variety of out-of-classroom accomplishments. |
| 267 | * When it comes to college admissions, opponents of affirmative-action policies invoke this idea as well. The argument goes that if a student falls short of the academic requirements of a top-tier school but is accepted anyway for the sake of diversity, he has a very high probability of flunking out, ending up with nothing but a load of debt and a crushed self-esteem. But if that same student were to choose a less prestigious school more in line with his abilities, he has a much better chance of excelling both in school and later in life. |
| 268 | * The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858. Abraham Lincoln competed in a series of debates with Stephen Douglas, mainly over the topic of slavery, and these debates would decide which of them would be made Illinois's United States Senator (back then, US Senators were not elected by the general public, but by the state legislatures). Technically, Lincoln was considered the loser of the debates; he lost the resulting election but ended up gaining a national reputation. This momentum allowed Lincoln to win the US presidency in 1860, defeating other opponents - including the aforementioned Douglas! |
| 269 | * The NFL Draft has "Mr. Irrelevant." The final pick in the draft is treated to a one-week trip to Newport Beach, California, complete with golfing, regatta, a roast in his honor, and the "Lowsman Trophy". This became such a prestigious honor that one year two teams ''passed the next-to-last pick'' to try and get Mr. Irrelevant, forcing a rule change so that the draft would end already. |
| 270 | * A ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' meta example occurred in 2015 when player Pascal Maynard made the top eight finals of the largest Grand Prix tournament in the game's history. In the top eight draft (where each player takes a card from a booster pack and passes the rest on), he was building a solid red/white deck when he opened his second pack to reveal a foil [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=509600 Tarmogoyf,]] worth $500 on the secondary market, but would not have fit his deck over the [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=397662 Burst Lightning]] that was also in the pack. He took the 'Goyf anyway and, though he lost in the semifinals, the publicity (both positive and negative) he got for picking the card enabled him to sell it on eBay for nearly $15,000... almost four times what the winner of the tournament won in prize money. He gave half the proceeds to charity. |
| 271 | * In December 2013, at ''Frosty Faustings VI'', Chicago's 2nd largest {{fighting game}} {{tournament|Play}}, a bit of controversy arose during the ''Franchise/BlazBlue: [[VideoGame/BlazBlueChronophantasma Chronophantasma]]'' Grand Finals. The two players, who happened to be brothers, made it into the grand finals set playing [[PuppetFighter Carl]] and [[MagicalGirl Platinum]] throughout the entire event. Upon reaching Grand Finals, the brothers intended to split the prize money, and because of that, they both opted to play as [[SuperMode Izayoi]] instead of their main characters. When asked by the tournament organizer if this selection was merely a button check, they replied saying that it was indeed an actual match, and admitted to colluding. Shinsyn, the tournament organizer, decided to put his foot down, and had the two brothers play out the grand finals set using their actual characters. As a result of the collusion, the tournament organizer penalized the two finalists by taking away the pot bonuses, (originally intended for 1st and 2nd place), and awarded them to the 3rd place winner, whom he felt fought the hardest out of everyone who competed in the tournament. The 3rd place winner was given an extra $500 in pot bonuses. |
| 272 | * A Lotto New Zealand draw in September 2018 saw the winning numbers 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and the bonus number 36. As a result, 40 people won First Division (all six winning numbers), splitting the $1 million prize pool to receive $25,000 each. There were five winners in Second Division (five numbers and the bonus), splitting the $137,155 prize pool to win $27,841 each, meaning Second Division winners won more money that the First Division winners! |
| 273 | * As a result of how the fixtures in the 2018 FIFA World Cup had been arranged before the draw, the final round of Group G games saw Belgium take on England[[note]]both teams had won their two previous matches, so they had both qualified for the knockout stages[[/note]]. It was seen that whoever won this game would have a tougher path to the Final than the loser[[note]]the winner would have four of the top seven teams in the world in their draw, compared to two of the top ten on the losers’ side[[/note]], a fact reflected by both teams fielding weakened teams. It was ultimately subverted, as both teams would be knocked out in the semi-finals. |
| 274 | * In alpinist circles, climbing the second highest mountain on each continent is considered a bigger achievement than climbing the highest. This is mostly due to the infamously lethal K2 being the second highest peak in Asia and the tallest mountains of Africa (Kilimanjaro) and South America (Aconcauga) having routes that can be ascended by just trekking, with zero climbing equipment. |
| 275 | * When Ernest J. King was at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, he knew he was capable of graduating at the top of his class, but feared that doing so would result in unreasonable expectations being placed on him. He instead resolved to graduate ''near'' the top of his class and work his way up. He very much succeeded, graduating fourth in his class and eventually leading the U.S. Navy through World War II. |
| 276 | * Cyclist [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Poulidor Raymond Poulidor]] never won a tour de France in 15 years and was nicknamed "The Eternal Second". And yet, he was remembered fondly, and his name is better known than the winner's, who faded in obscurity. |
| 277 | * In 2021, an old prizing list for a 2011 ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}}'' tournament began making the rounds across the internet. The prizing was pretty respectable - $500 for first place, going down to $100 for a fourth-place finish. The fifth through eighth place finishes? 25 UsefulNotes/{{Bitcoin}} each. At the time, 25BTC was valued at around $50. In the years leading up to it, a single BTC could be cashed out for upwards of $25,000. [[https://tl.net/blogs/526449-how-i-become-king-dt-and-win-25-bitcoins-in-scbw#12 Even sadder, one of the runner-ups apparently never claimed their winnings.]] |
| 278 | * Dicing for the Maid's Money is an annual tradition at Guildhall, Surrey, where two "poor servant maids of good report" (which these days is usually interpreted to mean some form of care worker - the staff of "inns and hotels" are specifically excluded) play dice for a bequest left by a John How on his death in 1676, comprising the year's interest on an investment of £400. At some point, a similar bequest[[note]]Originally intended for a young man who was apprenticed for seven years but possessed less than £20; it's less clear what the modern equivalent of that would be[[/note]] by a John Parsons who died in 1703 was added to the ceremony as a runner-up prize. Parsons' bequest is the interest on £600. |
| 279 | [[/folder]] |
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