%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=kcgw5rkf1lv0rptcw0ah1tr5
%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.
%%
[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/BrawlInTheFamily https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/duels_decide_everything.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[Webcomic/SuperEffective "GO ZUBAT!"]][[note]][[https://funnyjunk.com/channel/videogames/Vg+cats+super+effective+part+2+4168/DvyjLQi/ "He's level ELEVEN!"]][[/note]]]]

->'''Brauno:''' I hope we don't run into any gang-bangers on the way home.\\
'''Onomatopeia:''' Don't worry Brauno, they usually challenge you to duel first, and they'll leave you alone if you win.
-->-- ''Anime/YuGiOh Animated Duels'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p77JmFbUtOg&list=PLB73E894D30AA30D6&index "Demonic Duels at Midnight."]]

A SubTrope of AdventureFriendlyWorld. InAWorld where CardGames, {{Mon|s}}-battling, [[SportsStoryTropes sports]], or What Have You is SeriousBusiness, {{conflict}} resolution often boils down to a Card Game, Mon-battle, Foo-off, or whatever-bout.

Every problem will inevitably lead to a climactic battle of TabletopGame/{{Mahjong}}, or Uno, or the like. Is TheHero facing the threat of war? A terrible plague? An economic recession? Inevitably, there's a tangible villain responsible for it, and the solution is for the hero to confront them and [[MyKungFuIsStrongerThanYours beat them in whatever the story is about]]. If you're watching ''Tales of the Knights of St. Bob'' you're probably looking at a swordfight waiting to happen, but it's equally possible that you're watching something like ''Super Table Football Superstar'' and after an interminable mutual glare, one party will [[MundaneMadeAwesome dramatically challenge the other to a game of table football]].

Everyone has absolute respect for the authority of the ''fu-du-jour'' to decide who gets to walk away the winner. If the "Foo" in FooFu is arm wrestling, after [[AliceAndBob Bob]] has won and is walking away, [[AliceAndBob Alice]] will not even contemplate the possibility of [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim shooting him in the back]]. If it's psychic manipulation and Alice has just won a tiring BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, it will not occur to Bob to jump at her, pin her to the floor and start punching her in the face. And, yes, even if Bob has just lost a game of ''table football'' he will just helplessly stand there, shaking his fist in frustration--because, well, what can he do? He's been beaten in a game of table football. Game over for him, really. The best he can hope for is a rematch. Fighting Alice in any way that doesn't involve table football doesn't cross his mind.

This extends beyond just getting the defeated party out of the picture. If the BigBad has been bested, [[NoOntologicalInertia their whole evil operation will fold up on itself and disappear within the day]]. The EvilArmy will not rally. There is no plan B. The superweapon TheHero managed to destroy while StormingTheCastle will have NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup. It's as if some cosmic force had decreed that this conflict be settled with CombatByChampion. Whether the stakes are trivial or world-shatteringly huge, [[TitleDrop Duels Decide Everything]].

If what's at stake is the hand of a (presumed-to-be) NeutralFemale, this becomes a kind of CockFight. PlotTailoredToTheParty may be a broader version of the trope.

----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Advertising]]
* A series of ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU'' adverts are all about people taking everyday disputes, such as who gets the seat on a bus, and deciding to "Settle it in Smash!"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Anime/{{Bakugan}}'' always has the titular {{mons}} fighting it out with some kind of board/card game. In this case, it's justified by the fact that the Bakugan race is greatly weakened (i.e. turned into marble-shaped game pieces) when outside of their homeworld, and the cards used in the Bakugan game simulate the conditions of their world and allow them to temporarily manifest in their full forms. Whenever Bakugan aren't forced into their marble forms by their surroundings, they usually avert this trope and fight head-on (something that happens more often in the later seasons).
* ''Manga/BattleBDaman'' has characters shooting the equivalent of marbles known as [=B-DaBalls=] in various sorts of games. The heroes frequently go up against villains and all battles occur through said balls.
* ''Anime/{{Beyblade}}'' features characters doing battle with spinning top-like toys known as beyblades, with the goal to knock an opponent's beyblade over. While a vast portion of the series focuses on {{Tournament Arc}}s there's also plenty of defeating bad guys by knocking their fancy tops around.
* A standard rule in the ''TabletopGame/BattleSpirits'' franchise. Everything can be determined by playing the titular trading card game, even the fate of the world.
** In particular, in ''Anime/BattleSpiritsSaikyoGingaUltimateZero'', the law of Galactic Battle Spirits is incorporated into the plot. Players have to wager something of equal value and the loser must give what they offered to the winner.
%%* ''Anime/DuelMasters''
* In ''Manga/FoodWars'', the ''fu-du-jour'' is cooking. The manga is set at a cooking school with a ferociously cutthroat curriculum, and the students are actively encouraged to pit themselves against each other. The stakes can be ridiculously high, and school clubs, acres of farmland, and entire careers have been staked in cooking duels. However, the contests are far more formalized than is common. In order to be official, the participants have to agree on a place, a time, an odd number of judges, and the stakes (both parties have to bet something of equal value) and can make additional stipulations if both parties so wish. Then they have to file a formal registration with the school, which will enforce the end result. And, before you ask: Yes, in this universe cooking is [[SeriousBusiness serious enough business]] that a cooking school can enforce these things.
** Then came issue 140, and the Great Deconstruction began. It turns out that deciding everything with duels doesn't work when the judges are on the take and the authority charged with enforcing the results only enforces the results that benefit the current leadership.
* ''Anime/GundamBuildFighters'' generally avoids this, but has one straight example: When a LoanShark tries to repossess the [[HotSpringsEpisode hot springs resort]] where Sei and friends are staying, Mr. Ral recognizes the man as a highly talented Fighter who retired years ago. Because Ral invokes his pride as a Fighter, the shark agrees to stake ownership of the resort on a battle with Sei, Reiji, and Mao.
* ''Manga/TheLegendOfKoizumi'': Mahjong decides ''[[MemeticMutation the fate of ENTIRE NATIONS!]]''
* ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'': The princesses of Chizeta, Tatra and Tarta, call off their invasion of Cephiro after Umi beats them both in a duel.
* ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'': Every four years, countries all over the world get to use their shiny new Gundams and send out different fighters to ''beat the ever-living tar out of each other'' so one country can rule everyone else for four years. It's worked for sixty years, except for that one time where Neo-England won three times in a row, raising international tensions to the point where the next Fight was delayed. Mildly justified by being CombatByChampion, and better than actual wars. Less justified when a country might have a strong fighter but an incompetent (or ObviouslyEvil in the case of Neo-Hong Kong) government.
* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamTheWitchFromMercury'': At the Asticassia School of Technology, it's written in the school rules that anything can be decided with a duel, whether it be for honor, material gain, or even the rights to marriage. What isn't written in the rules is that these duels don't need to be fair. Asticassia is where the children of high-ranking corporate executives go to school, and they're expected to use every resource at their disposal to win. The fact that some people pilot military-grade {{Ace Custom}}s against stock school models is already stacking the deck, but dirty tricks like rigging an arena's fire sprinklers to go off to interfere with your opponent's weapons systems are considered fair game, or getting a top-of-the-line AI-equipped mech shipped in courtesy of your father to win the duel for you.
* ''Literature/NoGameNoLife'': In the world of Disboard, EVERYTHING is decided by games. It can be any game, and the person who gets challenged gets to choose which game. {{Justified|Trope}} by saying that the gods had a war, a horribly bloody conflict between their subjects to decide who is TopGod that nearly left the world lifeless, [[WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing leaving as the winner the only one who stayed out of it]] - the God of Games. He set up the MagicallyBindingContract game system to decide everything so as to prevent violent conflict. The resulting RPGMechanicsVerse is of course perfect for [[GodlikeGamer game prodigies]] Sora and Shiro who quickly ascend to the greatest players in the world.
* Played with in ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'': While the {{Mons}} can legitimately harm and cause destruction, very often the heroes and villains will agree to just stand there and let their partners have the equivalent of a cockfight which will spell the loser's defeat.
** In his first encounter with [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain Team Rocket]], Ash tries to engage them in a fistfight. They quickly invoke the trope and state that ''all'' their battles can ''only'' be with Pokémon.
** Averted in ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'': Trainers often fight alongside or in tandem with their monsters, and the full consequences of superpowered pocket monsters is explored. Why use a missile when Hyper Beam works just as well? Or why kill a Trainer when you can just freeze him in a block of ice? Furthermore, while official League battles and friendly matches play out similarly to the games, all rules are out the window in life-and-death struggles: Trainers will field as many Pokémon as they feel necessary, up to the full six (sometimes even more!) at once, and they will attack the enemy Trainer just as readily if they're given a chance.
** ''[[Manga/PokemonReburst Pokémon RéBURST]]'', on the other hand, averts this almost completely: Instead of the usual Pokémon cockfights to settle quarrels, human characters regularly duke it out in {{Shonen|Demographic}}-style combat, with mons serving to boost their own power through a FusionDance rather than to fight on their behalf.
* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' plays with this. On the one hand, as much as the main characters often try to invoke this trope, it's shown to never actually work -- so, for example, Mousse's efforts to make Shampoo fall in love with him by beating Ranma's head in never makes her change her feelings. On the other hand, most of the {{filler}} stories do revolve around characters sorting their problems out by who wins or loses a fight.
** Also justified as Ranma's "Anything Goes" school of martial arts thrives on mastering other schools and adding their skills to his own. He will go through the grueling effort of mastering even the most absurd schools if it means he can get even the slightest improvement out of it. That, and he considers it a matter of pride to beat his opponents at their own game.
* ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' is the TropeCodifier where all villains are defeated through playing a trading card game known as Duel Monsters. While the card games are made very surreal through holographic technology, at the end of the day the majority of battles can be boiled down to two people laying down pieces of paper on a fancy wrist-mounted game interface. Some justification is given over the seriousness of it when [[TheGameComeToLife The Game Comes to Life]], and losing said games can equal death. Especially when more supernatural elements from villains are thrown in with the cards.
** ''Manga/YuGiOh'' (manga and animated series):
*** The [[Manga/YuGiOh original manga series]] and [[Anime/YuGiOhFirstAnimeSeries Toei series]] justifies this. [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Dark Yugi]] has demonic powers which he can use to punish anyone he defeats in any game of luck or skill. Even when he stops using these powers after a load of CharacterDevelopment, the ''villains'' frequently have those same powers.
*** Averted in "Dawn of the Duel" where ancient Egyptians didn't play with trading cards but summoned ''real'' monsters that were powered by their own life forces. The consequences are also very real as the monsters can attack civilians and destruction of a monster can result in the master's death.
*** While the [[Anime/YuGiOh Yu-Gi-Oh!]] Verse becomes a more extreme version of this trope practically every season, [[Characters/YuGiOhSetoKaiba Seto Kaiba]] is the only character who truly ''lives'' and ''believes in'' this trope. In fact, he is ''directly'' trying to make this happen by constantly innovating Duel Monsters and making it more and more omnipresent. In the [[Anime/YuGiOhTheDarkSideOfDimensions DSoD]] movie, he outright declares that his vision for the future is one where things like war are overcome through card game duels. He does not stop there and proceeds to teach even ''alien cosmic horrors'' how to duel by shooting cards into space in ''Anime/YuGiOhGX''. By the time of 5D's, the entire world pretty much ''does'' run on card games, thanks in large part to Kaiba's influence.
*** Subverted at one point in the Duelist Kingdom arc. Yugi challenges Saruwatari/[[DubNameChange Kemo]] to a duel over the fate of Mokuba, Kemo agrees and has Ventriloquist (or Kaiba's dark side in the dub) serve as his proxy. Yugi eventually wins... and sees that [[ILied Kemo took Mokuba back to his cell some time during the duel]]. Pegasus wasn't going to risk his leverage over Kaiba in a duel after all.
*** Played with in the [[{{Filler}} Virtual World arc]]. The Big Five challenge the main characters to duels, with the stipulation that if they win they will take over the loser's body. After being defeated, they try to take over the heroes bodies by force (making the duels completely pointless), only to be stopped by Noah. They then have and lose another duel, try to use force once again and are only stopped through Noah's intervention. Turns out ''Noah'' is the one who thinks that duels decide everything, but it isn't entirely clear ''why''. Noah himself also ultimately uses a combination of trickery and force to take over Mokuba's body, so even he didn't actually need to duel for it. His duel with Kaiba was more about a settling vendetta than anything else, presumably he wanted to humiliate Kaiba by defeating him in a children's card game, and ''then'' take over a body.
** In the ''Anime/YuGiOhBondsBeyondTime'', the villain Paradox tries to go back in time to prevent the spread of [[Anime/YuGiOh Duel Monsters]] by killing Pegasus... and he willingly stakes his mission on the outcome of a duel with Yugi, Jaden/Judai and Yusei. So basically, he tried to stop Duel Monsters... using Duel Monsters? [[MeaningfulName Huh. No wonder he's named "Paradox".]]
** ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'':
*** One episode has Jaden/Judai agree to duel a guy with the stakes being that whoever wins becomes Alexis/Asuka's fiancée. She did not agree to those stakes and [[IdiotHero our idiot hero]] ''doesn't even know what "fiancée" means'', but the duel ends up happening anyway because he can't turn down a challenge.
*** In Season 2, Jaden/Judai tries challenging the season's villain from taking over the world. But he's already specifically ensured that his evil plan doesn't require him to duel our hero at any point. When Jaden/Judai challenges him to a duel for the fate of the world, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome he declines, because he has everything he needs]]. He does eventually duel anyway, but only because unexpected circumstances force him into it.
** In the very first episode of ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'', Yusei tries to distract the police while his friends get to safety. One of the officers, who just so happens to be a duelist, challenges Yusei to a Riding Duel, and if Yusei wins, he gets to go free, despite being accused of having stolen a computer chip for his D-Wheel. And ultimately, in the big, climactic battle between Yusei and Z-ONE, the fate of Neo Domino City comes down to a Card Game on Flying Motorcycles! The whole thing is partially justified because in Riding Duels, the Duel Runners are forced into autopilot, which means that their direction and speed are both limited.
** ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'' playes with this trope in every possible way. Many characters including the protagonists treat duelling like a sport they are very passionate about and seek to pursue professionally. So once the {{Absurdly High Stakes Game}}s start, they react with incredulousness or with rage that people use duelling as a means to ''harm'' others.
*** When Yuya's SuperpoweredEvilSide takes over during the Miami Championship, instead of duelling him, his friends restrict him, take his deck, and then consult the psychic to figure out what's wrong with him.
*** The Duel Chasers can challenge the criminals in a Riding Duel and if they win, they will arrest them. If they lose, however... [[AvertedTrope their D-Wheels will just stop, but other Security officiers will still try to arrest the criminals, no matter what]]. [[BreadAndCircuses The only reason they duel the criminals in the first place is to give the Tops, who are the richest people of City, a good show to entertain them]]. And when it's clear that they can't capture someone by dueling, they instead detain said persons through ''sheer force and numbers alone'', and ''don't'' [[DefiedTrope even give the duelist a chance to duel and fight back.]] When dealing with them, many people rely on either monster fights or physical violence to get away. For example, when [[spoiler:the Lancers are escaping prison]], they use duel monsters to do things like barricade doors, catch them from falling, and distract opponents instead of challenging anyone to a duel.
*** In the final arc, [[spoiler:the Professor]] clarifies that conventional weapons do not work on [[HardLight Real Solid Vision]], which is why Academia uses duelling instead of weapons to beat and then card people.
*** Occasionally this trope [[HoistByHisOwnPetard can bite the instigator in the ass]]. [[spoiler:Asuka]] is capable of physically knocking out the opponent, but because [[spoiler:her]] issue is the way said opponent treats duelling, they decide to duel instead. [[spoiler:Yuri beats her and promptly cards her.]]
** ''Anime/YuGiOhVRAINS'' goes back and forth on this. On one hand, the rules of the VRAINS system mean that anyone that wants to capture an Ignis has to duel the Ignis or the person who has it. On the other, there are cases where the characters agree to the duel as a matter of honor rather than necessity. Revolver, for example, stakes the success of his final plan in season 1 on beating Yusaku, even though he would win simply by refusing.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* One ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' comic included a heavily satirical televised battle between the Soviet and American cities. Each battle is five-on-five, no holds barred, and the winner is awarded a piece of territory. This form of warfare works for a while, but does not prevent a nuclear war later on.
* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'':
** One issue has an ancient Autobot overlord attempt to get two warring city-states to settle their differences through gladiatorial games. As you might expect, it didn't work out as much as he hoped it would.
** There was one issue where the winner of a ''video game'' gets the MacGuffin of the day and the loser gets exploded. Naturally, Megatron cheats. Naturally, Optimus wins anyway. Naturally, since Optimus won in the end by [[spoiler: sacrificing [=NPC=]s where he would ''not'' have sacrificed actual civilians, he considers himself the loser and orders his own death.]] Wait, ''what?''
** ''ComicBook/TheTransformersWindblade'': On the LostColony of Velocitron, everything from social standing to government positions to taxes is decided by racing. Their cultural obsession with speed derives from the fact that Velocitron's dayside is hot enough to melt metal, so their cities and their people had to be constantly mobile.
--> '''Moonracer:''' I raced for a while, and made a name for myself by keeping pace with the city for an entire day. It's why I was made ambassador to Cybertron.\\
'''Ironhide:''' No offense, but how does bein' fast make you a good ambassador?\\
'''Moonracer:''' Between you, me, and the Titan, I agree with you. But that's not how things work here.
* In ''Uncanny X-Men'' #201, the question of who was going to lead the X-Men was not decided by e. g. putting it up to the members' vote, but in a Danger Room duel between Cyclops and a depowered Storm.
** In theory, this would at least have the benefit of proving which one of them was a better fighter and combat tactician, which is a pretty important qualification for the leader of a fighting unit. In practice, all it demonstrated was that Storm had the WriterOnBoard, since- while both were established badasses- only one could defeat an opponent just by looking at them. (Indeed, it was eventually retconned that Cyclops's wife psychically threw the fight.)
* Happens twice in ''ComicBook/{{WITCH}}'', both times [[JustifiedTrope with good reasons]]:
** At the end of the Twelve Portals Arc, Phobos challenges his sister and legitimate ruler Elyon to a duel for the throne because he knows that he'd otherwise be overpowered by her and the Guardians of Kandrakar, and Elyon accepts because she wants to deal with him personally.
** In a later two-parter story the villain challenges the Guardians to various confrontations because she knows she'd be quickly dispatched if she tried to confront them directly.
** Note that the Guardians normally try and avoid it: when Elyon accepted her brother's challenge they ''immediately'' tried to rush him anyway, dealt with [[TheDragon Cedric]] after Phobos, who was expecting such a move, forced them to, and when they found out that Phobos had won the duel they proceeded to overturn the result; and in the later issue, their reply to the challenge was to try and blast her, only to find out that they had no choice but take her in the one-on-one duels.
* "Trouble Bogie," a story with ''ComicBook/ThePowerpuffGirls'', has Fuzzy Lumpkins setting up home on a golf course and chasing off all the duffers. When the girls do battle with him to the point of exhaustion, Fuzzy challenges Blossom to a banjo duel. Set up like the two are playing the song "Dueling Banjos," Blossom wins when Fuzzy's banjo breaks a string.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* Since the core of ''VideoGame/FridayNightFunkin'' is the PlayerCharacter facing off against various opponents via RhythmGame-based rap battle, naturally the vast array of {{Game Mod}}s feature [[PlayingWithATrope various uses of this trope]].
** {{Zig Zagg|ingTrope}}ed in regards to ''VideoGame/TheTrickyMod''. On one hand, [[WebAnimation/MadnessCombat Tricky]] is an AxCrazy undead clown who's quite a dangerous RealityWarper thanks to his Improbability Drive. On the other, he's a FairPlayVillain who's M.O is toying with his opponent by giving them a chance to fight. When rapping against Boyfriend though, his SoreLoser aspects start shining through after "Improbable Outset" when he attempts to whack Boyfriend with a sign in hand before being interrupted by Hank. [[spoiler:By the end of "Hellclown", Demon Tricky appears successfully deterred until Hank enrages him all over again, which would've ended badly for Boyfriend had it not been for the DeusExMachina implied to be [[VideoGame/VsHexMod IRIS]] that warps him away.]]
** ''VideoGame/VsSonicEXE'' provides a {{Justified|Trope}} example for why Boyfriend can fight against various dangerous opponents via rap battle. By the start Sonic.exe appears to play along with Boyfriend's rap battle challenge, but he immediately tries to apprehend Boyfriend [[SoreLoser after not taking the loss well]], [[TheWorfEffect only to be stopped by Girlfriend intervening both times]]. Girlfriend's demon heritage gives her the power to protect Boyfriend from all manners of threats; if exe wants to get to Boyfriend, it's through their own terms via rap battle.
** Overhaul mod ''VideoGame/HoloFunk'' mostly averts / justifies the trope. Most of the opponents fought in a rap battle are of various ''WebAnimation/{{Hololive}}'' talents who have no interest in conflict with Aloe / [[AnotherSideAnotherStory Fubuki]] due to being close friends / asociates, with the battles often being about testing the skill of the PlayerCharacter or to pass the time. [[spoiler:Only a few could be considered dangerous enough for this trope to be considered PlayedStraight, but it's {{Justified|Trope}} all the same.]]
*** Week 2: Gura and Amelia finds themselves meeting with Aloe in a seemingly abandoned mansion, with Ame deciding to challenge her in hopes of the storm ending by the time they're done. [[spoiler:Meanwhile, Haachama is [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Haachama]]; she for one reason or another decides to engage Aloe in a rap battle to "prepare" her for a dish. Though by the end of her song, [[SubvertedTrope she decides to forgo whatever promises she made to eat them all as is]] were it not for Daddy Dearest intervening and reprimanding her.]]
*** Week 4: Kiryu Coco would want nothing more than to help out Aloe with Botan's situation with the Dearest clan, but her status as Chairman of the Kiryu Clan prevents her from using her powers behind the scenes for no cost or condition. [[LoopholeAbuse So, she challenges Aloe to a rap battle as the condition]], knowing full well that she'll pass with flying colors.
*** Week 5: Calli wants vengeance against Santa Claus, who she mistakes Ina for due to her wearing a Santa outfit for [[ChristmasInJuly an August promotional sale]], so Aloe tries to keep her from doing anything drastic by engaging her in a rap battle. Kiara, while also trying to convince Calli of her mistake, plays along to also have the excuse of being in close proximity of her.
*** Freeplay song [[spoiler:"Killer Scream" against Uruha Rushia has Aloe/Fubuki convince her to sing with them, with her agreeing to it under the pretense it'd be more fun than thrashing them for trespassing, though she warns them: "Screw up, and your done." [[BrutalBonusLevel And she's not kidding]].]]
* ''Fanfic/TheNumbershots'' play with this concept, since it is a ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' fanfic and the trope is already a staple.
** While the story plays this trope straight a few chapters later, the four-series ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' and ''Numbershots'' continuity adjacent crossover fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7604018/1/YuGiOh-4D-Love-Surpassing-Time Yu-Gi-Oh! 4D Love Surpassing Time]]'' subverts it briefly in Chapter 3: Zaman tricks Yuma into accepting a Duel, then speeds himself up, knocks Yuma down, and kidnaps Kotori without following through with the challenge.
** Played straight in Deckshibition Chapters 5, 6, and 9. Chapter 5 has has Fuya Okudaira dueling network producer Laurent Perrier over the continuation of [[ShowWithinAShow Star Robin]]. Chapter 6 sees Takashi Todoroki dueling Sedo Kuran over who would become the 8th grade President after they are tied equally in votes. Chapter 9 has Tetsuo Takeda dueling arrogant skater Rad for control of the skate park.
** Numbershot 31 reveals that Number 88 must now win a duel in order to claim someone's body.
* In the ''Persona 4'' fanfiction ''Fanfic/IntoTheFog'', the female protagonist, Narukami Rei, has a duel with her shadow within her mind to determine if she was worthy of possessing her power. If she had lost the duel, her potential would have been lost as well. Due to her victory, she was given the option of being able to sign the contract.
* ''VideoGame/PokemonClover'': [[spoiler:BigBad Vyglass gleefuly chucks this trope out of the window when confronted atop Mt. Clover. Rather than engage the player in a traditional Pokemon battle, he instead fights your mons directly in a ''[[HumongousMecha mechsuit]].'']]
* In ''Fanfic/PokemonStrangledRed'', the eponymous hacked game starts with a rival battle between brothers Steven and Mike. The reason for the battle is that the two are arguing about the respective merits of Charmander and Squirtle.
* ''Anime/YuGiOh'''s tendency to do this is mocked mercilessly in ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'' and is a common source of humor:
-->'''Joey:''' What do you people want from me?\\
'''Bandit Keith:''' Your Star Chips, dweeb. I have a score to settle with Pegasus, so Zombie-Boy here is going to beat you in a card game!\\
'''Joey:''' [[StatingTheSimpleSolution ...Why didn't you just take my star chips while I was unconscious?]]\\
'''Bandit Keith:''': Shut the hell up![[note]]Especially funny because as noted in the Anime section, ONLY Yugi's duels are really justified for this trope. Bandit Keith really could have just mugged Joey. Same goes for the Rare Hunter that chooses to mug him AFTER winning a card game.[[/note]]\\
[...]\\
'''Yugi:''' Pharaoh, we're in deep trouble. What should we do?\\
'''Yami:''' Have you tried playing a card game with someone?\\
'''Yugi:''' Well, that doesn't really apply to this situation.\\
'''Yami:''' Strange, that usually works.\\
[...]\\
'''Seto Kaiba''': ''[to Marik]'' Look, I don't know what the ''*bleep*'' is going on here, but you're on notice. I don't take kindly to kidnapping and attempted murder, but since you have a God Card, I suppose I can allow you to be in my tournament finals. However, try anything funny and I'll probably issue you a stern warning and wag my finger at you. Then you'll be sorry.\\
'''Mokuba Kaiba''': Can't we just have this guy arrested, Seto?\\
'''Seto Kaiba''': This is Japan, Mokuba. In this country, card games are the only law.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
%%* ''Film/TheKarateKid'': Battle with karate.
* In ''Film/TheLuckOfTheIrish'', Kyle tries to trick an evil leprechaun named Seamus [=McTiernan=] by betting that he can beat the guy at sports. Seamus agrees (being unable to resist a bet) but chooses "traditional Irish sports" like hurling, step-dancing, wrestling, and javelin-throwing. Surprisingly, Kyle manages to tie the leprechaun, but Seamus insists that a tie is not "beating" him, so Kyle bets his freedom on a game of basketball. Of course, he realizes that he doesn't need the titular luck after all and beats the bad guy.
* ''Film/RobotJox'': In the future, we've solved the Cold War by using giant mecha duels to resolve international disputes rather than warfare. The duels are treated like sporting events by the civilian population. In the film, the latest battle between the USA and USSR is over ownership of Alaska.
* General Patton in ''Film/{{Patton}}'' wishes UsefulNotes/WorldWarII could be decided like this.
-->'''Patton:''' You know, Dick, if I had my way, I'd meet Rommel face to face; him in his tank and me in mine. We'd meet out there somewhere... salute each other, maybe drink a toast, then we'd button up and do battle. The winner would decide the outcome of the entire war.
* Whilst guns and such DO make the occasional appearance, most of the problems in ''Franchise/TheFastAndTheFurious'' series are solved by car racing... somehow.
* [[spoiler:Ultimately subverted]] in ''RockPaperScissors: The Way of the Tosser'', a {{Mockumentary}} about ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. Baxter, TheRival, challenges Gary, TheHero, to a round of Rock–Paper–Scissors over who gets their mutual love interest, Holly. [[spoiler:Baxter wins, but Holly loves Gary, and in the end, Baxter is unable to do anything about that, so his victory amounts to squat.]]
* ''Franchise/MortalKombat'':
** In ''Film/MortalKombatTheMovie'', there's no way that the Earth could defeat Outworld if Outworld invaded, but by decree of the Elder Gods, first Outworld has to win ten consecutive Mortal Kombat tournaments -- and they've won nine so far.
** In ''Film/MortalKombatAnnihilation'', after Earth's victory in the first film, Shao Kahn [[DefiedTrope refuses to abide by this]] and just invades by force. When Rayden goes to ask the Elder Gods about this, they just shrug and say that they don't control the destiny of men. [[spoiler:Then the other Elder Gods [[DoubleSubverted double subvert]] this trope by opening a tournament when Liu Kang faces off with Shao Kahn, thus stripping Shao Kahn of his immortality and forcing him to fight "fairly".]]
--->[[spoiler: The fate of the universe will be decided as it should be... in '''MORTAL KOMBAT!''']]
* In the 1998 MadeForTVMovie ''Film/FutureSport'', the titlulargame was invented as a substitution for gang violence and ends up being used to avoid war. Specifically, the protagonist (a pro-player of the eponymous sport) decides to solve a dispute between two global powers by staking the fate of some disputed territory on a game. Despite being a rather campy {{cyberpunk}} movie, it manages to deconstruct the trope, with characters agreeing it's an insane idea, but ultimately [[{{Reconstruction}} it works out because of the propaganda coup from winning]] (and the fact that the villains' sabotage attempts lead to their leader being captured).
* ''Film/JohnWickChapter4'' hinges primarily around John -- with the entire world of assassins hunting for his head and gradually running out of options -- finding a trump card in the form of a long-forgotten, but still-applicable rule among [[NebulousCriminalConspiracy The High Table]], that being to challenge The Marquis to a one-on-one duel. If he wins, he earns his freedom. If he doesn't... [[DuelToTheDeath it's at least another way out]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Attempted at the beginning of ''Literature/TheIliad'', when Greeks and Trojans agree to decide the outcome of the Trojan War (then already in its tenth year) by a duel between Menelaus and Paris. Menelaus is winning when Paris's sponsor, the goddess Aphrodite, decides to rescue him, and starting with that things rapidly deteriorate and the war recommences.
* In Livy's ''History of Rome'', when Rome and Alba Longa fight for supremacy, they agree to avoid a costly war (which would only invite an attack by their powerful Etruscan neighbors) by deciding the conflict in a fight between three Roman brothers, the Horatii, and three Alban brothers, the Curiatii. In the end, two Horatii and all three Curiatii were dead, so Rome won.
* In the prologue of ''[[Literature/TheWheelOfTime Knife of Dreams]]'' [[spoiler:Galad Damodred]] has dug up a half-forgotten law that gives him the right to TrialByCombat and which, if he wins, should give him command of an army. Subverted when some of the officers of said army accuse him of blatant LoopholeAbuse and try to arrest him. Double-subverted when the Commander is so amused by his cockiness that he lets him proceed as planned.
* In the ''Literature/CodexAlera'' series, which is based on a LostRomanLegion/''Pokémon'' crossover (literally - the author asked forum participants for two of the most ridiculous prompts possible to base a story on, and that's what he got), Citizens have the legal right to a "juris macto" -- a duel to the death to settle disputes out of court. It is often threatened but only explicitly happens twice in the series. Instead, the challenge is used to show intent; once the challenge is made, the other party is more likely to listen or back down.
* Like the ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' example, most Westerosi cultures in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' have a tradition of TrialByCombat which can be invoked by any defendant of noble blood. No matter how obviously guilty the defendant is, if they (or their appointed champion) wins the trial, all parties are honor-bound to respect the decision. In a bit of a subversion, there is also a tradition of CombatByChampion, but it only applies if both parties agree to it, and the superior force never agrees because their victory is near-assured so they have nothing to gain. On the one occasion where it's offered by the superior force, the inferior force refuses on the grounds that they can't trust the superior force to honor the agreement.
* In the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' series, formal duels show up in ''Field of Dishonor''. They're mentioned as generally frowned upon, but apparently [[HonorBeforeReason reneging on a challenge is so dishonorable that a naval officer can't get away with it, even when they already know their opponent is a professional duelist hired to murder him]]. Honor's nemesis has said professional duelist murder her lover, so she challenges him to a duel to settle the score. Because Honor is a HeroWithBadPublicity, she takes flak from her peers both for challenging him to the duel[[note]]Specifically, she manipulated the House of Lords into giving her a platform to issue the challenge, which is a violation of the institution's dignity[[/note]] ''and'' for killing him, even though he obviously cheated and shot her before the ten count.
* Invoked, subverted, and averted in various PGWodehouse Golf stories, usually involving golf matches to decide who would marry some young lady, often without her knowledge.
* {{Justified|Trope}} in ''Literature/CardForceInfection'' when it comes to infected players; part of the {{curse}} of the infection is that they must accept, and they and anyone they play against will be magically compelled to abide by any terms of victory declared before the match. Even if they don't have their deck on hand, the curse will summon it for them. [[spoiler:Even if they're so far gone that they're ''stabbing people'', they'll be forced to sit down and play.]] It's mentioned that this would work with any game, not just Card Force, but that has undesirable side effects that Card Force seems arbitrarily immune to. And it ''only'' works with infected players -- some uninfected Nephilim just laugh off a challenge from Maxwell because they have no reason to care about his opinion.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* Back when the ''Series/UprightCitizensBrigade'' had their own Comedy Central show, a third season episode centered on a small town which solved their disputes with log-rolling contests, from "Peanut Butter vs. Jelly" up to "Good vs. Evil."
* In the 1970 MadeForTVMovie ''The Challenge'', Creator/DarrenMcGavin plays a rogue soldier sent onto an island for a one-on-one guerilla war with an Asian soldier (Creator/{{Mako}}) to settle a dispute that could otherwise lead to nuclear war. Both sides cheat like crazy, and eventually [[spoiler:[=McGavin's=] character decides to let it end in a technical tie, as both combatants decide they are not working for "The Man" anymore.]]
* In another 1970 made-for-TV movie (''The Love War'') two alien races vie for control of the Earth by sending in a set number of soldiers to a deserted town to fight it out. [[spoiler:The "bad" aliens cheat their way to victory, dooming the human race.]]
* A RunningGag which happens OncePerEpisode in ''Series/HarryHillsTvBurp'' [[InvokedTrope invokes]] this trope: "Now, I like [X], but I also like [Y]. But which is better? There's only one way to find out - FIGHT!", followed by an often surreal fight between the two parties.
* On at least four occasions in ''Series/TheGenius'', players have either won or lost the competition based on the results of a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors.
* ''Series/BlakesSeven'': The episode "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS3E12DeathWatch Death-Watch]]" involves two planets who have a tradition of using a [[CombatByChampion gunfight duel between two champions]] as a substitute for war and other conflicts. When Tarrant's brother gets killed in a rigged contest, Tarrant uses this tradition to challenge the winner in blood feud and avert a real war.
* ''Series/KamenRiderGaim''[='=]s movie, "Golden Fruit Cup", has [[TheHero Kouta]] stumble into an alternate reality where he happens to witness the Forbidden Fruit war between the Beat riders be solved with a football match. ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext.
* In ''Series/KamenRiderSaber'', [[BreakingTheFellowship divisive]] personal disputes and doubts are solved by challenging whoever inspired them. This complicates things for [[TheHero Touma]] because he has neither the time nor energy to deal with being forced into a string of duels to prove the truthfulness and strength of his intentions, with the individual duels sometimes happening at the worst possible moments.
* ''Series/CobraKai'' has several important karate duels. At the end of Season 3 the senseis bet their respective dojos on a tournament, with the losers agreeing to close up shop. While training for the tournament, Johnny and Daniel hold a sparring match to decide whose methods are better. In Season 5, Terry Silver wants to enter Cobra Kai in an international tournament (with the intent that winning will allow him to spread his philosophy worldwide), prompting Daniel to apply also, so the judges hold a mini-tournament to see which dojo deserves to go. [[spoiler: [[StatusQuoIsGod Nothing actually changes]]: the agreement from the first tournament is ignored, the match betweeen Johnny and Daniel ends on a double-KO, and both dojos earn a spot in the latter tournament.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* The rival gangs in the video for "Music/BeatIt" by Music/MichaelJackson are planning on settling their differences with a duel between their leaders in the streets, until Jackson enters as a mediator and has them settle their differences with a dance battle.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
* In Pro Wrestling, any issue, no matter how heinous, threatening, or illegal, can be settled by [[TonightInThisVeryRing getting into the ring]] and fighting it out. In some of the more extreme cases, this can get {{handwave}}d, as the commentators will explicitly say that a wrestler "declined to press charges" in order to get his hands on the other wrestler at the Pay-Per-View this Sunday, only $34.95, call your cable or satellite provider to order now!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* In ''TabletopGame/ArsMagica'', [[WizardDuel Certamen]] decides a dispute between magi of the Order of Hermes, and a not-insignificant chunk of the Code of Hermes is devoted to explaining what this means and when certamen is decisive. Briefly, if something's in dispute, you can certamen for it and the winner wins the dispute. ''However'', you can't use certamen to violate the Code or the legal rights of the other magus, using skill at certamen to bully weaker magi is seriously ill-mannered and can get you in trouble, and the other magus can always declare [[DuelToTheDeath Wizard's War]]. Also, the [[DecadentCourt Rhine Tribunal]] considers outranking your opponent (journeyman, master, archmage) to be equivalent to a certamen victory (and they emphatically ''do'' bully their inferiors with this), while the Theban Tribunal (where community spirit and equality are tenets of the Tribunal) try not to use certamen at all where they can help it.
* ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'': The true fae are {{Reality Warper}}s so any duel actually does decide everything, Changelings on the other hand are stuck with less powerful versions.
* The ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' (joke) sourcebook ''The Book of Wondrous Inventions'' describes a game called "pinkill," a Glantrian sport something like bowling created to resolve disputes between wizards (the previous dispute resolution system, murder, being too prone to cause CollateralDamage when powerful wizards were involved). Wizards being wizards, the game components were usually so heavily and destructively enchanted that it often caused as much real estate damage as direct combat would have.
* In ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'', Clan society's ruling Warrior Caste revolves around various trials to settle more or less everything. When a Clan wants something from another Clan they decree a Trial of Possession for it. In order for a warrior to get a promotion, they must pass a Trial of Position. If they feel like they were insulted by another warrior it's settled with a Trial of Grievances. Matters of Clan policy are usually handled by the decree of the Khan or a vote of the Bloodnamed members of the Warrior Caste; however, these can be challenged by a Trial of Refusal.\\\
Trials of Position are 1v3 (or 2v6), but the attackers can engage the defenders one at a time. Trials of Grievance are almost always 1v1. Trials of Possession are more like actual combat, but even in battles, Clanners tend to orchestrate combat as a sequence of duels (attacking someone who's fighting someone else on your own side is generally frowned upon). And the odds in a Trial of Refusal are determined by the margin of victory for the vote being refused (so if it was 80% of the vote against you, you have to go 1v4), though given that a victory through overwhelming force is generally considered to show that the victor isn't a particularly skilled warrior (because why would he need to resort to such odds otherwise), the winning side of the vote will typically choose to fight with less than the maximum allowed force unless they really hate their opponent and want to utterly crush them.\\\
One of the reasons duels are used by the Clans in the first place, is to allow contests of strength to be carried out without large scale war between two clans that would lead to high casulaties on both sides, something seen as wasteful. As a result of this, when the Clans invaded the Inner Sphere, despite making great initial progress due to their technological advantage, the Mechwarriors of the Inner Sphere soon realized that the Clans were so used to duels that they were unacustomed to full scale war.
** Trials of Grievance also apply to the other castes (merchant, scientist, etc.) but the rules are much more flexible. They can settle disputes with various kinds of competitions ranging from golf games to drinking contests.
* Averted in ''TabletopGame/PokemonTabletopAdventures''. Fights with ''wild'' Pokémon are not League-legal, and neither are most fights on the road. Outside of official fights, not only are battles not usually one-on-one duels, but Trainers also get involved in the fighting.
* In the ''TabletopGame/BloodBowl'' universe, the titular game is so popular it has replaced warfare. While the various species still loathe each other as much as in the regular ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'' universe, nobody can get any wars going because most people want to watch the racial animosity play out on the pitch. The [[GodOfEvil Dark Gods]] even host their own tournament, the Chaos Cup (considered the second-most prestigious tournament) ''in lieu'' of invading the realms of mortals with an everchosen because their daemons and worshippers want to play blood bowl instead.
* In the ''UsefulNotes/{{FATE}}'' world, ''Iron Street Combat'', one of its setting statements is that Politics => Fisticuffs and Fisticuffs => Politics. That is, whatever the issue at hand is and whatever factions are, it'll ultimately be settled in the tournament finale, which is why the factions compete to recruit the best champions they can get.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theater]]
* ''Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac'': Given that the play is a Swashbuckler, this trope would be expected, but then is averted and invoked.
** Averted at Act I Scene I: there is a duel between gentlemen, but they lampshade it is only a pastime and definitely doesn't decide anything.
** Averted at Act I Scene IV: Cyrano and De Valvert engage in a SwordFight. This doesn't decide anything but sets Cyrano as the SpannerInTheWorks for [[{{Villains}} De Guiche's]] plans.
** Invoked at Act V Scene V: Cyrano invokes a SwordFight with his old enemies (Falsehood, Treachery, Compromise, Prejudice, and Folly) and then with Death itself… but Cyrano admits that he has already lost.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Toys]]
* In ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'', the residents of Bara Magna decide who owns resources by having gladiator battles (which are more like tournaments, rather than a fight to the death.) Justified, since it prevents the villages from going to war with one another and the last time a full-scale war like that happened, ''[[ApocalypseHow most of the planet was rendered uninhabitable]]''. The battle system was created specifically to avoid another situation like that.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* The Tradesmeet subquest in ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'' that deals with the Shadow Druids can be resolved this way. When you reach Druid's Grove, you can challenge the leader of the Shadow Druids Faldorn. Only a Druid character can fight her; meaning you will have to send Cernd, Jaheira, or yourself (if you are also a Druid). Winning the battle ends the Shadow Druids' assaults on Tradesmeet. Justified in-universe by the fact that Druids, as part of their reverence for nature, style their hierarchy after pack animals; the leader, or "alpha", only leads so long as A: everyone is content with his/her leadership, and B: a stronger discontented Druid doesn't oust them from their position.
* In the LOGBOX level of ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooieNutsAndBolts'', Gruntilda is about to implement a plan that will cause the whole console to have to be shut down. However, she tells our heroes that she will cancel the whole thing if they just beat her in a race.
-->'''Kazooie:''' Huh? If we beat her in a race, she'll call off the plan and leave?\\
'''Banjo:''' So she says. I was in a similar situation once before, a long time ago, [[VideoGame/DiddyKongRacing with a genie and a giant pig...]]
* ''VideoGame/CustomRobo'': Duels with toy-sized robots are shown right at the beginning to be the perfect way to attempt a robbery. [[SeriousBusiness It gets more ridiculous from there]]. The game goes out of its way to try to justify this, though. It's mentioned a few times that the toy-sized robots use ''real weapons'' with ''live ammunition'', operate in bullet time and can be controlled over decent distances (and in ''Arena'' one police officer NPC actually ''does'' get shot during a fight) -- using them as serious weapons makes sense. Dueling with them being their ''primary'' use (even when there are safeties that vaporize any stray bullets), not so much. Justified in that it seems custom robo battles can't be escaped, someone can force you into it, and the victory is absolute if the safeties are deactivated: the winner is perfectly fine, but the loser gets knocked out cold, or worse (certain illegal robo parts have the capability to outright kill the loser). And the real reason the robos have been set up as everyone's favorite battling game? [[spoiler:To combat a quasi-demonic entity called Rahu that possessed a robo, back before the machines were combat-capable. At the time, it took everything humanity had to force Rahu into hibernation. But a society used to battling with robos all the time is effectively the perfect counter should Rahu ever wake up again.]]
* ''VideoGame/FridayNightFunkin'' (as well as the vast majority of its [[GameMod modifications]]) {{Exaggerate|dTrope}}s this due to its RhythmGame setup. A BoyfriendBlockingDad refusing to let you date his daughter? Soldiers and assassins coming after your head? A LaughablyEvil HumanoidAbomination wants to eat you alive? [[HauntedTechnology An evil spirit trapped within a video game]] wants to [[GrandTheftMe steal your body]] and escape into the real world? The answer is always the same: [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer beat them in a rap battle]].
* In ''VideoGame/InazumaEleven'', [[UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball football]] games solve everything. Early on in the first game you even [[spoiler: chase off a bunch of thugs by beating them at a football battle.]]
* [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'', where most political disputes are resolved through CombatByChampion with strict rules, a system put in place to prevent widespread devastation caused by [[FantasticNuke large-scale magical warfare]].
* In ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland'', Insult "X" contests.
** Subverted with the Monkey Kombat at the end of ''VideoGame/EscapeFromMonkeyIsland'', where it's impossible to either win or lose the fight, as the hit points regenerate faster than they can be drained. The trick is to [[spoiler:force a tie three times, causing the BigBad to get frustrated]].
** This is how Ozzie Mandrill manages to get his hands on most of the property in the Caribbean. He simply challenges owners in an Insult game, and, being pirates, they can't back down. Since he's Australian, all his insults are using Aussie slang, and they're unable to come up with good comebacks, being forced to sell to him.
* ''VideoGame/MonsterRancher 3'' plays with this through Sansha, one of your many rivals. When disputing who has the rights to a waterfall training ground, she challenges you to a duel... a fishing duel. She's remarkably willing to agree to a regular ol' battle when your assistant Fleria protests that neither of you knows ''how'' to fish, instead of pressing her advantage.
* In ''VideoGame/MortalKombat1992'', Outworld is only allowed to invade Earthrealm after winning ten consecutive Mortal Kombat tournaments, due to an arbitration system set up by the Elder Gods. This breaks down in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat3'' due to LoopholeAbuse by Shao Kahn, and this aspect of the Mortal Kombat tournaments was abandoned or {{downplayed}} in future installments because the rules about who can invade where have become largely unenforceable.
* ''Franchise/TouhouProject'':
** The basic plot behind most of the games: something bad happens, and the protagonists set out to find the ones responsible and BulletHell them into submission. The Hakurei Shrine Spellcard Rule System ensures that even in disputes between people with wildly different power levels ranging from insignificant to reality breaking, both sides have at least a semblance of a chance and the conflict is non-lethal.
** Occasionally, such as in some storylines for ''VideoGame/TouhouKaeidzukaPhantasmagoriaOfFlowerView'', the battles -- and protagonist -- don't really decide anything, and the battles only serve to place the player where and when the storyline resolves itself. Losing battles then just means you don't get to see it happen.
** As virtually any possible plot in the setting could be resolved by getting the right people to come to the right party, proving to the (generally immortal, nigh-unkillable, and non-villainous) antagonists that you survive well enough to be worth remembering and befriending may make this trope fairly rational.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
** Everything is decided by Pokémon duels. Need to go down a road? Pokémon battle. Need to stop OlympusMons from rampaging? Pokémon battle. Need to thwart villainous plans? Pokémon battle again! The series has been playing around with this trope lately, though.
** [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Ghetsis]] defies this trope for the first time in the main series and orders his Pokémon to freeze you solid before you fight him in [[VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2 the sequel]]. Although ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'' and ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum'' [[OlderThanTheyThink did it first]].
* Subverted in fangame ''VideoGame/PokemonUranium''. At one point, an evil scientist sends out a bunch of thugs after you. This being a ''Pokémon'' game, they'll obviously challenge you and send out some pathetically weak {{Mons}} that your well-trained team will tear to pieces, right? Haha, no. [[NoNonsenseNemesis They just set up an ambush for you, knock your lights out, confiscate all your Pokéballs, and lock you up in a cell.]]. Subsequently played straight after you bust out of your cell and retrieve your Pokémon.
* An example occurs in ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheLostFuture''. Thugs are expected to use good-old violence to stop interlopers... but here, [[SolveTheSoupCans they toss a puzzle your way instead!]] The next game introduced [[ActionGirl Emmy]] to deal with thugs instead, as a reaction to this.
* In ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo'', Puyo matches are the way to go. Someone standing in your way? Puyo match. Thwarting the BigBad? Puyo match! Someone else trying to thwart the Big Bad? Yep, Puyo match. Winner gets to battle the bad guy after that. Ringo lampshades this left and right.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* In ''VisualNovel/SC2VN'', 1v1 Starcraft matches decide everything.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/{{Misfile}}'' seems to run street races.
* Lance from ''Webcomic/GoldCoinComics'' whenever he [[http://www.goldcoincomics.com/?id=62 fights Blake]], his rival.
* The city of Mimaneid in ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'' [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=9560 runs off of honor duels]], with it being standard to carry a staff in case you are challenged, to the point that even some refugees from the city still carry them out of habit. These duels are [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=9565 not to the death]] and no steel weapons are allowed.
* Used in ''Webcomic/HarkAVagrant'' strip [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=349 "Famous Alexanders"]]:
-->'''Judge:''' This [cat] is the winner.\\
'''[[Creator/AlexanderPushkin Pushkin]]:''' You '''DARE'''. Pistols at--\\
'''Judge:''' You have, like, three other duels at dawn.
* In ''Webcomic/SeiyuuCrush'', [=KoiZ=] and Haruka are set up by Nakatsu to settle their rivalry over [[spoiler: Kaji]], in a duel behind Flavor. The duel takes place in Scene 10 [[http://www.http://seiyuucrush.net/index.php?page=261 Duel at Midnight]], with a rather comedic start, as neither of them knows just exactly how they are supposed to be dueling.
* In ''Webcomic/Nova44'', Carlos, a skeeezy club owner uses this to his advantage to push a band into a musical duel for their band bus.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Videos]]
* {{Subverted|Trope}} and then {{Double Subver|sion}}ted with ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall[='s=]'' "Contest of Champions finale. The final battle is a ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' match between Linkara and Bandit Chief. [[spoiler:Bandit Chief is beating Linkara when Linksano pulls a BigDamnHeroes moment and reveals that Bandit Chief has been cheating the entire time, thus Linkara wins by DisqualificationInducedVictory. However, Linkara is ''not'' going to let five years of his life be pushed aside for such a win and, so they can put to rest who would win, Linkara has Bandit Chief finish the match, where Linkara wins fair and square]].
* {{Subverted|Trope}} and then {{Double Subver|sion}}ted in WebVideo/SolidJJ's "Yu-Gi-Oh Woes": Kaiba tells "Yugi" (actually the Pharaoh, but he thinks it's Yugi) that he has to focus on his education and get a real job because it's impossible to make a living solely off of dueling... because the police all run top-tier meta decks in order to stamp down anyone who tries it.
* Played heavily in Sjbninja's series, ''WebVideo/PresidentsPlayMagicTheGathering''. Everything is decided through dueling, from regular card game tournaments, to the 2016 Presidential Election, to potential world-ending stake duels.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': When the Ruby Squad comes to Earth to find the leader of the Earth mission, Steven prevents them from going into the barn hiding Peridot (as he thinks they are looking for her) by making up a rule that says that they can only go into the barn if they win a game of baseball, and if they lose they have to leave Earth forever. The Rubies (including Crystal Gem Ruby, pretending to have been with them all along to sabotage them) play against the team of humans (really just the Crystal Gems poorly disguised as humans); this mainly works because the Rubies are all SuperGullible. The "human" team manages to win... and then Sapphire fuses with Ruby as she's running back to home base, thus exposing them all as Gems.
* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'': Bojack's father spent most of his life writing a novel in the hopes of making a legacy for himself. When he finally published it, it was panned by critics, so he challenged anyone who didn't like his novel to a duel. For whatever reason, someone accepted, choosing the traditional "take ten steps, then turn and fire" approach. Before they could shoot, however, Bojack's father turned to ask him if he'd actually ''read'' the book, causing him to [[DeathByFallingOver trip on a rock and break his head open]].
* The ''ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}'' cartoon "Duel to the Finish" had Olive trying to make Popeye jealous by wooing Wimpy (ascribing to the way to man's heart is through his stomach). Popeye eventually challenges Wimpy to a duel, and Wimpy claims battle in an eating duel. It's certainly in Wimpy's favor but he concedes to Popeye when an exhausted Olive says she can't cook another thing.
-->'''Popeye:''' Olive...the next time ya wants to makes me jealous, gives me some notice so I can diets fer it! (''groans'')
* WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry challenge each other to a series of duels in "Duel Personality," each duel ending in a stalemate.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* [[RealityIsUnrealistic This has occasionally occurred in real life]], where combat between two champions has been used to reach a decision in a dispute. A legal example are judicial duels, which were not always [[DuelToTheDeath to the death]]. The original rationale behind duels was to contain possibly huge family feuds into more manageable one-on-one battles that would settle the issue(s). Well, at least before dueling [[HonorBeforeReason took on a life of its own]].
* At least one large English town attempted to invoke this trope to get its teenage [[LowerClassLout chav]] and {{goth}} population to stop having vicious fistfights in the mall and occasionally stabbing each other by getting them to settle their differences with paintball.
* Japanese schoolchildren seem to solve any and every dispute with ''janken'', a.k.a. RockPaperScissors.
[[/folder]]
----