->"Two men enter, one man leaves."
-->-- ''MadMax: Beyond Thunderdome''

Any place that is dedicated to competition of some sort, usually involving fighting. Often the setting of the InevitableTournament. Sometimes, the structure itself becomes the focus of a town or location. Heck, it can even be the main focus of the culture and economy of said town.

See also BloodSport, GladiatorGames, TournamentArc.
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!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Advertising ]]

* There's one of these in an ad for Kaplan Learning Centers, or Sylvan Learning Centers, or something like that. (All paraphrased.)
-->'''Female announcer''' ''(in a swing for some reason)'': Behold...Algebra! And Science and Geography! ''we see AnthropomorphicPersonifications of them, built like brick shithouses'' Who will take up their challenge?! \\
''enter three unassuming junior high school kids'' \\
'''First:''' I will. \\
'''Second:''' Me too. \\
'''Third:''' So will I.

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[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* There's at least one fighting arena in shows like ''DragonBallZ''.
* At the beginning of ''SaintSeiya'' the heroes are drawn together to the "Galactic Tournament".
* The junk planet in ''Manga/AstroBoy'' had one with a special energy ceiling to keep robots from escaping.
* ''TowerOfGod'': Many of the testing areas in the various different floors, including the Wineglass, the Crown Game Room, the Hide And Seek arena and the 20th floor … dormitory?

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[[folder: Film ]]

* The Thunderdome in ''MadMax'', obviously.
-->'''Dr. Dealgood''': ''Listen all! This is the truth of it. Fighting leads to killing, and killing gets to warring. And that was damn near the death of us all. Look at us now! Busted up, and everyone talking about hard rain! But we've learned, by the dust of them all... Bartertown learned. Now, when men get to fighting, it happens here! And it finishes here! Two men enter; one man leaves!''
* ''Film/EscapeFromNewYork'': The Duke has an enclosed boxing ring where he forces prisoners to fight to the death with baseball bats.
* ''{{Gladiator}}'': Maximus becomes [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a gladiator]] and fights in the actual original Colosseum.
* Terminal Island in the latest remake of ''Film/DeathRace'' is a massive version of this.
* The Geonosis arena in the ''StarWars'' prequels.
* ''Film/TheRunningMan'' is also a large-scale example.

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[[folder: Literature ]]

* The titular event in ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' has arenas that are designed and built years in advance to be used one time and one time only. Afterwards they become tourist destinations.
* In the ''DeltoraQuest'' series (and its subsequent AnimatedAdaptation) there is the town of Rithmere known for its annual gladiator tournaments called the Rithmere Games and Championships.

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[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* ''MysteryScienceTheater3000'': "[[IncrediblyLamePun Oh, can't we just get]] ''[[IncrediblyLamePun beyond]]'' [[IncrediblyLamePun Thunderdome?]]"
* ''BattleBots'' had The Battlebox.
** ''Series/RobotWars'' also has its own specialized arena.
* ''IronChef'' and ''IronChefAmerica'' had Kitchen Stadium.
* The [=SyFy=] miniseries for ''{{Dune}}'' gives the Harkonnen a gladiatoral arena.

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[[folder: Tabletop RPG ]]

* In the Basic ''DungeonsAndDragons'' Known World setting, the Empire of Thyatis (which was based on the Byzantine Empire) had coliseums with gladiatorial combat.

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[[folder: Toys ]]

* ''{{Bionicle}}'': The Coliseum in Metru Nui, various arenas in Bara Magna.

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[[folder: Video Games ]]

* The Crucible in ''VideoGame/{{Fable}}''.
* ''{{Pokemon}} Stadium''
* Several of ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'s'' multiplayer maps are arenas, and one of them, in fact, the most popular, is actually called "Thunderdome."
* Oddly, in ''{{Persona 3}} FES'', there was an area like this. [[spoiler:You used it to battle it out among your party members to decide whether to go back to the past or go to the present.]]
* ''{{Wild ARMs}} 4'' had a town (can not remember the name for the life of me) where the main attraction was the Arena.
* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' had an arena as well, in which the player could either participate or simply watch and bet. Many of the achievements in the Xbox 360 version were focuses around climbing the Arena quest tree.
* The Glitz Pit in ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor.''
* In ''WorldOfWarcraft'', there's a big arena that looks very much like the Thunderdome in the center of the Goblin town of Gadgetzan. Unlike many other arenas, this one is not used in arena [=PvP=], or any other event, so it's just there for show.
** Having received an update in the Cataclysm expansion, it is now the focal point of a small quest chain where the character must fight a series of challengers, including one that is not unlike Master Blaster. It is presided over by an NPC who has a strong resemblance to Tina Turner.
* The Colosseum also appears in the first ''KingdomHearts''.
* The Spargus Arena in ''[[JakAndDaxter Jak III]]''.
* The Hole in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}: The Pitt''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* ''{{Futurama}}'' had a stadium where Fry and Zoidberg duked it out.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* Cage fighting
* The Thunderdome, St. Petersburg, Florida, from 1993-1996. Originally built as the Florida Suncoast Dome for the purpose of luring a Major League Baseball team, it was renamed when it hosted the Tampa Bay Lightning ([=NHL=]) and Storm (Arena Football). When those teams left for the brand-new Ice Palace, the Thunderdome was renovated to prepare for the [=MLB=] expansion Devil Rays, and renamed Tropicana Field.
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