->''Please note that we have added a consequence for failure. Any contact with the chamber floor will result in an 'unsatisfactory' mark on your official testing record, followed by death. Good luck!''
-->--'''[=GLaDOS=]''', ''{{Portal}}''

->''Another day, another death course.''
-->--'''Ratchet''', ''[[RatchetAndClank Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal]]''

->''What is this thing? I mean, it serves no useful purpose for there to be a bunch of chompy, crushy things in the middle of a hallway! No, I mean we shouldn't have to do this, it makes no logical sense, WHY IS IT HERE?!''
-->--'''[=Gwen DeMarco=]'''. ''[[GalaxyQuest Galaxy Quest]]''

The linear version of the DeathTrap, the DeathCourse is a gauntlet through which a hero must pass, using all his acrobatic skills, guile, LeParkour, and witty bravado. Essentially a sequence of {{Booby Trap}}s.

These can be found in:
* [[TempleOfDoom Ancient temples]], where they are driven by [[DurableDeathtrap very durable]] BambooTechnology.
* {{Supervillain Lair}}s, either on the approach, intentionally included in the dungeon, or as a side effect of the [[CollapsingLair self-destruct mechanism]].
* [[EternalEngine Factories]], if they are damaged and were [[NoOSHACompliance unsafe to start with]].

Any of the pitfalls included under DeathTrap may be used in the DeathCourse, along with a few mobile classics of its own:
* The dart launchers, triggered by the passing of the hero (an automatic machine gun, in modern settings).
* The [[IndyEscape giant rolling stone ball]], always an IndianaJones {{homage}}.
* {{Trap Door}}s
* Stairs that become slides
* Mines
* [[SpikesOfDoom Deadly spikes]]
* The LaserHallway, in the "burning hot laser" version, or to trigger another trap.
* As an alternative to the LaserHallway, a succession of blades or circular saws that appear at seemingly random locations.
* SmashingHallwayTrapsOfDoom
* The CorridorCubbyholeRun.
* And, of course, BottomlessPits and/or {{Pit Trap}}s.

The DeathCourse makes a mundane walk in the park into a slightly less sadistic version of football training camp. It's common in [[VideogameTropes video games]] where [[EverythingTryingToKillYou hazards are commonplace]], and action series. Sometimes, there are {{Dungeon Bypass}}es available.
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!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* ''HanaukyoMaidTai La Verité'' has one hidden under the front lawn of the mansion.
* In ''FullMetalAlchemist'', Ed discovers one of these on his way into the Fifth Laboratory. After the first few traps, though, he gets sick of it and transmutes the hallway to have perfectly smooth, unbroken walls and walks straight through.
* The offshore oil rig/cathedral from roughly the middle of ''SailorMoon'''s third season. Complete with flying panels and completely different panels that shoot apparently invisible darts.
* The Dog Race in ''DeadmanWonderland'' features swinging pendulum blades, flamethrowers, electrocuted water, and a disintegrating floor that empties into a pit of spikes. Because DW is a ''publicly open'' prison/themepark, the horrific deaths and disfigurations that result from this race explained as "special effects" a la a stunt show.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* The ''IndianaJones'' films, but most notably the opening sequence of ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'', as noted above.
* In ''GalaxyQuest'', the characters are moving through a spaceship based on the one in the TV show they starred in. When there's a DeathCourse down one corridor, one asks why the heck such a thing would be in a spaceship. The answer is, of course, because it was in the TV show.
-->"Whoever wrote this episode should DIE!"
* The execrable ''DungeonsAndDragons'' movie from 2000 had a DeathCourse used for training in the Thieves' Guild, which the hero had to run. By purest coincidence, the guildmaster was played by Richard O'Brien, who used his {{Catch Phrase}}s from ''TheCrystalMaze''.
* The opening of the "Weird Al" Yankovic movie ''{{UHF}}'' is a loving parody of the famous IndianaJones sequence, right down to the giant rolling stone ball. However, this one can navigate and turn corners.
* The horrible ''[=~Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone~=]'' has Niki (Molly Ringwald) going through the heavy metal version of this, just to end up facing the BigBad anyway.
* Let's not forget the path into Alcatraz in ''TheRock''.
** This troper doesn't understand why Sean Connery had to roll through the fire to escape originally. Rolling through the fire takes him in; to get out he just has to open the door, as he does in the film to let the SEALS in.
* JamesBond movies:
** ''DrNo''
** Scarmanga's lair in ''TheManWithTheGoldenGun''.
* Arguably the training gauntlet in KungFuPanda.
* In the later half of ''StarWars: Attack of the Clones'', Anakin and Padme have to survive through what amounts to the unsafe Factory version.
* The titular setting of the film ''{{Cube}}'', and its two sequels are essentially a Death Course of bureaucratically ambiguous origin.
* The entrance to Lex Luthor's lair in Superman.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* In the AlexRider book ''Eagle Strike'', Alex is thrown into an exact replica of a Aztec level of a video game by the game's creator. This features darts, slippery surfaces, a robot snake which is a real snake in body armor and two Aztec gods (guards in costume).
* Matthew Reilly's books ''{{Seven Deadly Wonders}}'' and ''{{The Six Sacred Stones}}'' - almost all the action sequences take place in Death courses.
* In the ''Discworld'' books, it is heavily implied that Lord Vetinari has one of these set up in the passage that leads to Leonard of Quirm's cell. Or maybe that's just what he wants you to think.
** Leonard apologizes earnestly for designing it, so it is far more likely to be true.
** The Lost Jewelled Temple Of Doom Of Offler The Crocodile God (from ''Discworld/ReaperMan'') contains one of these, successfully traversed (for the first time) by Death. Hearing his progress, the priests note that "a [[IndianaJones chap with a whip]] got as far as the big spikes last week."
** ''Small Gods'' features this as a security precaution against visiting dignitaries from hostile lands. They didn't count on the main character's photographic memory.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* ''{{Angel}}'' runs through one of these to save Darla's life, though it should be noted that this was set up for the explicit purpose of testing the mettle of applicants to a specific and quite powerful supernatural favor.
* British game show ''TheCrystalMaze'' (hosted by Richard "Riff-Raff" O'Brien of ''{{Rocky Horror Picture Show}}'' fame) presented a much-toned down version as the central set piece of the program.
* ''{{MacGyver}}'' features several death courses, some linear, some (implicitly) not, typically they are associated with his arch-nemesis Murdoc. One particularly blatant episode (which has a rather "Man with the Golden Gun" feel) involved a reformed Murdoc enlisting Mac's help [[spoiler:to save Murdoc's sister]], and being forced to traverse a linear DeathCourse by Murdoc's former mentor appropriately called "Death Row".
* The game shows ''{{Legends Of The Hidden Temple}}'', ''[=~Viking: The Ultimate Warrior~=]'' and ''Sasuke'' (known as ''NinjaWarrior'' in North America) have these either as stages or take place within them entirely. (The games in ''TakeshisCastle'', known in America as ''{{MXC}}'', are too separated to count.)
* The obstacles in ''{{Knightmare}}'' - the only children's game show where you could (virtually) die by being impaled on spikes, sawn in half by giant blades, having your head knocked off by flying bits of masonry, falling into bottomlessness after stepping on the wrong tile of an Indiana Jones-style causeway, and so on and so forth.
* The title character of "The Girl Who Was Death", an episode of ''ThePrisoner'' played like a '60s spy movie, set up a death course for No.6 in a movie set/ghost town, with appropriate obstacles in the butcher's, baker's, and candlestick-maker's shops, like triggered machine guns, trap doors, deadly ''electrified'' spikes, land mines, and poison-laced exploding candles.
* Grame makes a deathcourse for the sole purpose of committing suicide with in one episode of ''{{The Goodies}}'' - and ends up walking blindfolded through the whole thing unscathed in order to answer the telephone.
*Stargate has a couple of these. Firstly in the Season 2 episode 'Thor's Chariot', and then in the Season 7 episode 'Evolution, Part 1'.
* An episode of, wait for it, The Lucy Show(!) has one of these - Lucy's bank built it to protect its vault in order to entice Jack Benny to keep his money there. Naturally, she has to give Benny a "tour".
** For that matter, Jack Benny's never displayed (if you discount the Looney Toons cartoon version) vault.
* TheNewAvengers uses one of these disguised as a British agent training course. Agents would be shot with harmless little darts to show whether they passed. The villains poisoned the darts.
** TheAvengers loved this trope. Another episode had a Death Course in the form of [[spoiler: an agent-killing automated factory]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

* In ''RoboRally'', each of the players navigates a robot through a DeathCourse created by a bored [[MasterComputer central control computer]].
* ''Tomb of Horrors''. Enough said.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* ''TombRaider'', in which most of the tombs are equipped with diabolical anti-raider devices.
* ''PrinceOfPersia'', since day one, has had these in every castle of the ancient world. There are some paranoid sultans out there, apparently. (In ''Prince of Persia: Sands of Time'', it's slightly more reasonable -- the Death Courses aren't activated until partway through, whereupon the Prince helps a guard set them off to deal with the invading menace. Only after the fact does he realize he's just trapped himself behind the security... and it does nothing to the enemies. He actually notes this aloud.)
* Arguably, most parts of the ''{{God of War}}'' series not concerning killing undead skeletons are Death Courses.
** However, the game has two areas that are intentional Death Courses, rather than being naturally inhospitable or dangerous due to damage: The Temple of Pandora (including the Cliffs of Madness), and Hades. The Temple of Pandora is [[JustifiedTrope justified]], as it's explicitly designed for the sole purpose of killing anyone unworthy of obtaining Pandora's Box. Hades seems justified at first, as they wouldn't want people escaping... then FridgeLogic kicks in, and you realize that they wouldn't ''need'' a Death Course to keep people from escaping if they didn't have a Death Course over the River Styx for people to grab onto and avoid falling in. Ooops.
*** This editor got the impression that the Hades death course [[spoiler: was setup by Hades (the god) to let Kratos out. Who do you think the old man at the end of it was anyway?]]
****[[spoiler: Zeus. Same voice actor, calls him son (which comes into play in the second game), has the requisite white beard... though the fingers in his head were awfully Hades-ish...]]
* ''SlyCooper'' has had its share, as well.
* The ''CrashBandicoot'' games are mostly a combination of the various types of Death Courses, with most of the pitfalls included.
** And the second and third games actually have special areas that change to more ominous music and ([[SchizophrenicDifficulty in some cases]]) turn the Death Course factor up to 11.
* The ''RatchetAndClank'' games have a few, most often arranged as futuristic game-shows like "Annihilation Nation". One of these is literally called "Path of Death", another simply "Death Course."
** Lampshaded in ''RatchetAndClank: Up Your Arsenal'', where, upon being told that the only way to retrieve a mission-critical item is to run through the Annihilation Nation death course, Rachet responds nonchalantly with the quote at the top of this page, much to the surprise of his companions.
* Most {{Platformer}} levels, in fact, including the ''SuperMarioBros'' and ''SonicTheHedgehog'' games.
** The first Genesis\Mega Drive Sonic game has the Labyrinth Zone boss in particular, which has spikes and fireball traps, and rising water.
* Creating these are the whole point of the ''{{Deception}}'' trap-simulation games. Extra points for combos! Spring Wall+Giant Flaming Boulder+Floor Spikes+Electric Chair+Lava Wall= 1 very dead pursuer. Clearly these creaky old mansions are [[NoOSHACompliance not held to OSHA standards, either]].
* Two words: [[HalfLife Black Mesa]].
** But at least it was up to [[NoOSHACompliance OSHA standards]] until the catastrophic end of the world.
* Hello, and welcome to [[{{Portal}} the Aperture Science Enrichment Center]].
* Both ''MaxPayne'' games have a level where you have to run through a building as it is burning down around you, escaping by finding the "safe route" out of the fire and generally straight into the arms of the baddies.
* The final level on the path to the fourth ending of ''{{Drakengard}}'' involves having to fly your dragon in, around, and between legions of [[EldritchAbomination eldritch abominations.]] If you take three hits or so from their homing attacks, you fail.
* ''{{Quest for Glory}} 1'' has two of these, the first played straight, the second played for laughs. In the first, there are brigand archers on either side of the room, a trap door hidden under a rug (with a "Walk here" sign on it, written kinda shakily as if the writer were laughing at the time), two tripwires, and a bridge that dumps you into a pit if you walk on it. The second death course is designed by the brigand warlock ([[spoiler:who is actually the old court jester following the cursed daughter of the baron, who leads the brigands]]), and considering his nature, it almost makes sense that the room completely and totally defies logic. Doors will fall off their hinges and dump you into pits, which causes you to roll through a hole in the wall on the other side of the room and into another pit... which then dumps you out of the same exact hole. It doesn't help that the warlock himself is throwing things at you the entire time, and laughs while you roll along. Additionally, the room has Escher Physics, and walking through a door on one end brings you out on the other side. It actually [[LampshadeHanging hangs a lampshade on it]] with one of messages "M.C. Escher would love this place."
* The most fun part of the game ''EvilGenius'' was creating death courses for the AI heroes to attempt. The more elaborate they were, the more points you got if they tripped them.
* The K'chekrik Gauntlet in ''{{Heretic}} 2''.
* The Gauntlet in ''{{Nox}}'', through which prospective Warriors must fight their way to show they've got what it takes.
* ''MortalKombat Shaolin Monks'' has a good number of these.
* ''IWannaBeTheGuy''
* ''DwarfFortress'' lets you build these as a very effective method of keeping your fortress safe from invaders. Interestingly, you can make an auxiliary entrance which invaders are forced to take when your drawbridge is up or your main entrance is sealed off in some other way. This entrance, of course, can be extremely long and extremely deadly.
* The final mission of ''{{Thief}}:The Dark Project''.
* Oni Island in ''{{Okami}}'' is a huge deathtrap... which is apparently entertainment for the local youkai. There are even ''rules'' for these areas posted on a small, hard to miss sign right before them. And don't get me started on Tobi, the game master for the largest of these death courses...
* In ''{{Star Wars}}: {{The Force Unleashed}}'', the Death Star level is basically a series of Laser Hallways ''on steroids!'' Do the words ''"Commence Primary Ignition"'' mean anything to you???]
** Force Grip + Annoying Lightning-proof Stormtrooper + Death Star Superlaser Component = Sith Glee!
* Jack Vambrace, TreasureHunter, is first introduced to us in ''{{Wild ARMs}}'' escaping from one of these in an ancient ruin.
* This guy once created a level in ''MegaManPoweredUp'' where the entire floor and nearly every platform were made up of SpikesOfDoom. The player was forced to continuously take damage from something non-lethal and use the MercyInvincibility to get to the next non-lethal damage inducer in order make it to the end, and he could only take damage when absolutely necessary or he'd run out of HitPoints before making it to the items that would only heal enough to let him survive the next hit. A OneUp was placed at the very beginning so the player could torture himself as many times as he wanted.
* ''[=~N+~=]'' in all its incarnations is just a ninja [[LeParkour Le Parkouring]] through some especially (wait for it) [[TVTropesDrinkingGame egregious]] Death Courses.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* This is Arcade's MO - for a fee, he'll ''capture'' heroes and put them in a death trap (''Murderworld'') of his own devising. One wonders why villains don't just pay him to capture and collect their unconscious foes.
** Because that's Arcade's 'thing'. He's gotta put them through the Death Course, that's where the fun is!
* The {{X-Men}}'s Danger-room, in its first incarnation, is on of these, although controlled by the participants.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* Kind of subverted by good old ''{{Eight Bit Theatre}}'': To become the bearded warriors and therefore told the earth orbs location the light warriors are suppossed to go through the [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/daily.php?date=031202 four hundred bearded trials of strength]] which black mage solves (almost) single-handedly by [[DungeonBypass hadokening the whole course]].
* In ''RealityExperiment'', one of the main characters has to run a death course to return to life after being killed. The price of failure is eternal torment. However, after being asked by the Grim Reaper('s assistant) to try to avoid the grinding gears at the beginning, since it jams the whole course and takes forever to clear up, the character throws the Grim Reaper into the gears to jam the whole course and run back to life.
* Most of Castle Heterodyne in ''GirlGenius'' has turned into one of these by the time Agatha enters it.
** Then again, it was originally one of these ''by design''; it was also alive, and since it was damaged, has gotten crazier.
* ''DrMcNinja'' was hired to infiltrate an ancient temple full of these, blocking a tennis robot which supposedly destroys the world if it's not beaten in tennis.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* ''KimPossible'' has faced many, notably an ancient monkey temple in Cambodia in the episode "Monkey Fist Strikes".
* The ''Raiders'' deathcourse is parodied at the beginning of ''TheSimpsons'' episode "Milhouse Falls in Love."
* In ''TheSpectacularSpiderMan'', The Green Goblin sets up one of these for Spider-Man and Tombstone in a refinery with NoOSHACompliance, stuffed to the gills with bombs.
* In a episode of ''MuchaLucha'', Rikochet ends up taking on soccer, and is doing a rather... challenging drill. As examplified by his coach: "You must run the course like your life depends on it! Because, a matter of fact... it does!"
*In ''DannyPhantom'', Fright Knight's entire ''castle'' is a DeathCourse!
* The ''{{Thundercats}}'' episode ''Tower of Traps'' is, well, exactly as it says. It features a octopus type monster, swinging blades, trick stairs, and more. Fun for everyone involved!
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