History Main / IKnowYouKnowIKnow

* In Creator/{{Christopher Priest|Comics}}'s run on ''ComicBook/BlackPanther'', ''ComicBook/IronMan'' sums up his understanding of the titular character's highly convoluted plot during the "Enemy of the State II" arc in a section aptly titled "And You Know I Know You Know".

* When ComicBook/BlackWidow stops the hijacking of a NASA space shuttle she and the agent in charge of the hijacking keep one-upping the other after they reveal a part of their scheme to the other, each explaining how it "changes the game." First, Black Widow reveals that she is working with the CIA and has been impersonating the man's partner. The man, commenting that that changes the game, explains that he has just detonated the explosive in his partner's head, probably killing a few of his interrogators. Widow, saying that that changes the game, explains that she is still going to take this man in for questioning, though now she will make sure to hurt him while doing so. The hijacker, [[OverlyLongGag after commenting that that changes the game]], explains that he is now crashing the shuttle to stop her. After that the game stops changing and Widow just beats the tar out of the man, but you have to wonder what game they started with and what they were playing when they finished.

* In the ''ComicBook/DuckTales'' "Rightful Owners" arc, Webby asks Scrooge why he's taking a boat instead of a submarine like last time. Scrooge answers that his competitor most likely expects he'll be going in a submarine, so he's going in a boat instead.
* ''ComicBook/ElseworldsFinestSupergirlAndBatgirl'': In the last scene Comicbook/{{Supergirl}} implies she figured out Comicbook/{{Batgirl}}'s SecretIdentity, and she knows Batgirl deduced hers. And Batgirl knows Supergirl knows this.
* The ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' comic ''ComicBook/DamnationCrusade'' has two Black Templars discover that the Chaos forces have run off despite not being particularly close to defeat, leaving behind heavy weapons and vehicles of great strategic value. One wonders why they ran off, the other thinks it's a trap, the first wonders if that's what the Chaos commanders ''want'' them to think, etc.
* Played with in ''Comicbook/{{Asterix}} and the Soothsayer'' - Prolix the Soothsayer is a fake and knows nothing. When he gets arrested by the Romans because soothsaying is illegal, he correctly predicts how a dice would fall, and hastily protests that if he'd ''known'' that he wouldn't have said it. As the question of whether he's really a soothsayer becomes more and more complicated (because the centurion wants to believe the predictions about himself becoming Emperor, while insisting to his optio (adjunct) that it's okay to work with him because he's a fake), increasingly convoluted versions of this logic are applied to every prediction he makes, whether it's accurate or not. (At one point, the optio tries the dice test again, and he gets it wrong, prompting the centurion to tell Prolix not to get too clever, or even the optio might suspect something.)
* In the ''[[Characters/BatmanSupportingCast Bat-Mite]]'' miniseries, Bat-Mite believes that the villain Gridlock is a senator who uses "gridlock" as part of his campaign slogan.
-->'''Weed:''' Isn't that a bit too ''obvious?''\\
'''Bat-Mite:''' Not if ''he'd'' think I wouldn't think it's ''him'' because ''you'd'' think it's too obvious to ''think!''

* {{Fighting game}}s live and breathe this trope in player vs player matches, especially at a high level. There are no moves or techniques in a fighting game that are outright more powerful than all others; each move has its time and place, and importantly, each move counters some options and is countered by some other options. So in order for a player to defend successfully, they have to guess what move the attacker will use, and respond with a defensive option that beats that attack. But the attacker knows this, so they should try to guess what the defender is going to guess, and choose an option that beats that; but the defender knows this, so they should try to guess what the attacker is going to guess that they're going to guess, and defend appropriately. Repeat ad nauseum. The term [[UsefulNotes/FightingGame yomi]] is of relevance, describing the ability to read your opponent's mind.

See also most instances of the PoisonedChaliceSwitcheroo and DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent. Frequently a consideration in FeedTheMole. In many an AbsurdlyHighStakesGame this will take the form of a (often internal) monologue. Sometimes circumvented by making a completely random (HeadsOrTails), unrelated, or unexpected move, which is where the IndyPloy might come in handy.

* ''Manhua/RavagesOfTime'' runs on this trope. One strategist would lay out a plan, and in the end would say, "Of course, if the enemy strategist is any good, he would know that I will be planning this, so...".
** Chapter 177 plays this [[ExaggeratedTrope up to at least]] ''[[ExaggeratedTrope fifteen]]'' [[ExaggeratedTrope layers deep]]. Zhang Fei and Chen Gong were scheming against each other; the former was trying to lure Lu Bu to Xiapi to kill him while the latter wish to drive out Zhang Fei to take Xiapi. Both of them outlines their plans, and the narrative switch back and forth between them anticipating each other.
** According to Pang Tong, the ultimate strategy is to "Let your opponent know your next step. Even more brilliant is to let your opponent know your next ''two'' steps." (And then, the next ''three''...)

* Vetinari plays a subtle form of this game off-screen in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''. His mail packets to and from Uberwald are always clearly tampered with, and his semaphore transmissions are always intercepted. This is all as expected, and he encrypts his communiques with codes that are ''almost but not quite'' unbreakable. He ''could'' come up with a cypher no one else on the Disc could break, but that would be far less useful. ''This'' way, only his most resourceful rivals (specifically, [[TheBaroness Lady Margolotta]]) can read his messages, and then he knows ''exactly'' what they think he knows.

* One episode of ''Anime/YuGiOh'' does this word-for-word, during Joey's battle with Yugi. He gives a long internal monologue about whether or not the card Yugi placed down was a trap card or if that was too obvious...
** "Aw, forget it, I'm just gonna attack."

-->“It is not his style to leave the execution of something like this to a subordinate like that. He might never get his hands dirty, but he wants to be there to watch.”\\

* ''Literature/TheLostFleet'' [[{{PlayedWith}} plays with this]] at one point. [[spoiler:In the final battle with the "[[{{InUniverseNickname}} dark ships]]" at Unity Alternate in ''Leviathan'', [[{{FishOutOfTemporalWater}} Admiral John "Black Jack" Geary]] essentially has to pull this on himself. The reason for this is that the A.I. running the dark ships is based on the public's perception of Geary via the "Black Jack" legend, which is still close enough to the truth to make this work.]]

Usually results in an OverlyLongGag. Frequently ends with an "I DidntSeeThatComing". May result in ArchiveBinge-like behavior when plans are laid for both eventualities, and then for both of those eventualities, and then all four of those, and then all sixteen... This may develop into a GambitRoulette if it hasn't done so already.

X also runs the risk of misjudging Y's level. If Y is playing a higher level than anticipated, then the deception is, as mentioned above, meaningless. If Y is playing a lower level, then X will be CrazyPrepared but never engaged on the higher levels, which may leave X ProperlyParanoid. When the KansasCityShuffle occurs the mark (X) is at level 2 and thinks the con (Y) is at level 1, when actually the con is at level 3.

* A somewhat low-key example, one between colleagues, occurs in Fraction's ''ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}}'', when Clint wants to know if Black Widow showing up to their meeting in disguise means that they're being spied on. She denies that anything is the matter or that's wearing a disguise at all:

* {{Parodied|Trope}} in WebVideo/{{Solid jj}}'s "Anime/DeathNote but [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4GfqjvIvlU they order fast food]]", where Light and L have a perfectly ordinary conversation on the surface that's laced with an overblown amount of mental cat and mouse. They think misa is also playing the same game, and it culminates with both of them pulling the same ridiculously arbitrary BatDeduction out of what she said, while she's only just about to get tot he point of wondering whether you can get a Big Mac at Taco Bell.

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10072620/ One More Trigger]]'': When Lisa is giving Amy a needed hug, her Thinker power lets her know what Amy will say next, but she still pretends to be surprised. Whereupon Amy reveals that since they were in skin contact, her biological control powers make it obvious when Lisa is deceiving her. And ''then'' she realises that Lisa intuitively knew that too.

* ''Webcomic/SquidNinja'' shows how to deal with it rationally: Assume both choices are equally bad, and pick one based on ''other'' criteria.

* In ''LightNovel/TheIrregularAtMagicHighSchool'', this is the situation between the Shiba siblings. Tatsuya knows that Miyuki has unrequited incestuous feelings towards him, and she knows that he knows, but at this point they're too invested in their platonic relationship to risk it by facing the issue. [[spoiler:(Barring the occasions when Miyuki loses her patience and knocks him unconscious, after which they return to their usual deception...until it happens again.)]] Luckily, their upbringing as members of [[SecretPolice the Yotsuba family]] has amply prepared them for this sort of thing.

* In ''LightNovel/LogHorizon'', there's a fair amount of this going on when the Eastal Alliance approaches the Round Table Conference for help against the goblin armies. Eastal desperately needs the Adventurers' superior military abilities, but they don't want to appear vulnerable, lest they make themselves out to be weak. The Round Table Conference, meanwhile, wants to help but don't want to make it seem like they are subservient or inferior to Eastal, lest the Eastal nobility think they can order the Adventurers around whenever they want. And of course, each side of the discussion is aware of the other side's agenda, and the fact that the other side knows their agenda. What follows is a complex and delicate battle of VerbalJudo between the two powers as they try to be allies while saving face.

* The fourth volume in ''LightNovel/TheUnexploredSummonBloodSign'' ends with one of these. [[spoiler:Kyousuke wants to save hundreds of people whose lives are being maintained by a reactor, somewhere in the building. However, he first has to survive a fight with [[EldritchAbomination the White Queen]]. The White Queen wants to break his mind, which could be accomplished by killing said people. She stabs one of her swords into the floor and proposes that Kyousuke uses it, since it is the only means he has of putting up a fight against her. He refuses, suspecting it's a trap. But then the Queen reveals that stabbing the sword into the floor caused a chain reaction that destroyed the reactor keeping the people alive. She made the offer knowing full well that Kyousuke would reject it, so that he'd break under the realisation that his own decision condemned the people he'd been trying to save. [[ExaggeratedTrope Except Kyousuke then reveals he expected this]], as he knew the Queen would never give him any way out. He also reveals that he knew the building's designer had (due to personal preference) slightly changed the layout of the building from the optimum, so the Queen's attack had missed the reactor.]]

* Donald E. Westlake's ''The Spy in the Ointment'':

* The Bride says this at the end of ''Film/KillBill'':

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'' episode "Radio No You Don't," Bob is telling the story of how his grandmother Alice suspected a spy was living in her appartnemnt during World War II. When she noticed bird poop on her neighbor Mr. Miller's shoe, she knew he was on the roof sending radio signals, then she began to panic, but attempted to hide her ditress from Mr. Miller, acting oddly as a a result. The kids, who Bob is telling the story to, then begin engaging in this trope, wondering if Mr. Miller knows that Alice knows he is the spy.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'' episode "Radio No You Don't," Bob is telling the story of how his grandmother Alice suspected a spy was living in her appartnemnt during World War II. When she noticed bird poop on her neighbor Mr. Miller's shoe, she knew he was on the roof sending radio signals. The kids, who Bob is telling the story to, then begin engaging in this trope, wondering if Mr. Miller knows that Alice knows he is the spy.