Basic Trope: A competition has a fantastic prize...that turns out to be horrific.
- Straight: Bob wins a competition for the mightiest warrior in the land...and his prize is to have his consciousness swapped with Emperor Evulz' so the emperor can have his youth and skills.
- Exaggerated: Bob wins the title of mightiest warrior, and his prize is to get body-swapped with Emperor Evulz. Alice gets declared the smartest in the land, and the competition leaders promptly sentence her to be executed to prevent her from upsetting the status quo. Charlie wins a lottery, and it turns out it's a Lottery of Doom to choose who the dragon outside the walls will eat today. Dracone earns the title of best smith in the country, and he gets enslaved to make armor and weapons for Emperor Evulz. Eva passes a Secret Test of Character, and it turns out the local sorcerer wants just such a person to complete his latest spell.
- Downplayed: Bob wins a competition for mightiest warrior in the village. He is forced to accept a post as the local captain of the guards, whether he wants to or not.
- Justified:
- The contest maker designed it to reveal and eliminate competition.
- Someone Has to Die, and the people have decided to use a random means to choose who.
- Now that you have the title Mightiest Warrior everyone wants to challenge you for it.
- Inverted: Emperor Evulz has a number of subjects perform a task with arbitrary restrictions. Bob is the only who actually works within those restrictions, and is unable to complete the task. Evulz rewards Bob, as the real objective of the test was to find a subject that does as they are told without question.
- Subverted: Bob wins a competition for the mightiest warrior in the land. Emperor Evulz smirks as he walks up to the booth to request his prize...and Emperor Evulz gives him three bags of gold.
- Double Subverted: The bags of gold are enchanted to attract dragons and bandits.
- Zigzagged: Emperor Evulz establishes the tournament while secretly plotting to steal the body of the winner. However, watching Bob cut through the competition, he changes his mind, instead offering Bob a position working for him. He then sends him on various dangerous missions — ones that could easily end in Bob's demise — and with every success, continues debating with himself about whether or not he should return to his original body-stealing plan, or if Bob is more useful to him this way.
- Parodied: ???
- Averted: Bob wins a competition for the mightiest warrior in the land. His prize is three bags of gold.
- Enforced: ???
- Lampshaded:Bob: Always be sure what the prize is before you accept it.
- Invoked: Emperor Evulz' advisor suggests creating a contest to find a suitable body transplant so that the warriors will come and fight their best willingly.
- Exploited: Bob expects Emperor Evulz to have evil designs upon the winner, and enters the competition hoping to get close enough to strike him down when he least expects it.
- Defied: ???
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
Back to Doom as Test Prize — you win an all-expenses-paid trip to scenic Lovecraft Country!
