The playground becomes obsessed with a tile game called Ajimbo.
Tropes:
- Big "NO!": Digger Dave cries this out when he loses all but three of his pieces.
- Big Word Shout: The game is declared won by someone shouting "AJIMBO!"
- Book Ends: The Blue Heron is the first game piece that the gang finds and is the last one to survive.
- Calvinball: Gretchen even points out how inconsistent the rules of Ajimbo are. The basic gameplay seems to be that you create a food chain with the tiles that you have, connecting animals. An Ajimbo is when the chain is complete, and you collect the losers' tiles. The thing is that any animal it seems can make that completion that befuddles Gretchen to no end.
- Didn't See That Coming: When Spinelli takes an interest in the game, Mikey shows her one of his pieces. Then she puts it down and instantly wins the game.
- Dwindling Party: One by one, the gang is sucked into the game, until TJ is the only one left.
- Expy: Ajimbo serves as a thinly-veiled parody of the Pokémon craze of the late 90s.
- Here We Go Again!: At the end of the episode, the gang throws away the last game piece (the very same one from the beginning), which is then found by two boys from another school who decide to buy more pieces.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: TJ says that at least the gang is the only one who doesn't get addicted to the game, and then Gus shouts "Ajimbo" offscreen.
- "Join Us" Drone: Nearly the entire school body's addiction to Ajimbo culminates in the children trying to "convert" TJ to play the game in zombie-like fashion.
- Kill It with Fire: The kids throw the game pieces into the school's incinerator once they snap out of their stupor.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The Ajimbo game is treated as a bit of a Monkey's Paw, with how it goes viral very quickly. At the same time, as TJ points out at the beginning of the episode, it's just a game made of cardboard pieces. Indeed, it's other people seeing how their personalities lend to the gameplay that gets them addicted. Though towards the end, when it's believed all the Ajimbo pieces were destroyed, one last piece (the Blue Heron) is mysteriously in one of the kid's pockets, much to their bafflement and horror.
- Pet the Dog: Gus offers TJ some of his extra pieces as a starter.
- Spanner in the Works: While the older kids of the school were getting hooked on playing Ajimbo, the kindergarteners found they had the kickballs all to themselves. Later, when TJ finds himself surrounded by kids addicted to Ajimbo about to 'convert' him, Chief Stinky and his tribe accidentally kick a kickball their way, gradually breaking the spell the card game previously had over the kids.
- Taken During the Ending: After everyone breaks out of the game's "spell" and all the game pieces are thrown in the incinerator, Gus finds one last game piece in his pocket. After T.J. throws the last piece over the fence, the game piece is found by two kids from another school who picks it up and are inspired to buy more game pieces.
- This Cannot Be!: Gretchen attempts to apply a mathematical approach to the game, but still loses to Cornchip Girl.
- Vocal Evolution: From this episode onward, TJ is voiced by Andy Lawrence.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: TJ says this to Gretchen as she plays Ajimbo.
