Gumball and Darwin find an old board game of theirs then immediately throw it away... and when the rest of the family take it out of the trash to start a game, they see why.
Tropes:
- And I Must Scream: Anais is frozen in place through the results of picking up a "Dodj" card from the board game. Darwin, panicking, then makes his point of the dangers of the game by stating that if all the Wattersons were to get trapped by a "Dodj" in a similar fashion without finishing the game, they would remain stuck forever.
- Artifact of Doom: The game "Dodj or Daar" can warp reality for the players, such as causing a player to literally be unable to stand on the floor due to it being "lava", having two players do whatever the other's left arm is doing, or even causing the players to be unable to breathe until it ends.
- Beef Bandage: After trying to steal a kiss from a cop as part of his dare, Richard is shown in the next scene holding a steak up to his black eye.
- Borrowed Catch Phrase: Nicole finding the box for "Dodj or Daar" makes Darwin utter a "What the what?", something Gumball usually says.
- Bittersweet Ending: The Wattersons get freed from the game's control, but their house is still trashed due to the events of their game.
- Bowdlerise: Cartoon Network Arabia's version cuts the part where Richard moves in to kiss Donut Cop after dressing up like the culprit that Richard is describing to him, making the next scene of Richard with a steak over his black eye and handcuffs dangling from his wrists look like Donut Cop beat him up for no reason rather than as self-defense.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Richard upon reading the dare to eat 100 hot dogs within a minute.
- Carnivore Confusion: When Richard has to date a sheep for a dare:Richard: I'll have the lamb.
Sheep: Baah!
Richard: I mean the chicken!
(Richard notices the waiter is a chicken)
Richard: I mean the check! - Cerebus Retcon: This episode turns the homemade game Gumball and Darwin would sometimes be seen playing in season one into a deadly game akin to Jumanji.
- Changing Clothes Is a Free Action: Richard's first dare involves reporting a crime to an officer and describing the criminal's clothes, putting the piece of clothing he just mentioned on every time he goes off screen.Richard: He had a big furry mustache.
(Donut Cop looks down and makes a note, then back up, and Richard has a big furry mustache) - Continuity Nod:
- One of Gumball's ugly baby pictures from "The Treasure" is on the wall of Nicole's desk at the Rainbow Factory
- "Dodj or Daar" game was shown several times in the first season, although depicted in very different ways: Gumball and Darwin began to play it in "The Third", but gave up before explaining the rules. In "The Ape", Gumball and Darwin try to use it to teach Miss Simian about friendship, but it was shown as a normal board game (albeit with "Daar" cards centered on playing cruel jokes on Miss Simian). "The Car" starts when the game sends a stray bowling ball into the Robinson's yard, and while it seemed vaguely supernatural (time briefly froze so Darwin could point out Gumball couldn't use his hands), the rules were still different (the two different cards were drawn from the same deck, seemingly at random), it wasn't so malevolent (though a flashback showed that the last time they played "Dodj or Daar," the house was set on fire), and Gumball and Darwin were able to quit without consequence. For all the first season appearances, the board and card decks were also different than in this episode, and the name wasn't misspelled.
- Desperate Object Catch: When the boys realize that the family is about to start playing, they make a dramatic slow moton dive to stop Richard from throwing the dice. However, Richard does it anyway, in real time, and the boys just fall on the floor.
- Dog Got Sent to a Farm: Gumball uncovers the skeleton of the Wattersons' first family pet, Darwin I, under his bunk bed while cleaning it in the presence of Darwin and Nicole. A confused Darwin then recalls that Gumball and Nicole previously explained his disappearance by saying that he "went to live a happier life on a farm with other fishes."
- Drone of Dread: Before it's being played, Gumball and Darwin hear the game "calling" in the form of an earthshaking bass note.
- Everyone Chasing You: Darwin draws a dare to "run around in a meat suit", and we flash back to Gumball doing that dare in a previous game, being chased by all kinds of dogs then attacked by Richard, who suddenly grew fangs. Darwin decides to take a dodge.
- Failed Attempt at Drama: Gumball is trying to warn the rest of his family how dangerous the game really is but, due to a “Dodj” he took previously, he breaks out in song in the middle of it.
- Fictional Board Game: Gumball and Darwin invented a board game called "Dodj or Daar."
- Forced Transformation: Darwin draws a dodge card that can change his form, but it doesn't work on him.Darwin: Inverted mermaid!
(Beat)
Richard: Nothing happened.
Darwin: Well, I'm kind of that already. (points to self) Fish head; legs. - Furry Reminder: One of the dares Gumball passes on is to clean himself with his tongue. Cats are known for doing this, but both he and the rest of his family are disgusted by the idea of it.
- The Game Plays You: Dodge cards force you to follow their effects until the game ends.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Parodied when Darwin is hysterical and slaps Gumball for underreacting, causing him to yell every word as well.
- The Ground Is Lava: Anais takes a "Dodj" that turns the ground to lava, but only for her.
- Immediate Self-Contradiction: As the family start realize they can't live with the current dodges and start playing the game again:Gumball: We need maximum rolls every turn, which means no dodjes, no matter how bad the daars are. Agreed?
(Gumball rolls the dice and picks up a daar card)
Gumball: (looking at card) ... Dodj.
Anais: What happened to taking every daar?
Gumball: Do you really want to see me clean myself with my tongue?
Everyone but Gumball: Ew!
Darwin: Dodj! Dodj! Dodj! - Literal Metaphor: One dare card Nicole gets requires her to be a literal Backseat Driver, using two mops to turn the wheel and hit the pedals from the back seat.
- Morton's Fork: You can usually accept a dare or refuse and take a dodge card instead. Except one dare that Gumball draws is "take a dodge".
- Multiple Head Case: Nicole gets a “Dodj” saying, "You will doubt every thought you have" that manifests as an (imaginary) head on her temple that contradicts everything she says by repeating it back to her as a question beginning with "Or is/does/etc.".
- My Little Panzer: Quite a lot of the dodges and dares are extremely dangerous, potentially lethal, inevitably lethal ("No one is allowed to breathe until the game is over."), or even worse. One has to wonder what the hell Gumball and Darwin were thinking when they came up with some of these cards.
- No Ontological Inertia: Zig-Zagged. Ending the game gets rid of any active dodj effects the Watterson are under. Indirect effects however, including all the damage to the house, don't go anywhere.
- Prank Call: Nicole makes one under a dare, ordering a pizza with disgusting, hard to find ingredients and having it delivered to the restaurant she's ordering from.
- Properly Paranoid: Gumball and Darwin quake in absolute terror of Dodj or Daar, since they’re the ones that first played the game.
- Rules Lawyer: Anais is given a dare to wear everything in the house. Once she puts on all the clothes they have and Nicole sees that would move Anais ahead of her, she points out that it says everything not just clothes, forcing Anais to take a dodge and half the spaces. Anais complains, but Nicole just tells her she needs to learn to be a good loser.
- Screen Shake: Parodied with the "movie earthquake" dodge card, which makes you wave your hands without actually falling over.
- Source Music: One of the dodge cards Gumball gets is "Dramatic music will play until the end of the game."
- Spraying Drink from Nose: Gumball is taking a drink of soda when the game “calls” to them again, causing him to spray it out of his nose.
- Trash of the Titans: Dodj or Daar is found under Gumball's bed, along with a piece of pizza that sprouts legs and runs off, a ten year old glass of milk, and Darwin I's skeleton.Nicole: What is this?
(Nicole holds up a glass filled with something white)
Gumball: Oh, that's a glass of milk.
(Nicole turns the glass upside down as the solid contents start to slide out)
Gumball: Cheese. That's a glass of cheese.
(Contents of the glass slide out, smash through the floor, and hit Richard on the head)
Gumball: Stone. That's a glass of stone. - Unishment: Richard reaction to his second dare:Richard: 'Eat 100 hot dogs in under a minute.' That's not a dare, that's Tuesday!
...
Darwin: Oh dude, he's drinking the brine! - Your Mind Makes It Real: It's implied the game only affects the players mentally. Nicole grows a head that doubts everything she says, which no one else can see, and asks if it's real. Darwin says it's as real as she believes it is. When the family can no longer breathe until the game ends, her doubting head suffocates right away.
