History Main / DuelsDecideEverything

'''Yami:''' Strange, that usually works.

*** Played with in the [[{{Filler}} Virtual World arc]]. The Big Five challenge the main characters to duels, with the stipulation that if they win they will take over the loser's body. After being defeated the try to do so by force (making the duels completely pointless), only to be stopped by Noah (twice). Turns out ''Noah'' is the one who thinks that duels decide everything, but it isn't entirely clear ''why''. Noah himself also uses a combination of trickery and force to ultimately take over Mokuba's body, his duel with Kaiba was more about a vendetta than anything else. Presumably he wanted to humiliate Kaiba by defeating him in a children's card game, and ''then'' take over a body.

* While the story plays this trope straight a few chapters later, the four-series ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' crossover fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7604018/1/YuGiOh-4D-Love-Surpassing-Time Yu-Gi-Oh! 4D Love Surpassing Time]]'' subverts it briefly in Chapter 3: Zaman tricks Yuma into accepting a Duel, then speeds himself up, knocks Yuma down, and kidnaps Kotori without following through with the challenge.

* ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' is the TropeCodifier where all villains are defeated through playing a trading card game known as Duel Monsters. While the card games are made very surreal through holographic technology, at the end of the day the majority of battles can be boiled down to two people laying down pieces of paper on a fancy wrist-mounted game interface. Some justification is given over the seriousness of it when TheGameComeToLife, and losing said games can equal death. Especially when more supernatural elements from villains are thrown in with the cards.

** In the very first episode of ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'', Yusei tries to distract the police while his friends get to safety. One of the officers, who just so happens to be a duelist, challenges Yusei to a Riding Duel, and if Yusei wins, he gets to go free, despite being accused of having stolen a computer chip for his D-Wheel. And ultimately, in the big, climactic battle between Yusei and Z-ONE, the fate of Neo Domino City comes down to a Card Game on Flying Motorcycles! The whole thing is partially justified because in Riding Duels, the Duel Runners are forced into autopilot, which means that their direction and speed are both liited.

*** In the final arc, [[spoiler:the Professor]] clarifies that convetional weapons do not work on [[HardLight Real Solid Vision]], which is why Academia uses duelling instead of weapons to beat and then card people.

* ''[[Franchise/YuGiOh Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' is the TropeCodifier where all villains are defeated through playing a trading card game known as Duel Monsters. While the card games are made very surreal through holographic technology, at the end of the day the majority of battles can be boiled down to two people laying down pieces of paper on a fancy wrist-mounted game interface. Some justification is given over the seriousness of it when TheGameComeToLife, and losing said games can equal death. Especially when more supernatural elements from villains are thrown in with the cards.
** Averted in "Dawn of the Duel" where ancient Egyptians didn't play with trading cards but summoned ''real'' monsters that were powered by their own life forces. The consequences are also very real as the monsters can attack civilians and destruction of a monster can result in the master's death.
** Subverted at one point in the Duelist Kingdom arc. Yugi challenges Saruwatari/[[DubNameChange Kemo]] to a duel over the fate of Mokuba, Kemo agrees and has Ventriloquist (or Kaiba's dark side in the dub) serve as his proxy. Yugi eventually wins... and sees that [[ILied Kemo took Mokuba back to his cell some time during the duel]]. Pegasus wasn't going to risk his leverage over Kaiba in a duel after all.
** Played with in the Virtual World arc. The Big Five challenge the main characters to duels, with the stipulation that if they win they will take over the loser's body. After being defeated the try to do so by force (making the duels completely pointless), only to be stopped by Noah (twice). Turns out ''Noah'' is the one who thinks that duels decide everything, but it isn't entirely clear ''why''. Noah himself also uses a combination of trickery and force to ultimately take over Mokuba's body, his duel with Kaiba was more about a vendetta than anything else. Presumably he wanted to humiliate Kaiba by defeating him in a children's card game, and ''then'' take over a body.
** In the [[Anime/YuGiOhBondsBeyondTime anniversary movie]], the villain Paradox tries to go back in time to prevent the spread of [[Anime/YuGiOh Duel Monsters]] by killing Pegasus... and he willingly stakes his mission on the outcome of a duel with Yugi, Jaden/Judai and Yusei. So basically, he tried to stop Duel Monsters... using Duel Monsters? [[MeaningfulName Huh. No wonder he's named "Paradox".]]
** Ironically enough, the [[Manga/YuGiOh original manga series]] and [[Anime/YuGiOhFirstAnimeSeries Toei series]] are a bit different, though still following the trope. [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Dark Yugi]] has demonic powers which he can use to punish anyone he defeats in any game of luck or skill. Even when he stops using these powers after a load of CharacterDevelopment, the ''villains'' frequently have those same powers.
** In ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', one episode has Jaden/Judai agree to duel a guy with the stakes being that whoever wins becomes Alexis/Asuka's fiancée. She did not agree to those stakes and [[IdiotHero our idiot hero]] ''doesn't even know what "fiancée" means'', but the duel ends up happening anyway because he can't turn down a challenge.
** In Season 2, Jaden/Judai tries challenging the season's villain from taking over the world. But he's already specifically ensured that his evil plan doesn't require him to duel our hero at any point. When Jaden/Judai challenges him to a duel for the fate of the world, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome he declines, because he has everything he needs]]. He does eventually duel anyway, but only because unexpected circumstances force him into it.
** In the very first episode of ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'', Yusei tries to distract the police while his friends get to safety. One of the officers, who just so happens to be a duelist, challenges Yusei to a Riding Duel, and if Yusei wins, he gets to go free, despite being accused of having stolen a computer chip for his D-Wheel. And ultimately, in the big, climactic battle between Yusei and Z-ONE, the fate of Neo Domino City comes down to a Card Game on Flying Motorcycles!
** In ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'', the main and supporting characters act more realistically and avert this trope for the first time, though it still pops up on some occasions. The Security of the Synchro Dimension are based on ''5D's'' Security, but there are some differences. Notably, the Duel Chasers can challenge the criminals in a Riding Duel and if they win, they will arrest them. If they lose, however... [[AvertedTrope their D-Wheels will just stop, but other Security officiers will still try to arrest the criminals, no matter what]]. [[BreadAndCircuses The only reason they duel the criminals in the first place is to give the Tops, who are the richest people of City, a good show to entertain them]]. [[spoiler: And when it's clear that they can't capture someone by dueling, they instead detain said persons through ''sheer force and numbers alone'', and ''don't'' [[DefiedTrope even give the duelist a chance to duel and fight back.]]]]
** Just because the card game has magical properties doesn't mean a duel is always needed. When [[spoiler: the Lancers are escaping prison]], they use duel monsters to do things like barricade doors, catch them from falling, and distract opponents instead of challenging anyone to a duel.

Trials of Position are 1v3 (or 2v6), but the attackers can engage the defenders one at a time. Trials of Grievance are almost always 1v1. Trials of Possession are more like actual combat, but even in battles, Clanners tend to orchestrate combat as a sequence of duels (attacking someone who's fighting someone else on your own side is generally frowned upon). And the odds in a Trial of Refusal are determined by the margin of victory for the vote being refused (so if it was 80% of the vote against you, you have to go 1v4), though given that a victory through overwhelming force is generally considered to show that the victor isn't a particularly skilled warrior (because why would he need to resort to such odds otherwise), the winning side of the vote will typically choose to fight with less than the maximum allowed force unless they really hate their opponent and want to utterly crush them.

** Subverted at one point in the Duelist Kingdom arc. Yugi challenges Saruwatari/[[DubNameChange Kemo]] to a duel over the fate of Mokuba, Kemo agrees and has Ventriloquist (or Kaiba's dark side in the dub) serve as his proxy. Yugi eventually wins...and sees that [[ILied Kemo took Mokuba back to his cell some time during the duel]]. Pegasus wasn't going to risk his leverage over Kaiba in a duel after all.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': When the Ruby Squad comes to Earth to find the leader of the Earth mission, Steven prevents them from going into the barn hiding Peridot (as he thinks they are looking for her) by making up a rule that says that they can only go into the barn if they win a game of baseball, and if they lose they have to leave Earth forever. The Rubies (including Crystal Gem Ruby, pretending to have been with them all along to sabotage them) play against the team of humans (really just the Crystal Gems poorly disguised as humans); this mainly works because the Rubies are all SuperGullible. The "human" team manages to win...and then Sapphire fuses with Ruby as she's running back to home base, thus exposing them all as Gems.

* ''ComicBook/{{Transformers}}'':

* The 1998 MadeForTVMovie ''[=FutureSport=]'', where the title game was invented as a substitution for gang violence and ends up being used to avoid a war.

* Played with in ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': While the {{Mons}} can legitimately harm and cause destruction, very often the heroes and villains will agree to just stand there and let their partners have the equivalent of a cockfight which will spell the loser's defeat.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[Webcomic/SuperEffective "GO ZUBAT!"]][[note]][[https://www.vgcats.com/super/?strip_id=57 "He's level ELEVEN!"]][[/note]]]]

* In ''VideoGame/MortalKombat1'', Outworld is only allowed to invade Earthrealm after winning ten consecutive Mortal Kombat tournaments, due to an arbitration system set up by the Elder Gods. This breaks down in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat3'' due to LoopholeAbuse by Shao Kahn, and this aspect of the Mortal Kombat tournaments was abandoned or {{downplayed}} in future installments because the rules about who can invade where have become largely unenforceable.

* This has occasionally occurred in real life, where combat between two champions has been used to reach a decision in a dispute. A legal example are judicial duels, which were not always [[DuelToTheDeath to the death]]. The original rationale behind duels was to contain possibly huge family feuds into more manageable one-on-one battles that would settle the issue(s). Well, at least before dueling [[HonorBeforeReason took on a life of its own]].

* While the story plays this trope straight a few chapters later, the four-series Yu-Gi-Oh! crossover fanfic [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7604018/1/YuGiOh-4D-Love-Surpassing-Time Yu-Gi-Oh! 4D Love Surpassing Time]] subverts it briefly in Chapter 3: Zaman tricks Yuma into accepting a Duel, then speeds himself up, knocks Yuma down, and kidnaps Kotori without following through with the challenge.

* In the LOGBOX level of ''[[VideoGame/BanjoKazooie Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts]]'', Gruntilda is about to implement a plan that will cause the whole console to have to be shut down. However, she tells our heroes that she will cancel the whole thing if they just beat her in a race.

* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'':

** Occasionally, such as in some storylines for ''Phantasmagoria of Flower View'', the battles -- and protagonist -- don't really decide anything, and the battles only serve to place the player where and when the storyline resolves itself. Losing battles then just means you don't get to see it happen.

* Used in ''WebComic/HarkAVagrant'' strip [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=349 "Famous Alexanders"]]:

* ''LightNovel/NoGameNoLife'': In the world of Disboard, EVERYTHING is decided by games. It can be any game, and the person who gets challenged gets to choose which game. {{Justified|Trope}} by saying that the gods had a war, a horribly bloody conflict between their subjects to decide who is TopGod that nearly left the world lifeless, [[WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing leaving as the winner the only one who stayed out of it]] - the God of Games. He set up the MagicallyBindingContract game system to decide everything so as to prevent violent conflict. The resulting RPGMechanicsVerse is of course perfect for [[GodlikeGamer game prodigies]] Sora and Shiro who quickly ascend to the greatest players in the world.

* On at least four occasions in "Series/TheGenius", players have either won or lost the competition based on the results of a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors.
* ''Series/BlakesSeven''. The episode "Death-Watch" involves two planets who have a tradition of using a [[CombatByChampion gunfight duel between two champions]] as a substitute for war and other conflicts. When Tarrant's brother gets killed in a rigged contest, Tarrant uses this tradition to challenge the winner in blood feud and avert a real war.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''VideoGame/FridayNightFunkin'' (as well as the vast majority of its [[GameMod modifications]]) {{Exaggerate|dTrope}}s this due to its RhythmGame setup. An OverprotectiveDad refusing to let you date his daughter? Soldiers and assassins coming after your head? A LaughablyEvil HumanoidAbomination wants to eat you alive? [[HauntedTechnology An evil spirit trapped within a video game]] wants to [[GrandTheftMe steal your body]] and escape into the real world? The answer is always the same: [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer beat them in a rap battle]].

* Whilst guns and such DO make the occasional appearance, most of the problems in ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious'' series are solved by car racing... somehow.

If what's at stake is the hand of a (presumed-to-be) NeutralFemale, this becomes a kind of CockFight.

* ''LightNovel/NoGameNoLife''. Meta-example: EVERYTHING in No Game, No Life is decided by games. It can be any game, and the person who gets challenged gets to choose which game. {{Justified|Trope}} by saying that the gods had a war, a horribly bloody conflict between their subjects to decide who is TopGod that nearly left the world lifeless, [[WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing leaving as the winner the only one who stayed out of it]] - the God of Games. He set up the MagicallyBindingContract game system to decide everything so as to prevent violent conflict. The resulting RPGMechanicsVerse is of course perfect for [[GodlikeGamer game prodigies]] Sora and Shiro who quickly ascend to the greatest players in the world.

** In ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'', the main and supporting characters act more realistically and avert this trope for the first time, though it still pops up on some occasions. The Security of the Synchro Dimension are based on ''5D's'' Security, but there are some differences. Notably, the Duel Chasers can challenge the criminals in a Riding Duel and if they win, they will arrest them. If they lose, however... [[AvertedTrope their D-Wheels will just stop, but the Security will still try to arrest the criminals, no matter what]]. [[BreadAndCircuses The only reason they duel the criminals in the first place is to give the Tops, who are the richest people of City, a good show to entertain them]]. [[spoiler: And when it's clear that they can't capture someone by dueling, they instead detain said persons through ''sheer force and numbers alone'', and ''don't'' [[DefiedTrope even give the duelist a chance to duel and fight back.]]]]

** In theory, this would at least have the benefit of proving which one of them was a better fighter and combat tactician, which is a pretty important qualification for the leader of a fighting unit. In practice, all it demonstrated was the Storm had the WriterOnBoard, since- while both were established badasses- only one could defeat an opponent just by looking at them. (Indeed, it was eventually retconned that Cyclops's wife psychically threw the fight.)

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': When the Ruby Squad comes to Earth to find the leader of the Earth mission, Steven prevents them from going into the barn hiding Peridot (as he thinks they are looking for her) by making up a rule that says that they can only go into the barn if they win a game of baseball, and if they lose they have to leave Earth forever. The Rubies (including Crystal Gem Ruby, pretending to have been with them all along to sabotage them) play against the team of humans (really just the Crystal Gems poorly disguised as humans). The "human" team manages to win...and then Sapphire fuses with Ruby as she's running back to home base, thus exposing them all as Gems.

* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamTheWitchFromMercury'': At the Asticassia School of Technology, it's written in the school rules that anything can be decided with a duel, whether it be for honor, material gain, or even the rights to marriage. What isn't written in the rules is that these duels don't need to be fair. Asticassia is where the children of high-ranking corporate executives go to school, and they're expected to use every resource at their disposal to win. The fact that some people pilot personalized {{Ace Custom}}s against stock school models is already stacking the deck, but dirty tricks like rigging an arena's fire sprinklers to go off to interfere with your opponent's weapons systems are considered fair game, or getting a top-of-the-line AI-equipped mech shipped in courtesy of your father to win the duel for you.

* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamTheWitchFromMercury'': At the Asticassia School of Technology, it's written in the school rules that anything can be decided with a duel, whether it be for honor, material gain, or even the rights to marriage.