History Main / GhostLegLottery

In some VideoGames, the Ghost Leg plays out like the lottery: the player can only select one starting point, and only one of the paths is revealed to be the correct one while all others lead to a dead end or some other punishment. Other times, the Ghost Leg is a puzzle: the entire board is shown, and the player must choose a winning path or take actions based on the movement of an entity on the board.

** In ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam'', a horizontal version is used as a puzzle in Mt. Pajamaja. Mario and Luigi use blocks that turn the bars of a corresponding color, to determine a path to a prize. Playing this for the first time is required to unlock the way to some of the [[CollectionSiderquest Pi'illos]] in that location.

* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand2SixGoldenCoins'', one of two bonus games is an Amidakuji where you pick one of four fuses to trigger, and a spark will run down the wires and reach an item. Complicating the setup are two rats who land on and chew two horizontal lines, causing the spark to skip that line.
** The original ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand'' has a bonus game that is also of this format, in which both Mario and the connecting line are moved around rapidly until the player stops them.

* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDXhELRIUuk BoSpider]] in ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' (and its remake ''Maverick Hunter X'') descends in this pattern during your battle against it, and can only be damaged in a short window right after it reaches the ground. You have to quickly read its randomly-generated path and evade it while getting in position to shoot it.
* "Mario's Slides", a minigame in ''[[VideoGame/SuperMario64 Super Mario 64 DS]]'' and ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'', has you drawing the horizontal lines as a face of Mario descends towards the Power Star. The game ends when Mario gets bitten by the Piranha Plants. Things get tricky fast when you have to last several rounds without clearing the board. The latter game also has a 1v1 variant where Mario travels back and forth between players.

* In ''VideoGame/PaperMarioColorSplash'', Prize Pipe Paths - the minigame that plays when a Spinning Door is colored yellow - is this: the player is shown prizes of varying worth on top of five different pipes. The camera then quickly descends, showing the different branching paths, and the player has to chose a single pipe to enter.

* The final boss of the Gate of Wisdom in the first ''VideoGame/DragonQuestMonsters'' is Skydragon, and his boss arena resembles a Ghost Leg Lottery. Both your position and the Skydragon's are visible at all times, but Skydragon's starting position will change based on which legs you choose. The arena is a reference to Fifer's Spire in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestII'', the fifth floor of said dungeon using a similar layout.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'': Trinity Avowed, one of the bosses of Delubrum Reginae, has a recurring mechanic where she messes with your body temperature, forcing you to deliberately take hits from the right avoidable attacks to neutralize yourself and avoid [[OneHitKill instant death]]. One variant of this mechanic herds the raid into a small strip at the end of the arena, then launches variously-temperatured arrows down a ghost leg path, and the players need to quickly figure out where to stand to get hit by the right arrows.

* In ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'', Mizuki uses the ghost leg to select students' roles for a school play.

* In ''VideoGame/PaperMarioColorSplash, Prize Pipe Paths - the minigame that plays when a Spinning Door is colored yellow - is this: the player is shown prizes of varying worth on top of five different pipes. The camera then quickly descends, showing the different branching paths, and the player has to chose a single pipe to enter.

In some video games, the Ghost Leg plays out like the lottery: the player can only select one starting point, and only one of the paths is revealed to be the correct one while all others lead to a dead end or some other punishment. Other times, the Ghost Leg is a puzzle: the entire board is shown, and the player must choose a winning path or take actions based on the movement of an entity on the board.

* ''Anime/DualParallelTroubleAdventure'': When one of the female leads has to run an errand in the middle of the night, the protagonist Kazuki offers to walk with her for her safety. The other three girls in his UnwantedHarem then demand to go, but one of them will need to stay and watch over the home. In a BlinkAndYouMissIt shot, a [[CryCute sobbing Yayoi]] is shown holding a finished Amidakuji page, where her name is chosen.

* One of the 1V3 minigames in the first ''VideoGame/MarioParty'' game, by the name of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lqo16GvcMw Pipe Maze]], is essentially a Ghost Leg lottery. Here, the screen quickly scrolls up from the player characters at the bottom, briefly showing the turns in the pipes until the treasure chest is revealed at the top. The 1 player of the 1V3 must quickly determine which path leads to them, and select the pipe that would ultimately drop the treasure chest and its coin bounty to them. However, if they select any of the wrong pipes, then one of the other three players wins coins.

* One of the 1V3 minigames in the first ''VideoGame/MarioParty'' game, by the name of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lqo16GvcMw Pipe Maze]], is essentially a Ghost Leg lottery. Here, the screen quickly scrolls up from the player characters at the bottom, briefly showing the turns in the pipes until the treasure chest is revealed at the top. The 1 player of the 1V3 must quickly determine which path leads to them, and select the pipe that would ultimately drop the treasure chest and its coin bounty to them. However, if they select any of the wrong pipes, then the other three players win coins.

* The mandatory New Year minigame in ''VideoGame/PawapokeDash'' displays a group of fortune-telling results atop a bunch of tall poles and then the screen quickly scrolls aaaaall the way to the bottom, where you must make your decision. What makes it even harder to judge is a bunch of monkey's set up over the path which will block or crap on the protagonist, which also causes him to swap paths.

* ''Anime/DualParallelTroubleAdventure'': When one of the female leads has to run an errand in the middle of the night, the protagonist Natsuo offers to walk with her for her safety. The other three girls in his UnwantedHarem then demand to go, one of them will need to stay and watch over the home. In a BlinkAndYouMissIt shot, a [[CryCute sobbing Yayoi]] is shown holding a finished Amidakuji page, where her name is chosen.

* A minigame in ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'' has you drawing the horizontal lines as a face of Mario descends. Things get tricky fast when you have to last several rounds without clearing the board.

* One time in ''Manga/CromartieHighSchool'', Class 1-2 is riding a train and there's a furious line of studens waiting to enter the toilet. "Protagonist" Kamiyama leaves the toilet and figures he's the only one with a cool head and no biases to decide who gets to go next. So he puts everyone's names on a ghost leg... gets ''his own'' as a result and nonchallantly enters the toilet again.
* In Round V of the ''Manga/LiarGame'' tournament, the remaining contestants' player numbers are determined by having them draw legs on a ghost leg screen and then choose a start point.

* The mandatory New Year minigame in ''VideoGame/PawapokeDash'' displays a group of furtune-telling results atop a bunch of tall poles and then the screen quickly scrolls aaaaall the way to the bottom, where you must make your decision. What makes it even harder to judge is a bunch of monkey's set up over the path which will block or crap on the protagonist, which also causes him to swap paths.

[[AC:Anime and Manga]]

[[AC:Light Novels]]

-->''Even if you stop his crazy plans, he'll switch to some alternative scheme, then back to the original plan. Terrible guy. It's like a game of Amidakuji - he goes to a different line for a bit, but he ends up right back on the track where he started.''
* In Episode 10 of ''VisualNovel/MagicKyunRenaissance'', the characters use a ghost leg lottery to assign rooms at the beach villa.

[[AC:Video Games]]

* ''Anime/DualParallelTroubleAdventure'': When one of the female leads has to run an errand in the middle of the night, the protagonist Natsuo offers to walk with her for her safety. The other three girls in his UnwantedHarem then demand to go, one of them will need to stay and watch over the home. In a BlinkAndYoullMissIt shot, a [[CryCute sobbing Yayoi]] is shown holding a finished Amidakuji page, where her name is chosen.

** In ''[=WarioWare=]: D.I.Y.'', one of the goals of a wire microgame is to choose one of three buttons that will lead to the dancing man.