History Main / TripTrap

* In''The Incredible WesternAnimation/DennisTheMenace'' episode, "Hospitality", Dennis is sent to the hospital for a [[TheTonsillitisEpisode tonsillectomy]], but since he is afraid of getting an operation, he sets up this kind of trap in his hospital room so the surgeons can't sneak up on him and operate on him when he least expects it. When Mr. Wilson comes to Dennis' hospital room to drop off a tin of ice cream that his wife made for Dennis, he trips on Dennis' trap and falls down the stairs, injuring his leg and getting himself hospitalized as a result. To make matters worse for Mr. Wilson, he has to share a hospital room with Dennis.

* LightNovel/GoblinSlayer does this to a hobgoblin during the cave battle in the first arc, using Priestess's Holy Light spell to blind it so that it won't see the rope, just before plunging the late Warrior's longsword into it on the ground to finish it off.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* ''Series/DoctorWho''. The Fourth Doctor does this with his famous scarf in "The Hand of Fear". Eldrad comes charging after the Doctor and Sarah Jane, fails to see a thick multicolored scarf stretched across his path and stumbles into a BottomlessPit.

* ''Film/AQuietPlacePartII'': Evelyn stumbles upon a trip wire set up to rattle glass bottles. Knowing the noise will attract the monsters, she has one word to the kids: "''[[DontAskJustRun Run]]''"

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'', Bernard and Bianca stretch a rope across the door sill which makes [[BigBad Madame Medusa]] trip as she backs out of the room, as seen in the page image.

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Hypnota sets of a tripwire on an iced-over lake as a death trap, and when Diana trips over it she's sent through the thin ice.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'', Bernard and Bianca stretch a rope across the door sill which makes [[BigBad Madame Medusa]] trip as she backs out of the room.

Compare BoobyTrap where a rope is used to trigger some kind of deadly mechanism. See HobblingTheGiant when a giant character is being incapacitated by restricting their movement. Also see BananaPeel, SlipperySkid, HobblingTheGiant and PullingTheRugOut for other ways to topple an opponent.

* In the ''The Incredible WesternAnimation/DennisTheMenace'' episode, "Hospitality", Dennis is sent to the hospital for a [[TheTonsillitisEpisode tonsillectomy]], but since he is afraid of getting an operation, he sets up this kind of trap in his hospital room so the surgeons can't sneak up on him and operate on him when he least expects it. When Mr. Wilson comes to Dennis' hospital room to drop off a tin of ice cream that his wife made for Dennis, he trips on Dennis' trap and falls down the stairs, injuring his leg and getting himself hospitalized as a result. To make matters worse for Mr. Wilson, he has to share a hospital room with Dennis.

* ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'':

-->'''Hatsuharu''': (''addressing the audience'') By the way, what I just did was extremely dangerous, and had this been anyone other than Kyo they would've been seriously hurt, so DontTryThisAtHome.
-->'''Kyo''': ''DON'T TRY IT HERE!'' [[AudienceWhatAudience Who are you even talking to?!]]

[[folder:Asian Animation]]
* One episode of ''Animation/{{Lamput}}'' has Lamput stretch himself into a shape similar to a rope or tripwire to make Fat Doc trip.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Fanfic]]

* In ''Film/HomeAlone'', Kevin makes one of the invaders trip over a rope taut across the upper corridor.

* The Creator/HowardHawks classic Western ''Film/RioBravo'' uses this to take down [[Creator/JohnWayne Sheriff John T. Chance]] to set up the final act. As the Mook who sets it tells Chance, once the latter recovers consciousness, the only reason it's NOT a DeathTrap is because the BigBad has [[VillainBall given orders]] not to [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim gun down the lawman where he lay.]] Yes, [[spoiler: the villain comes to regret this.]]

* Famously used by the Ewoks in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' to take down Imperial [=AT-STs=].

* ''Series/DoctorWho''. The Fourth Doctor does this with his famous scarf in "The Hand of Fear". Eldrad comes charging after the Doctor and Sarah Jane, fails to see a thick multicolored scarf stretched across his path and stumbles into a BottomlessPit.

* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'': Greg does this prank on Rowley's dad in several books, tripping him with a wire while he's walking home. He doesn't understand why Rowley's dad doesn't find it funny.
* In the ''[[Literature/ProtectoroftheSmall Protector of the Small]]'' book ''Squire'', Kel sets one of these.

* The Franchise/ScoobyDoo gang uses this to capture the faux ghost in Jefferson Stillwall's attic in "Haunted House Hang-Up." Fred and Shaggy get the ghost (who turns out to be Stillwall's greedy neighbor Asha Shanks) to chase him out the front door while Daphne and Velma use a rope to trip him up.
** The gang tries this in "Hassle In The Castle" to catch the phantom of the episode in one of [[RubeGoldbergHatesYourGuts Fred's traps]], but they wind up catching Scooby in it instead.

* This is a very common trigger for explosive booby traps and has been used extensively by insurgents and terrorist groups during the Iraq War.
** Fortunately, in 1993, SFC David B. Chandler found an interesting way to find tripwires without setting them off. The solution? ''Silly-String.''
* Interestingly, tripwires have been used for non-violent purposes as killswitches in industrial settings. Particularly in those involving conveyer belts.

A sneaky way of making your opponent lose their balance and fall is to stretch a cord across their path and wait until they run into it. Usually the cord is placed at a low angle to prevent the trap from being discovered.