History Sandbox / DraftYourLuck

In most cases, in a form of DiminishingReturnsForBalance, each successful "roll" increases the likelihood that the next one will make you bust. Games that don't have it tend to make the probability of busting constantly high (e.g. "Roll a [[UsefulNotes/{{Dice}} d6]] as many times as you want. You bust if you get a number below 5") or {{cap}} the number of rolls you can get.

[[folder:Card Games -- Other]]

* TabletopGame/{{LLAMA}}: Quit the round and score the cards in your hand now, or draw another card (hoping that you'll be able to get rid of more points later in the round).

* TabletopGame/LLAMA: Quit the round and score the cards in your hand now, or draw another card (hoping that you'll be able to get rid of more points later in the round).

* ''TabletopGame/CosmicWimpout'': Bank your current score, or roll again hoping to roll dice that will improve your score. You lose it all if you don't score anything with your rerolled dice.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Farkle}}'': Bank your current score, or roll again hoping to roll dice that will improve your score. You lose it all if you don't score anything with your rerolled dice.

[[teal:Maths: I was inspired to write this after seeing that TabletopGame/{{Blackjack}}, a classic example of this, needs tropes. I'll continue to experiment with the new folderization. This feels like it's almost ready for the TLP. What do other people think?]]
[[cinnamon:Nona Looking good to me!]]

When done well, this creates a lot of tension when deciding if you want to stop. However, games also tend to take steps to keep busting from being ''too'' frustrating -- those are not just AntiFrustrationFeatures, but also help nudge players towards taking risks instead of playing it too safe. This is why many games only take away part of your gains instead of everything. Games where you do lose it all tend to be short, or make each individual push-your-luck instance less impactful so you aren't completely screwed if you get unlucky or make a single bad call. Some games also feature {{Luck Manipulation Mechanic}}s.

[[folder:Collectible Card Games]]

[[folder:Traditional Card Games]]

[[folder:Other Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/{{Abyss}}'': The ''Kraken'' expansion adds the "Sanctuary" locations. Their value is determined by a small push-your-luck game: you draw cards from the loot deck that can give Influence Points and other bonuses. You can stop at any time. If you get two copies of a card, both are discarded, which loses you their points, but not their other bonuses.

* ''TabletopGame/LivingForest'' is a DeckbuildingGame that uses push-your-luck to determine how many cards you'll draw per turn: you keep drawing resource-providing Guardian Animals until you either decide to stop or you "bust" by reaching a net three solitary animals (a gregarious animal cancels out one solitary animal). If you bust, you lose one of your actions for that turn. There's a LuckManipulationMechanic in the fragments, which can discard any animal and cancel all its effects for that turn. This can undo a bust. The titular creatures in the ''Kodama'' expansion were designed as an incentive to push your luck -- one kodama card is useless, but after that point the benefits get better and better the more you draw.

* In ''[[TabletopGame/TheQuacksOfQuedlinburg The Quacks of Quedlinburg]]'', you draw chips from your bags and add them to your pot. Adding more ingredients tends to increase how much your potion will be worth. However, if you draw too many cherry bombs, your pot will explode. If this happens, you have to choose between gaining points and coins at the end of the round instead of getting both benefits.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Wingspan}}'': The ''Asia'' expansion adds some activated predator powers with push-your-luck elements:
** The powers of Brahminy Kite, Forest Owlet, Purple Heron and White-Throated Kingfisher all start a dice-rolling mini-game. You can choose to roll up to three times. For each time you get the desired result, you get to cache a food for one point apiece. However, if you don't get the desired result, you have to stop rolling dice and return all the food for the previous rolls that turn.
** The Eurasian Eagle-Owl and Eurasian Marsh-Harrier have powers somewhat reminiscent of TabletopGame/{{Blackjack}}: you can draw up to 3 cards. As long as you stop before their total wingspan reaches 110 cm, you get to tuck them for a point per tucked card. Otherwise, you bust. The cards are discarded and you get nothing.

Many games have you roll dice (or draw more cards or something similarly random) to determine some benefit. When Push Your Luck is in play, you have the option to keep rolling dice for additional gains. However, if you meet a certain condition, you'll "bust" and lose some --if not ''all'' -- of your gains as a penalty.

[[orange:Nona Looking good to me!]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV -- Game and Reality Shows]]
* ''Series/PressYourLuck'': A player with earned spins may opt to roll for a cash prize or pass their remaining spins to an opponent. If they choose to spin and get a {{Whammy}}, their account is reset to zero, and four Whammies cause an [[PlayerElimination instant loss]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Eurogames]]

[[folder:Family Games]]
* In ''[[TabletopGame/CantStop Can't Stop]]'', you [[RollAndMove roll four dice and put them into configurations determining how to move your progress markers]]. You can keep rolling for as long as you want, but if a roll doesn't result in any legal plays, your turn ends and you lose all your progress from that turn.
* ''TabletopGame/LivingForest'' is a DeckbuildingGame that uses push-your-luck to determine how many cards you'll draw per turn: you keep drawing resource-providing Guardian Animals until you either decide to stop or you "bust" by reaching a net three solitary animals (a gregarious animal cancels out one solitary animal). If you bust, you lose one of your actions for that turn. There's a LuckManipulationMechanic in the fragments, which can discard any animal and cancel all its effects for that turn. This can undo a bust. The titular creatures in the ''Kodama'' expansion were designed as an incentive to push your luck -- one kodama card is useless, but after that point the benefits get better and better the more you draw.
* ''TabletopGame/PassThePigs'': On your turn, you throw the pig-shaped dice and hope they end up in a scoring position. If they do, you decide if you want to settle for those points (passing the pigs to the next player) or to keep rolling. If you roll "pig out" -- one pig on the right flank, the other on the left flank; a fairly frequent result -- you lose all the points accumulated in that turn.
* In ''[[TabletopGame/TheQuacksOfQuedlinburg The Quacks of Quedlinburg]]'', you draw chips from your bags and add them to your pot. Adding more ingredients tends to increase how much your potion will be worth. However, if you draw too many cherry bombs, your pot will explode. If this happens, you have to choose between gaining points and coins at the end of the round instead of getting both benefits.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Traditional Card Games]]
* TabletopGame/{{Blackjack}}: You make a wager, then get two cards face-up, and can opt to receive more cards. The goal is to get a score of 21, or if not, a higher score than the dealer (each player is in competition with the dealer, not the other players). If you get 22 or higher, you've gone bust. If both you and the dealer go bust, the dealer still takes your wager.

[[teal:Maths: I was inspired to write this after seeing that TabletopGame/{{Blackjack}}, a classic example of this, needs tropes. I'll continue to experiment with the new folderization.]]

When done well, this creates a lot of tension when deciding if you want to stop. However, games also tend to take steps to keep busting from being ''too'' frustrating -- those are not just AntiFrustrationFeatures, but also help nudge players towards taking risks instead of playing it too safe. This is why many games only take away part of your gains instead of everything. Games where you do lose it all tend to be short, or make each individual push-your-luck instance less impactful so you aren't completely screwed if you get unlucky or make a single bad call.

** The Eurasian Eagle-Owl and Eurasian Marsh-Harrier have TabletopGame/{{Blackjack}}-like powers: you can draw up to 3 cards. As long as you stop before their total wingspan reaches 110 cm, you get to tuck them for a point per tucked card. Otherwise, you bust. The cards are discarded and you get nothing.

* ''TabletopGame/LivingForest'' is a DeckbuildingGame that uses push-your-luck to determine how many cards you'll draw per turn: you keep drawing resource-providing Guardian Animals until you either decide to stop or "bust" by reaching a net three solitary animals (a gregarious animal cancels out one solitary animal). If you bust, you lose one of your actions for that turn. The titular creatures in the ''Kodama'' expansion were designed as an incentive to push your luck -- one kodama card is useless, but after that point the benefits get better and better the more you draw.

In most cases, in a form of DiminishingReturnsForBalance, each successful "roll" increases the likelihood that the next one will make you bust. Games that don't have it tend to make the bust condition constantly high (e.g. "Roll a [[UsefulNotes/{{Dice}} d6]] as many times as you want. You bust if you get a number below 5") or {{cap}} the number of rolls you can get.

In most cases, in a form of DiminishingReturnsForBalance, each successful "roll" increases the likelihood that the next one will make you bust. Games that don't have it tend to make the bust condition likely (e.g. "Roll a [[UsefulNotes/{{Dice}} d6]], you bust if you get a number below 5") or {{cap}} the number of rolls you can get.

When done well, this creates a lot of tension when deciding if you want to stop. However, games also tend to take steps to keep busting from being ''too'' frustrating -- those are not just AntiFrustrationFeatures, but also help nudge players towards actually taking risks instead of playing it too safe. This is why many games only take away part of your gains instead of everything. Games where you do lose it all tend to be short, or make each individual push-your-luck instance less impactful so you aren't completely screwed if you get unlucky or make a single bad call.

Many implementations choose to let you keep ''some'' of the gains even if you bust. This serves to make the game less frustrating, and helps nudge players towards actually taking the risk instead of playing it safe.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Abyss}}'': The ''Kraken'' expansion adds the "Sanctuary" locations. Their value is determined by a little push-your-luck game: you draw cards from the loot deck that can give Influence Points and other bonuses. You can stop at any time. If you get two copies of a card, both are discarded, which loses you their points, but not their other bonuses.

* In ''[[TabletopGame/TheQuacksOfQuedlinburg The Quacks of Quedlinburg]]'', you draw chips from your bags and add them to your pots. Adding more ingredients tends to increase how much your potion will be worth. However, if you draw too many cherry bombs, your pot will explode. If this happens, you have to choose between gaining points and coins at the end of the round instead of just getting both.

!Examples