Marshall's game night leads to some startling and very embarrassing revelations.
This episode provides examples of:
- Accidental Pervert: Judy, Marshall's mother, heard her son and Lily going at it while on the phone. The. Whole. Time.
- Blatant Lies: Future!Ted says Victoria's story wasn't that interesting anyway, but the way the other characters react says it was very interesting.
- Calvin Ball: Marshgammon. Per Marshall, it combines the best elements of Candy Land, I Never, Pictionary, the buzzer from Taboo, and a basic drinking game. As the night goes on, however, it becomes clear this is just a creative way to pry into Victoria's past.
- Drinking Game: Marshgammon requires anyone asking "what?" to drink.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Ted's story starts with him drinking after his mess up with Robin from the Pilot.
- Event Title: The title refers to the night Marshall organizes for the gang to play games.
- Evil Costume Switch: Barney's transformation from hippie to Sharp-Dressed Man is presented as this.
- Gold Digger: Shannon cheated on Barney for the much richer Greg.
- Grilling the Newbie: The gang does this to poor Victoria about her love life, with the questions thinly disguised as being part of a Truth or Dare style board game.
- Head-Tiltingly Kinky: Everyone is puzzled by Barney's sextape.
- Ignored Epiphany: Barney ends his story realizing his life is awesome.
- Important Haircut: Hippie!Barney cuts his long hair after Shannon dumps him.
- Instantly Proven Wrong:Future!Ted: Kids, I tell you a lot of inappropriate stories, but there's no way in hell I'm telling you this one. Don't worry, though, it wasn't that great.Marshall: That is the greatest story ever!
- Madonna-Whore Complex: This exchange.Marshall: Victoria, how many boyfriends did you have before you started dating Ted?Victoria: OK, before Ted I actually had two.Robin: Prude alert!Victoria: Well, serious boyfriends. I've dated other guys in-between.Robin: Slut alert!
- My God, What Have I Done?: Everyone expected Barney's tape to be embarrassing, but they didn't expect it to be that humiliating and they feel terrible for exposing him like that.
- Noodle Incident: Victoria's most embarrassing moment involves a game of Truth or Dare, a squeeze bottle of marshmallow ice cream topping, and the hot tub at her grandparent's retirement community. We don't get to know what happened, because Future!Ted isn't dumb enough to tell his kids the full story.
- Old Shame: Barney's tape is considered an in-universe example.
- The Rival: Tensions between Victoria and Robin are very, very evident.
- Series Continuity Error: When Ted told the re-return, Ranjit and Ted are respectively wearing a different colored shirt and designed tie than the ones they were wearing in the scene before.
- Serious Business: Everyone agrees to play Marshgammon by Marshall's rules, including drinking any time they say "What?", even when it has nothing to do with the game.
- Sex with the Ex: Barney sleeps with Shannon as revenge for cheating on him.
- Shout-Out: Barney's change in costume is a nod to Anakin Skywalker's transformation to Darth Vader in Revenge of the Sith.
- Start of Darkness: Barney's transformation from Hippie to Ladies Man is presented like this.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Barney used to be an all-loving hippie who wanted to join the Peace Corps and was waiting for the right time to be with his girlfriend.
- You Are What You Hate: Barney becomes a womanizing Sharp-Dressed Man like the man who his girlfriend cheated on him with.
