History Main / FlexibleTourneyRules

** Considering almost every character in the series can use some form of KiAttacks, this is probably allowed because neither Whip nor Yamazaki, who has a handgun and a switchblade, have attacks like that and thus they are at a disadvantage without them.

* Averted in ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' (the original manga) where the Tournament in fact allowed almost every form of combat (non-bladed weapons, no-incantation magic, KiAttacks, and other oddball techniques) - on the one occasion where a rule was broken, the guilty [[spoiler: (Asuna, when she summoned her greatsword by accident)]] immediately lost the match. [[spoiler: Of course, the tournament was part of a conspiracy to reveal TheMasquerade, so they ''needed'' them to pull off all those super cool abilities.]]

** This is mostly avoided in the Tournament of Power between eight different universes, as the Grand Priest sets up a number of clear-cut rules that are adhered to quite stringently (no flying allowed, except for individuals who have wings as a natural part of their body; no weapons; everyone is subjected to the gravity of their homeworld; no killing your opponents; no interfering if you are already knocked out; etc). In a couple of cases where it seemed as though a rule might have been broken (Android 17 standing on the stage's "sun", Master Roshi using a jar as part of the Mafuuba, using a Potara for fusion, etc.), the Zen'Os made the judgement on whether it was permitted... most of the time, their judgement was "[[RuleOfCool It was cool, so it's allowed.]]"

* Despite being a game about boxing, Hoy Quarlo in ''[[VideoGame/PunchOut Super Punch-Out!!]]'' uses a cane, Dragon Chan mixes flying kicks in with his punches, King Hippo straps a manhole cover to protect his stomach and so on, and so on.
** Aran Ryan, appearing in multiple ''VideoGame/PunchOut'' games seems to make a living taking advantage of this, although in his case its more just straight cheating, like the horseshoes he so obviously has hidden in his gloves. Soda Popinski's use of mid-round [[FrothyMugsOfWater Soda Pop]] probably qualifies as well

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', [[GodInHumanForm Avatar]] Korra {{Invoke|d Trope}}s this as a justification for being able to secretly compete in [[FictionalSport Pro-Bending]] in spite of being the sole person on Earth to command multiple ElementalPowers where other players' only have one. To compensate, she promises her teammates that she'll confine herself to [[MakingASplash waterbending]]. When she [[DamnYouMuscleMemory reflexively]] bends earth to defend herself against two simultaneous attacks she causes the referee to proclaim "Foul! ... I think." The only reason this display is not counted against her is that the referee hasn't foreseen the circumstance. After some deliberation, the referee {{Avert|ed Trope}}s this by codifying the ObviousRulePatch, allowing her to play on the condition that she only Waterbends.
** Later on, Korra’s team is eliminated by a team who is flagrantly cheating and have paid the officials to ignore these fouls. But they get hit with a bit of karma when the ArcVillain, Amon, shows up and removes their bending.

* ''Film/MortalKombat'': Let's just say Shang Tsung's tournament structure is a bit....suspect. Seems the writers thought as much as well, since they made the sequel skip straight to ''Mortal Kombat 3'', which was less "tournament" and more "war".

* In a tournament held in the 13th century, a famous noble arrived with his warriors and announced that he would only be watching, not fighting today. Much later in the day, after having time to study the other fighters and let the other fighters grow tired; the noble announced that he had changed his mind.

* Common in ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'' - Whip brings a gun to a martial arts tournament, in ''addition'' to her namesake weapon. Then again, there has yet to be a single King of Fighters tournament that wasn't used as a front by that year's villain, to the point the Heidern Mercenaries go on red alert every time they get an invitation.

* ''Film/TheKarateKid: Part 3'' has the challenger for the final match explicitly break every rule in the book (groin kicks, punches to the face, surprise punches after a separation is called, etc.) in his match with Daniel. True, every such infraction costs him a point, but he gains it right back while Daniel is busy looking for his family jewels. Indeed, this is [[ToThePain his strategy]]: to kick the living crap out of him for the full time period and then win in sudden death. But despite his blatant disregard for anything resembling competitive decorum, he is never disqualified. A cynic might believe that it is because [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney Terry Silver had just spent thousands putting together a permanent arena for the All-Valley championships]] and nobody wants to disqualify his star pupil.

* In the live action [[Film/SpeedRacer Speed Racer]] movie, one of the drivers pulls a gun on Speed and spectators react with shock and alarm, making it quite clear that he'll be disqualified. While the race was full of illegal crap up to this point, the drivers were careful to use them in situations where the cameras couldn't catch them doing it.

* Inverted in ''Film/TheKarateKid'', when Daniel wins the final round by pulling off the Crane kick on Johnny's face, despite the rules explicitly forbidding contact to the face. Perhaps Johnny had bullied one of the judges, too?
** The tournament (and most martial arts competitions, for that matter) forbids ''punches'' to the face.
** ''Part'' 3 has as the final match the challenger explicitly breaking every rule in the book (groin kicks, punches to the face, surprise punches after a separation is called, etc.) in his match with Daniel. True, every such infraction costs him a point, but he gains it right back while Daniel is busy looking for his family jewels. Indeed, this is [[ToThePain his strategy]]: to kick the living crap out of him for the full time period and then win in sudden death. But despite his blatant disregard for anything resembling competitive decorum, he is never disqualified. A cynic might believe that it is because Terry Silver had just spent thousands putting together a permanent arena for the All-Valley championships and nobody wants to disqualify his star pupil.

This trope was played with in the anime-only dodgeball event, where what looked like cheating was actually using rules for uncannily specific circumstances that are rarely brought up. This is not LoopholeAbuse either--there is a rule for practically every possible situation, with their legality seemingly random. The rulebook is a doorstopper that took Robin the entire round to read, and she is a speed-reader.

* Davy Back Fight from ''Manga/OnePiece''? The entire thing was rigged, with the ''referee'' on the opposing team. It was outright acknowledged that outsiders were allowed to interfere with the Long Ring Race, but during the Groggy Ring event, the levels to which the Foxy Pirates went to cheat were plain ridiculous.
** This included using weapons in a game where weapons were exclusively forbidden, leaving the ring and returning later when doing so was also a clear foul, and trying to eliminate the Strawhat team members for 'mouthing off' to the ref. In fact, they used ''multiple'' weapons, and even ''changed weapons'' during the match.
** This trope was played with in the anime-only dodgeball event, where what looked like cheating was actually using rules for uncannily specific circumstances that are rarely brought up. This is not LoopholeAbuse either--there is a rule for practically every possible situation, with their legality seemingly random. The rulebook is a doorstopper that took Robin the entire round to read, and she is a speed-reader.

** This is mostly avoided in the Tournament of Power between eight different universes, as the Grand Priest sets up a number of clear-cut rules that are adhered to quite stringently (no flying allowed, except for individuals who have wings as a natural part of their body; no weapons; everyone is subjected to the gravity of their homeworld; no killing your opponents; no interfering if you are already knocked out; etc). In a couple of cases where it seemed as though a rule might have been broken (Android 17 standing on the stage's "sun", Master Roshi using a jar as part of the Mafuuba, etc.), the Zen'Os made the judgement on whether it was permitted... most of the time, their judgement was "[[RuleOfCool It was cool, so it's allowed.]]"

** This is mostly avoided in the Tournament of Power between eight different universes, as the Grand Priest sets up a number of clear-cut rules that are adhered to quite stringently (no flying allowed, except for individuals who have wings as a natural part of their body; no weapons; everyone is subjected to the gravity of their homeworld; no killing your opponents; etc). In a couple of cases where it seemed as though a rule might have been broken (Android 17 standing on the stage's "sun", Master Roshi using a jar as part of the Mafuuba, etc.), the Zen'Os made the judgement on whether it was permitted... most of the time, their judgement was "[[RuleOfCool It was cool, so it's allowed.]]"

** This is mostly avoided in the Tournament of Power between eight different universes, as the Grand Priest sets up a number of clear-cut rules that are adhered to quite stringently (no flying allowed, except for individuals who have wings as a natural part of their body; everyone is subjected to the gravity of their homeworld; no killing your opponents; etc). The only case of an ambiguous rule that comes up is Android 17 managing to boost himself up high enough to stand on the stage's artificial sun. Champa questions if that doesn't count as a ring-out, the Grand Priest looks over to the two Zen'Os, who make an "safe" gesture, and responds "That is not out-of-bounds".

** This is mostly avoided in the Tournament of Power between eight different universes, as the Grand Priest sets up a number of clear-cut rules that are adhered to quite stringently. The only case of an ambiguous rule that comes up is Android 17 managing to boost himself up high enough to stand on the stage's artificial sun. Champa questions if that doesn't count as a ring-out, the Grand Priest looks over to the two Zen'Os, who make an "safe" gesture, and responds "That does not count".

* Davy Back Fight from ''OnePiece''? The entire thing was rigged, with the ''referee'' on the opposing team. It was outright acknowledged that outsiders were allowed to interfere with the Long Ring Race, but during the Groggy Ring event, the levels to which the Foxy Pirates went to cheat were plain ridiculous.