History Main / TheBet

* Han Solo's penchant for gambling is almost a RunningGag in the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse, with the ''Millennium Falcon'' being the best example of that. He won it off Lando Calrissian in a sabacc game, lost it back to him in another game, won it back, and then finally lost it permanently. Luckily, Lando was trying to impress Mara Jade and gave it back.
** That's nothing -- he [[Literature/TheCourtshipOfPrincessLeia once won]] ''a planet'' in a game of sabacc, an outcome that even he conceded was pretty incredible.

** One episode titled "The Bet" had Drake (who's addicted to junk food) and Josh (who's addicted to video games) having a contest on who could quit their obession the longer, with the loser dying their hair pink. The parents also bet on who would win (Audrey bets on Josh while Walter bets on Drake), with the loser having to join their kid in the punishment. Long story short, [[spoiler: the contest ends in a tie, resulting in everyone except Megan dying their hair pink. However, what they don't know is that Drake doesn't go entirely through with it; he bought a pink wig instead, to which he says, "Idiots."]]

* Nana and Ryoko are about to race against each other at a major track and field event in ''Manga/NanaToKaoru''. Having spoken to Kaoru beforehand and knowing he is preparing a very big breather, Ryoko proposes a wager to Nana: The winner of the race gets to receive the breather from Kaoru. When the two fiercely run shoulder to shoulder to claim the inner lane, Ryoko slips and collides into Nana, causing both of them to fall and leaving the winner of the two indeterminate. [[spoiler: Kaoru ends up giving the breather to both of them together.]]

* ''Fanfic/TropePantheons'': Sometime between "Dark Proxies" and "Stars of Morning", [[Franchise/KingdomHearts Sora]] had proposed a bet with duos VideoGame/JakAndDaxter, and Franchise/RatchetAndClank, to see which duo can defeat [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty Maleficent]] in battle first. In "Rainbow Rivalries", [[spoiler:Ratchet defeats Maleficent, though by that point, Sora and Jak are both MIA, and the battle comes with a PyrrhicVictory in Ratchet being infected with the Medusoid Mycelium]].

* The basis for several Creator/RoaldDahl short stories, the most famous of which is probably "Man from the South". In this story, an old man named Carlos offers a boastful American boy his Cadillac if the boy can strike his lighter ten times in a row. The catch is that if the lighter does not light ten times in a row, Carlos will cut off the boy's left little finger. [[spoiler:It fails on eight. Just as Carlos is about to take the boy's finger, his wife stops him -- Carlos doesn't own anything; ''she'' owns all his possessions. She also has three fingers left...]]

* This ends up being the set up for the ''Webcomic/Persona5AdultConfidantAU'''s depiction of [[MythologyGag Operation:]] [[RunningGag Babe-Hunt]]. During the Hawaii trip, Ohya bets the boys of the Phantom Thieves that if each of them can get a girl's number, she'll have to buy the team dinner of their choosing. If the boys fail, they have to buy a dinner of Ohya's choosing. Unlike most depictions of the event, the boys actually end up ''succeeding'', with [[TheCharmer Sojiro]] getting five numbers thanks to his [[RunningGag Max Charm]] and knowing some English from Futaba's games, Iwai getting two after instinctively [[WrestlerInAllOfUs suplexing]] a guy harassing a pair of girls with his Max Guts, and Tora getting ''[[UpToEleven twenty]]'' after giving a RousingSpeech to a group of dejected hula dancers with his Max Kindness.

** At one point, Peter makes a bet with Flash Thompson that he'll have a date for the upcoming school dance to show his confidence that he actually has one. However, his intended date cancels. When Peter ends up at the dance with [[HeroesWantRedheads the extremely attractive Mary Jane Watson]], Flash tries to break the two up by telling Mary Jane about the bet. However, in a subversion, MJ doesn't care in the slightest, even making a crack to Flash about the fact that he lost. Of course, it helps that she's probably aware that Peter's Aunt May set up the whole thing, plus MJ ''knows'' that she's hot and Peter would have been willing to go out with her, bet or no bet. Flash, not wanting to be the only one dressed as a cheerleader to honor the bet, forced his teammates into similar outfits.

Some people will do just about anything for a bet, so wagers are a great excuse to have characters do just about anything. Just have someone bet them they won't. Regardless of how crazy the challenge, and how disproportionate (or nonexistent) the reward, they will go to any lengths to win. Maybe they want to show up their rival or make a point or maybe they just want to win the reward. Either way they're sure to have a whole lot of adventures trying to succeed, especially if their rival is trying to sabotage their efforts. And just maybe they'll end up learning that there are some things that are more important than winning the bet.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' episode "A Day Without Tears", Squidward makes a bet with [=SpongeBob=] that he can't go the rest of the day without crying. If Squidward wins, [=SpongeBob=] will have to do his yard work for a year; and if [=SpongeBob=] wins, Squidward will have to come to his house for a sleepover. [[spoiler: [=SpongeBob=] manages to hold in all his tears for the last ten seconds and afterwards lets them all out.]]

** ''I'll Bet (with its revival ''It's Your Bet'') and ''Liars Club,'' each from the same producer, had betting motifs as well but with different game rules. The former had celebrity couples wagering points on how well their spouses answered questions; the latter had contestants wagering on which panelist was telling the truth about an unusual item.

** ''I'll Bet (with its revival ''It's Your Bet'') and ''Liars Club'' had betting motifs as well but with different game rules. The former had celebrity couples wagering points on how well their spouses answered questions; the latter had contestants wagering on which panelist was telling the truth about an unusual item.

* The premise of the 1974-76 game show ''Series/CelebritySweepstakes'' is for two players making wagers on a panel of celebrities answering question with betting odds posted on each celebrity by the studio audience. The final question was an all-or-nothing wager.

** When said rich man and poor man find out, [[spoiler: they hijack the brokers' short selling scheme to take them for all they had. When confronted, the poor man said he bet the rich man they couldn't get rich and put the brokers in the poorhouse at the same time. The bet? ''One dollar''.]] The expression on the brokers' faces was ''priceless''.

* ''Literature/HowToEatFriedWorms''

* ''Series/MimpiMetropolitan'': In episode 46, Bambang is ready to accept if Melani is meant to end up with someone else and Juna shows up proclaiming himself to be that someone. Bambang responds by betting that he will clean Juna's clothes for a year if Melani does love Juna. The episode then has Juna trying to get close to Melani before making a love confession at the ending. [[spoiler:Juna loses the bet, and Melani is not happy with either of them when she finds out about the bet.]]

* ''VideoGame/EightyDays'': As in [[Literature/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays the original novel]], Fogg's wager with the Reform Club in which he bets he can go around the world in eighty days drives the narrative.