History Main / Zonk

* The first season of ''Series/ShopTilYouDrop'' had gag gifts in the titular BonusRound that only added a few dollars to a team's total. These were removed after the goal to reach was raised from $1,000 to $2,500 worth of merchandise.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'': In one episode, Slappy gets into a feud with a neighbor who threw an empty soda can into her yard, and so Slappy gets back at her by returning the can to her in increasingly elaborate ways, which culminates in Slappy setting up an entire gameshow and tricking the neighbor into giving up all the prizes they won for a mystery prize that turns out to be the can.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'': In one episode, Slappy gets into a feud with a neighbor who threw an empty soda can into her yard, and so Slappy gets back at her by returning the can to her in increasingly elaborate ways, which ends with her receiving the can as a zonk on a gameshow Slappy set up.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'': In one episode, Slappy gets into a feud with a neighbor who threw an empty soda can into her yard, and so Slappy gets back at her by returning the can to her in increasingly elaborate ways, which ends with them receiving the can as a zonk on a gameshow Slappy set up.

** This caused significant problems in "Bart Gets An Elephant", when Bart opted for the gag prize over the cash sum; not only did the radio station not actually have the gag prize available to give away, but when they did eventually get it, the prize caused untold carnage lasting for approximately the duration of the episode.

** This caused significant problems in an episode when Bart opted for the gag prize over the cash sum; not only did the radio station not actually have the gag prize available to give away, but when they did eventually get it, the prize caused untold carnage lasting for approximately the duration of the episode. Its title: "Bart Gets an Elephant".
** This was parodied in one episode where Mr. Burns offered two inspectors their choice of a bribe, either the car that his "lovely assistant" (Smithers) was pointing to, or what was in a box. One of them seemed eager to take the box until the more competent one brought him back to reality.

** It is very common now for the Zonks to be completely ridiculous and/or ExactWords-based (which makes them funny), such as "Literal Slippers" (shoes shaped like [[BananaPeel banana peels]]), a "compact car" (a car that went through a crusher), comical furniture sets (such as the "Teeny Weeny Bedroom" and "Velcro Living Room"), "Laundered Money" (giant fake bills hanging on a clothes line), "'Apple' Watches" (they're made of apple peels), and a "Cardboard Boombox", but they still can't actually be taken home by insistent contestants. A few recurring Zonks take the form of animated skits -- such as tickets to bizarre locales such as Zonk Island, [=ZonkyLand=], "The Big Apple" (not New York, but the world's largest apple), the "Swiss Alps" (which are made of cheese), and "''Whine'' Country" (instead of wine country).

* During multiball, it's possible to get scores in the tens or hundreds from ''Pinball/TheTwilightZone'''s "Odd Change" shot.

* Mexican show ''Series/EnFamiliaConChabelo'' has the final stage known as ''La Catafixia'', in which children are [[ImmoralRealityShow tortured]] with doubt and anxiety after "what would be behind that door". There were 3 doors, sometimes the 3 had nice prizes, but most of the time one would have something not so great. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9UV84qOaKs Here you can see]] a kid exchanging his prizes for a "high speed vehicle for the Halloween party", also known as "broom".

* ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' has a game called Any Number, where the contestant has to guess digits from 0 to 9 to fill in the five-digit price of a car. The other digits show up in a smaller three-digit prize, and the "piggy bank", a literal cash value of dollars and cents formed from the remaining digits (thus having a maximum possible value of $9.87), nicknamed "[[FanNickname that damned piggy bank]]" by users of the fansite Golden Road.

* The Brady version has also had food Zonks that fall into the EatThat category for Wayne Brady, such as chocolate-covered bugs and ''mayonnaise mouthwash.''

* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'', a level on Chocolate Island has a swarm of mushrooms in bubbles as obstacles. They pose little threat to the player (though their jankey physics can bounce uncareful players into a BottomlessPit), but they can replace your stored fire flower or cape feather with the comparably useless mushroom. [[PoisonMushroom It's surprisingly infuriating]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Miitopia}}'', there are ragged items that can sometimes be won via Roulette, which provide ''0'' Defense.
* ''VideoGame/StrikeForceHeroes II'' has a slot machine minigame to give you random loot. If you lose at it, you get dirty socks, rusty tins of MRE's, and a turd cannon (a grenade launcher that does poison damage and makes a fart sound every time it's fired). [[LethalJokeItem It's surprisingly effective, despite not having any]] GunAccessories.

* While "a new toy [[StarWars Yoda]]" (virtually indistinguishable from "Toyota" when spoken aloud) wasn't an example of radio-based dickishness, it ''was'' [[http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002/05/09/toy-yoda.htm a great example of Hooters-based dickishness.]] The lawsuit hinged on the fact that despite "toy Yoda" and Toyota sounding similar, the restaurant manager had clearly described the prize as a car. It ended up being subverted by the lady who sued, as she eventually reached a settlement that apparently was more than enough to allow her to "pick out whatever type of Toyota she wants".

** Certain international versions, and the U.S. version during theme episodes, sometimes had low money amounts in the main game substituted with Zonk prizes, such as boxing gloves, Thanksgiving turkey, etc.

** It is very common now for the Zonks to be completely ridiculous and/or ExactWords-based (which makes them funny), such as "Literal Slippers" (shoes shaped like [[BananaPeel banana peels]]), a "compact car" (a car that went through a crusher), comical furniture sets (such as the "Teeny Weeny Bedroom" and "Velcro Living Room"), "Laundered Money" (giant fake bills hanging on a clothes line), "'Apple' Watches" (they're made of apple peels), and a "Cardboard Boombox", but they still can't actually be taken home by insistent contestants. A few recurring Zonks take the form of animated skits -- such as tickets to bizarre locales such as Zonk Island, [=ZonkyLand=], "The Big Apple" (not New York, but the world's largest apple), the "Swiss Alps" (which are made of cheese), and ''Whine'' Country (instead of wine country).

** It is very common now for the Zonks to be completely ridiculous and/or ExactWords-based (which makes them funny), such as "Literal Slippers" (shoes shaped like [[BananaPeel banana peels]]), a "compact car" (a car that went through a crusher), comical furniture sets (such as the "Teeny Weeny Bedroom" and "Velcro Living Room"), "Laundered Money" (giant fake bills hanging on a clothes line), "'Apple' Watches" (they're made of apple peels), and a "Cardboard Boombox", but they still can't actually be taken home by insistent contestants. A few recurring Zonks take the form of animated skits -- such as tickets to bizarre locales such as Zonk Island, [=ZonkyLand=], "The Big Apple" (not New York, but the world's largest apple), and the "Swiss Alps" (which are made of cheese).

** The 1992-1997 book series had Mr. Boddy arrange various contests for his guests. Sometimes the prizes were genuinely valuable (usually cash or a valuable treasure); other times, they were gag prizes (and at least once the "prize" was a punishment). Examples included a tug-of-war competition in which each member of the winning team would receive a rare Boddy treasure [[spoiler:a big kiss on the nose from Mr. Boddy]], a game of bobbing for apples in which one of the apples contains a golden nugget [[spoiler:actually a nugget of caramel candy, though in that case everyone had a good laugh when it was revealed]], a snowball fight [[spoiler:in which the winning team got ice cream cones]], a competition to paint the most doors in the mansion's downstairs [[spoiler:everyone got a prize - bars of soap to clean the paint off their hands]] and a horse race [[spoiler:everyone's "prize" was being forced to muck out the stalls, since Boddy had gotten angry with them for fighting over who was the best rider and demanding a race to prove who ''was'' best]]. There was also one contest (a lottery drawing) with a half real, half zonk prize; while the guests weren't too happy about playing for the zonk (a chance to see Mr. Boddy compete in a tennis tournament being held at some point later on), they ''did'' want to win the money he was also putting up. [[spoiler:After Boddy lost badly in the tournament, the winning guest graciously gave him some of the prize money to spend on private lessons.]]
** A couple of their attempted thefts could qualify as Zonks as well. Such as the theft of [[spoiler:the Ersatz Diamond, being sold to Boddy by aliens from the planet [[SdrawkcabName Xaoh]]. Naturally, given the names involved, the diamond is a fake - Boddy was deliberately trolling his guests as a prank.]] Another theft has the culprit break into a large, mysterious crate that's sitting out on the lawn; Boddy's refused to identify the contents, so the guests are sure it's a new treasure. [[spoiler:It turns out to be a new bathtub he was having installed.]] There's also the case of the [[spoiler:priceless records - they're literally priceless, in that they're not worth a dime.]]

* Even the foreign versions played along. The Zonk on the German ''Geh aufs Ganze'' was a grey-red, fox-like plushie, also called a Zonk. On the Polish version ''Idź Na Całość'', Zonk was a red plush cat in a black bag (the original "pig in a poke" being a cat you couldn't see passed off as a young pig). In Polish slang, "zonk" today means "something unexpected".

** The 1992-1997 book series had Mr. Boddy arrange various contests for his guests. Sometimes the prizes were genuinely valuable (usually cash or a valuable treasure); other times, they were gag prizes (and at least once the "prize" was a punishment). Examples included a tug-of-war competition in which each member of the winning team would receive a rare Boddy treasure ([[spoiler:a big kiss on the nose from Mr. Boddy]]), a game of bobbing for apples in which one of the apples contains a golden nugget ([[spoiler:actually a nugget of caramel candy, though in that case everyone had a good laugh when it was revealed]]), a snowball fight ([[spoiler:in which the winning team got ice cream cones]]), a competition to paint the most doors in the mansion's downstairs ([[spoiler:everyone got a prize - bars of soap to clean the paint off their hands]]) and a horse race ([[spoiler:everyone's "prize" was being forced to muck out the stalls, since Boddy had gotten angry with them for fighting over who was the best rider and demanding a race to prove who ''was'' best]]). There was also one contest (a lottery drawing) with a half real, half zonk prize; while the guests weren't too happy about playing for the zonk (a chance to see Mr. Boddy compete in a tennis tournament being held at some point later on), they ''did'' want to win the money he was also putting up. [[spoiler:After Boddy lost badly in the tournament, the winning guest graciously gave him some of the prize money to spend on private lessons.]]

* During the final round of ''Series/{{Distraction}}'', your legitimate prizes might be ''turned into'' Zonks if you get the questions wrong. Same goes with ''Series/{{Downfall}}'', except they tell you straight up that the prizes up for destruction are fake.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Aleste}} Collection''[='=]s Aleste Challenge mode, completing a challenge without getting hit awards a Gold Medal and 10,000 Challenge Points. If you get hit once, you get a Silver Medal, which is worth ''three'' CP. Complete the challenge without qualifying for either to get a Bronze Medal, which is worth one CP. The Silver medal is still good for knowning which segments you can almost no-hit, but is effectively worthless for the Aleste Challenge online leaderboard.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', certain Golden Saucer minigames award a Tissue item as a consolation prize for failing/losing. Said Tissue has no use whatsoever.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', certain Golden Saucer minigames award a Tissue item as a consolation prize for failing/losing. Said Tissue has no use whatsoever

* In ''VideoGame/{{Aleste}} Collection''[='=]s Aleste Challenge mode, completing a challenge without getting hit awards a Gold Medal and 10,000 Challenge Points. If you get hit once, you get a Silver Medal, which is worth ''three'' CP. Complete the challenge without qualifying for either to get a Bronze Medal, which is worth one CP.