So a character (usually the protagonist, occasionally one of the supporting characters) accidentally drops something (usually the MacGuffin, sometimes simply something of extreme sentimental value) in the middle of a crowd. Naturally, every time the character tries to grab it, it gets kicked away by someone in the crowd. Lather, rinse, repeat, until one of the inevitable conclusions:
- Someone manages to get to it (either the character who dropped it or someone else who's looking for it),
- It gets trampled on by someone, thus destroying it, or
- It gets kicked into a hole where it is inaccessible through the crowd and thus displaced until some later scene, where someone retrieves it.
Occasionally, this occurs during a fight scene, and as such if someone manages to get ahold of it, it gets knocked out of their hand or otherwise gets incapacitated, in which case the scramble for the MacGuffin begins anew until one of the previous three results occur.
Related to Mobstacle Course — if the pursued loses the MacGuffin in a crowd while being chased, this happens. Alternately, after the MacGuffin is retrieved, the retriever may be chased through the crowd.
Examples:
Films — Live-Action
- Batman & Robin take this quite literally in the opening battle with Mr. Freeze, when the latter is trying to steal a giant diamond and the heroes and henchman play actual hockey (complete with sticks and skates) to get it back.
- In the Clint Eastwood film Hereafter, one of the characters loses his brother's baseball cap while people are queuing to get into the Underground, and it keeps him searching long enough to keep him off the train he was trying to board.
- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom starts out with a shootout in Club Obi Wan over a diamond, which Willie attempts to retrieve. The panicking crowd kicks it all over the place, including into a pile of ice. Doubling their fun is the fact that Indy has been poisoned and the vial containing the antidote has also landed on the floor and is being kicked around. He and Willie pass each other at one point.
Indy: Where's the antidote?
Willie: Where's the diamond? - I Love Maria opens with Pioneer-1 going on a rampage. The Intrepid Reporter protagonist (played by Tony Leung) tries taking photos, only to drop his camera while surrounded by fleeing policemen, with the camera kicked around like a ball while the protagonist tries getting it back.
- I Not Stupid Too does this with a pornographic VCD, which Tom dropped in class during a spot-check session. He quickly kicks it away, but the teacher saw it already — cue the entire class playing hockey with the VCD which eventually ends back to the teacher's hands.
- In Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Ragetti's wooden eye falls out during a battle on deck, and he scrambles to grab it. The battle ends about the same moment he finds it again.
- Rush Hour 2 does this with the detonator in the Casino.
- In Stay Tuned, while fighting over getting control of the remote control Roy and Spike are transported to a hockey game where the remote is treated as a hockey puck by the games' players.
- In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, a fight in the TGRI laboratories turns into Crowd Football, with the Turtles trying their best to keep a canister of mutagen from falling into Foot hands.
Literature
- Star Wars Legends: An unusual (and unfortunate) version occurs in the New Jedi Order novel Star by Star, among a crowd of refugees fleeing Coruscant — with the lost object being a live thermal detonator. The chaser, an extremely patient and dedicated war droid, tries without success to calm everyone down and get the bomb out; it explodes just as he reaches it.
Live-Action TV
- Andor: In the season finale "Rix Road", Dedra Meero's blaster gets knocked out of her hand during the riot, and when she tries getting it back it gets kicked out of her reach by the rampaging crowd.
- Chuck: "Chuck Versus the Cubic Z" has Morgan chasing after the eponymous Cubic Zirconium during a BuyMore riot. He doesn't find it.
- An episode of Psych concerning a potential plague had this happen to a vial containing the disease. It was kicked around a bus station until Shawn managed to catch it before it shattered.
- Smallville: In the episode Fortune, Lois is trying to find her engagement ring on the floor of the Fortune casino, which is being kicked around the floor by the evacuating patrons.
Web Original
- Parodied by Nigahiga when he gets in a fight with his evil twin. After the twin drops a gun, the real Ryan crawls along the floor for it, only for the gun to keep getting kicked around... by absolutely nothing, until he gets up and watches it just slide around on the floor for no reason.
Western Animation
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars: In "Grievous Intrigue", a Separatist tactical droid has his right arm and control panel cut off in a scuffle with Anakin Skywalker and Adi Gallia after General Grievous laid a trap for them aboard his ship. Therafter, the droid attempts to reclaim his arm, which is kicked around and moved by other battle droids and the Jedi. When he finally manages to get a hold of it to press the button on the panel, he realizes that ''he has no free arm since he is already holding his right arm with his left'', at which point he is promptly and humorously destroyed by Anakin. Given that this was made by Lucasfilm Animation, it was likely an allusion to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
