Basic Trope: A game show offers a prize that, while in good faith, doesn't suit the contestant's needs.
- Straight: The game show Know Your Tropes offers a trip to where the show is taped, despite many of its contestants actually living in the surrounding area.
- Exaggerated: The grand prize of Know Your Tropes is a trip to where the show is taped.
- A disabled contestant wins a treadmill on the show. note
- Downplayed: One of the consolation prizes is an extra night's stay at the hotel sponsored by Know Your Tropes.
- Justified:
- Know Your Tropes has No Budget.
- Know Your Tropes can't provide airfare for its trips.
- Know Your Tropes is a gag show — the prize (or at least that specific prize) is supposed to mean nothing, just a symbol that you participated. This is of course mentioned quite clearly in the disclaimer, just in case.
- Know Your Tropes has prizes that cater specifically to tropers, as they don't expect non-tropers to participate and win.
- Inverted:
- Know Your Tropes offers trips to where contestants actually want to go.
- Know Your Tropes only offers cash prizes.
- Subverted: Know Your Tropes offers a trip to an exotic locale.
- Double Subverted:
- ...where the contestant happens to live.
- The episode happened in 1991, but the tickets were for a 1992 Pan-American World Airways flight.
- Parodied: Know Your Tropes only offers studio tours for its prizes.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: Know Your Tropes only offers prizes that they know contestants want.
- Enforced:
- The writers want to do a game show episode and throw a Worthless Treasure Twist for the sake of comedy.
- A desirable prize would violate the Status Quo of all victories are Pyrrhic.
- Lampshaded: "What kind of prize is this!?"
- Invoked: The announcer is about to read the prize copy with noticeable disdain in his voice.
- Exploited: Evulz swindles Bob to enter Know Your Tropes by saying that the first prize is something very awesome, for the sake of seeing him being humiliated (if only a little) on national television.
- Defied:
- The contestant enjoys the place where the show is taped, specifically for the "stay in a hotel for free" part.
- Know Your Tropes has prizes actually worth a damn in all tiers (such as a full-course dinner in the best restaurant in town. Even the "Troperatti Bath Rug" is worth at least $500 if it's never been used and you know where to sell it).
- Somebody sues Know Your Tropes for the rage-inducing worthlessness of their prizes, forcing the FCC and other supervisory agencies to step in and do a rule fix to prevent something like this from happening again.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
Go back to Undesirable Prize and claim your jet ski!
