The fifth episode of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.
Robotnik opens Casino Night Zone, where all the games are rigged to get the sheep villagers to go there, lose everything and be forced to work for him as slaves. When Sonic helps the sheep villagers win the games, Robotnik captures Tails and challenges Sonic to a race against Grounder, giving Sonic a choice between winning the race to save the villagers, or losing it to save Tails.
This episode provides examples of:
- Animal Stereotypes: The episode mainly has to do with gambling and phony scams in gambling, with Smiley the shark as the kingpin and the victims being sheep. The sheep are portrayed as gullible and easily fooled, while Smiley is a conniving, predatory scammer.
- Attack! Attack... Retreat! Retreat!: This exchange between Tails and the babysitter of the casino nursery when the latter charges him 1,000,000 Mobiums for spending ten minutes in the ball pit:Babysitter: If you want to complain, take it up with the management.
Tails: I will!
Babysitter: The management is Dr. Robotnik (pulls up a photo of said doctor).
Tails: Oh, I won't. - Bankruptcy Barrel: Several sheep lose everything (including their freedom) to Robotnik in rigged gambling. Once they lost their wool, they were given barrels. Robotnik's casino even had slot machines that automatically removed the wool and gave the barrels.
- Big Damn Heroes: After Grounder blurts to Sonic that Tails is caged under the stadium, he spin dashes underground and rescues him, beats Grounder in the race, only to discover that the sheep were already enslaved during the race. He then speeds out to free them, foiling Robotnik’s plan, and reshapes the face of the Sphinx into his own as a cherry on the top.
- The Big Race: This episode's climax has Robotnik challenge Sonic to a race against Grounder to retrieve the flag at the top of Mt. Robotnik and bring it back to the stadium. If Grounder wins, Robotnik will set Tails free, but if Sonic wins, the sheep villagers, who have bet their freedom on Sonic's victory, will be set free at Tails' expense. Grounder ends up giving Sonic a third option when he reveals the location of Tails' capture, but Robotnik goes back on his word when Sonic wins anyway.
- Casino Episode: Robotnik builds a casino where all the games are rigged, so that all the sheep villagers who go there lose everything and are forced to work for him as slaves. Sonic goes to the casino to stop him, and plays many of the games to help the sheep.
- Daycare Nightmare: Sonic instructs Tails to hang out in the casino's nursery while he fights Scratch and Grounder, thinking it will be safe. While the nursery has a babysitter, there are no kids to be found. Tails discovers that the babysitter works for Robotnik too little too late, as she sends him down a trap door in the ball pit and Robotnik captures him.
- Egging: During the big race between Sonic and Grounder, the sheep villagers all toss eggs at the latter as they boo and jeer at him.
- Evil Is Petty: Robotnik captures Tails and coerces Sonic to race against Grounder and lose (thus needing to walk at a depressingly slow pace) if he wants to see Tails again.
- Fixing the Game: Robotnik sets every machine in Casino Night Zone to his favor, so that the sheep villagers lose everything they have and work for him. Sonic himself fixes the games so that the sheep villagers will win back everything they lost.
- Forgot I Could Fly: The babysitter of the casino nursery sends Tails down a trap door in the ball pit, which Tails could have easily flown over if he'd remembered he could fly.
- Foul Ball Pit: A non-germ example; Sonic instructs Tails to stay in the nursery of Casino Night Zone while he battles Dr. Robotnik and his henchmen, thinking it will be safe. Although the nursery has a babysitter, there are no other children to be found. Tails discovers that the babysitter works for Robotnik a little too late, as she charges him 1,000,000 Mobiums for spending ten minutes in the ball pit. When Tails tells her he doesn't have that kind of money, she presses a button that opens a Trap Door, which he falls down, leading to Robotnik capturing him.
- Gambling Ruins Lives: The gamblers are literal sheep, and Robotnik's casino is full of rigged slot machines.
- Gullible Lemmings: The sheep, naturally being sheep, are gullible enough to fall for any gambling scams pulled on them by Smiley.
- Honor Before Reason: After Sonic modifies the games so that the sheep villagers win everything they lost back, Scratch discovers that the money that the machines paid them is real. Grounder tells Scratch that they couldn't welsh on a bet, but Scratch reminds him that they're villains and they're supposed to.
- Loan Shark: Smiley the Shark is a gambling scammer who serves as The Dragon to Robotnik.
- I Lied: Robotnik poses Sonic with the Sadistic Choice of either winning the race to save the Mobians or throwing it to save Tails. Even though Sonic manages to Take a Third Option, Robotnik takes the Mobians as slaves anyway.
- Mythology Gag: A majority of this episode's events take place in Casino Night Zone.
- Never Say "Die": Averted in the "Sonic Says" segment.Sonic: Play it safe, use your head, don't end up dead!
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: During the race, Grounder blabs the location of Tails' cage to Sonic, allowing Sonic to rescue Tails and win the race.
- Racing the Train: In this episode's "Sonic Says" segment, Scratch challenges Grounder to a race across a railway bridge, but Grounder finds out that a train is about to cross it. Scratch ignores him and the two race across the bridge. They only get halfway across the bridge as the train approaches it, but jump off before the train can run them over. Sonic advises the viewers against taking dares like these.
- Rushmore Refacement: Robotnik has the sheep villagers build him a Sphinx with his face. At the end of the episode, Sonic refaces the sphinx to have his face.
- Sadistic Choice: Spelled out clearly by Robotnik to Sonic: Throw the race to reclaim Tails, or win the race and secure the Mobians' freedom who bet their lives on him. It's a Lose-Lose for Sonic, but he reluctantly agrees to throw the race and reclaim Tails... until Grounder stupidly gloats about where Tails is being held prisoner.
- Shell Game: Smiley and his robot assistant are about to use the "pea under a shell" game on a flock of gambling sheep. Sonic steps in for them, and naturally, the robot's hands are no match for Sonic's eyes. During the last attempt, the robot ejects the pea through a trap door. Sonic, however, grabs the right and left shells and tells the robot the pea's under the middle shell.
- Shockingly Expensive Bill: Tails is charged 1,000,000 Mobiums simply for staying 10 minutes in the ball pool, which turns out to be owned by Dr. Robotnik.
- Squashed Flat: Happens to Sonic after Grounder flattens him with a boulder.
- Take a Third Option: Sonic has to decide whether he should win the race against Grounder so Robotnik will set the sheep villagers free at Tails' expense, or lose it so Robotnik will set Tails free at the villagers' expense. When Grounder reveals the location of Tails' capture, Sonic is able to set Tails free and win the race, but Robotnik goes back on his word and has the sheep villagers work for him anyway.
- Threatening Shark: Smiley is an anthropomorphic shark who is one of Robotnik's henchmen.
- Visual Pun: Smiley is an anthropomorphic shark, a pun on "card shark".
- Wild Take: Sonic does one where his eyes bug out and his quills pop off his back before he gets flattened by a boulder Grounder pushes off Mt. Robotnik.
- Your Head A-Splode: When Sonic outsmarts the robot running the Shell Game (this time by uncovering the other two empty shells and pointing out that the pea must be under the middle one, despite the robot getting rid of the pea secretly), the robot's head explodes.
