In a world where gambling is Serious Business, you can bet that the games featured here are going to be utterly horrifying, especially when most of them are made to entertain one of the sickest bastards to ever exist in the history of manga and anime.
- Two words: Kazutaka Hyoudou.
- Brave Men Road, events in which the participants are forced to walking along a very narrow beam to which the finish to claim their prize. It comes in two parts: Human Derby, and the Electric Steel Beam Crossing.
- The first part, Human Derby, isn't too scary, just at least a foot drop which is survivable provided you land properly. Though it's made trickier in that the beam gets much narrower as participants progress. Since it's also a "race" that means the person in front has the advantage but the one behind them can push them off. Not helped that the rich bastards watching this on the ground encourage such things since they're betting on the participants. At one point, Kaiji manages to catch up to the person in front of him but is more busy on concentrating to keep from falling. It's then he hears the chanting from the audience below, at first only making out "...Him! ...Him!...Him!". But then realizes they're yelling for Kaiji to "Push him!". The scary thing too is Kaji actually does consider it but realizes he's not cold-blooded enough to do it. Doesn't stop the man behind him from attempting it though which ends up with all three men nearly falling over and forced to grab onto the beam, which gets them disqualified. Though they are given the chance to win a bonus ticket if they clear the next part, which brings us to...
- The Electric Steel Beam Cross which is nothing short of horrifying. Why? Because again, they have to cross a narrow beam. Good news, it's the same length through out and no one has to push another to win. They just simply have to reach the end. The bad news, it's up a height of 22 flights across two buildings. If that wasn't bad enough, the beam is mildly electrified to keep the participants from grabbing onto the beam and scooting across because that would be "too boring for the people watching" (also just being up that high isn't dangerous enough apparently). Needless to say falling is instant death. One participant falls to his death, which causes a chain reaction of sorts... The others panic and one after one, they fall off, complete with the Grim Reaper appearing. Eventually it just comes down to Kaji and Sahara, a co-worker at a convenience store Kaiji works at. The latter eventually works up the courage to just sprint the remaining distance and manages a flying leap to the window ledge. It seems he made it and just has to go inside. But the window doesn't open, Kaiji catches on something is wrong and tries to warn his friend. But then the window does open...and let's out air pressure which knocks Sahara back and into the abyss. Kaiji nearly gives in to despair here as he's now near the end and thinks there's no way to win the event. It's only then he notices the glass stairway on the side of the beam which leads to the true end goal. While he does lament it could be another trap (giving another lovely Imagine Spot where Kaiji steps on it and falls through) he's forced to go for it. Mercifully it holds his weight and he wearily heads up it to the inside of the building. While those inside applaud him, it doesn't help his mood since he knows he was the lone survivor and saw good men die for nothing. To add salt on the wound, his ticket is "voided" because apparently Yukio Tonegawa did turn off the electricity when Kaiji pleaded for it earlier but "forgot to tell them". Just..wow, if you didn't think the villains were utter sadistic slime before, this pretty much confirms it.
- The entire "E-Card Reader" arc, where the protagonist plays a card gamble with an electric drill fastened to his ear. Essentially, at the start of each round he bets a certain amount of "millimeters" - if he wins the card game, he gains money in proportion to the amount of millimeters he wagered. If he loses a round... the drill will advance that many millimeters into his ear canal. Complete with cross section and close up views of the drill moving slowly towards his ear drum, and the occasional "what-if" preview of it getting splattered. The max length is 45 millimeters and while the damage to the eardrum is bad in time it can be repaired but death is certain at the max length. Gets even worse when Kaiji cuts off his ear to get rid of it because it was rigged.
- At the end of the same arc, there's also the "Roasting Kneeling" (yaki-dogeza) scene, where Tonegawa is forced to kneel for forgiveness, face against the ground, on a red-hot iron plate, badly burning both his forehead and both his hands, all while Hyoudou is giggling in the background.
- From the Tissue Box Lottery arc, there's Kaiji betting four of his fingers on a mini-guillotine. It doesn't end well.
- In the Bog arc, when Ichijou punishes Kaiji for breaking into his office by torturing him with a device that drives a needle under his fingernail.
- Kazuya's book The Sword is Mightier than Love definitely qualifies. The boss of an unnamed criminal organization tries to impress a woman with money and gifts, but she ends up trying to run away with another man. They are however caught and the boss puts them into 2 separate boxes with 14 holes total covering their bodies, from not-so-lethal areas such as their legs, up to their chests guaranteeing almost certain death. The man and woman then take turns choosing where to stab 9 different swords into each others' bodies. 9 of the holes have metal plates set inside, so if they are lucky they can come out of it unharmed. They however both end up dying, after brutally stabbing swords into each other's chests, betraying their love. The kicker to it all? The whole story was a real event orchestrated by Kazuya.
- What makes it even worse? Kazuya points out that there was a way that both of the players could have gotten out alive, just by each of them selecting to have swords put into the non-lethal areas for both of them, as there were enough such holes that it would allow them to do so, if both of them were willing to go through with it.
- The fate of those who lose the Salvation Game: The hostages have their heads slowly crushed by their helmets, and the savior is Forced to Watch.
- Mother Sophie's punishment for losing One Poker. The loser gets held upside down in the air for 5 minutes with an oncoming free fall head first into concrete. Each participant is supplied with a remote that allows a chance for a web to catch the loser in the air, but the chances of timing the right position is so low that it only serves to add extra despair when one inevitably misses.
- The climax of One Poker, wherein the above event really happens is one of the most terrifying events in the entire series. Kaiji bets it all on an extreme bluff with his cards and desperately tries to push Kazuya into folding in order to save them both, but Kazuya has been so broken by the events of the night and his own past that he's driven to the brink of insanity... and raises. Sure enough, Kaiji's card beats Kazuya's. Watching Kazuya's mind utterly shatter at the sight of Kaiji's card beating him and realizing what's about to happen with Mother Sophie is nothing short of bonechilling, even with Kazuya's horrible personality. And the remote that stops the web? Kazuya drops it in a panic, which means Kaiji is forced to watch a man fall to his death. It's only via some serious quick thinking on Kaiji's part that Kazuya even lives.
