...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!
Zonk
- 168 statements
- 29 feature instances
- 54 referencing feature instances
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Some Game Shows have gag prizes of negligible value. The name of this trope comes from the term used on Let's Make a Deal, where they almost always involved animals. Though there to cater to Rule of Funny, sometimes these prizes can still be desired by someone; poorly researched ones have even caused legal trouble for the givers. Sometimes, the gag prize can have something valuable hidden with it, with the producers pulling a fast one on the audience by completely defying expectations that it was a joke. Say you get a cheap birdhouse for a prize — oh, look, someone neatly tucked a roll of money inside! Which in itself can be a feint if said money inside is a skimpy amount. Contrast Undesirable Prize, which is actually offered seriously and with the best of intentions; and Irrelevant Importance, when important items cannot be discarded even after having served their purpose. Also contrast Consolation Prize; it's unlikely anyone who lands on a Zonk will be actually consoled by it. And, of course, contrast Whammy, which leaves you with nothing, not even a Zonk. The video game equivalents are Power Up Letdown and Poison Mushroom, "Power-Ups" that are mostly useless, or actively hurt the player respectively. Not to be confused with Air Zonk, a Spin-Off from Bonk. |
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| Zonk | fetched |
2024-01-26T16:46:58Z | |
| Zonk | parsed |
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Dropped link to AndAllIGotWasThisLousyTShirt: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
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Dropped link to BetterOffSold: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
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Dropped link to BonusRound: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
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Dropped link to DidntSeeThatComing: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
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Dropped link to EatThat: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
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Dropped link to JunkRare: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
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Dropped link to LondonEnglandSyndrome: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
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Dropped link to LuckBasedMission: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
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Dropped link to StarWars: Not an Item - CAT | |
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Dropped link to TheSixties: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
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Dropped link to ViolationOfCommonSense: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
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Dropped link to WeirdAlYankovic: Not an Item - IGNORE | |
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Dropped link to WorthlessYellowRocks: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
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Dropped link to earnyourhappyending: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Zonk | isPartOf |
DBTropes | |
| Zonk / int_135eac46 | type |
Zonk | |
| Zonk / int_135eac46 | comment |
Clue: In the 1992-1997 book series, Mr. Boddy would periodically 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: Book #4, chapter 3 ("A Tug-of-War"), featuring a tug-of-war competition in which each member of the winning team would receive a rare Boddy treasure (a big kiss on the nose from Mr. Boddy); Book #10, chapter 4 ("The Halloween Costume Caper"), featuring a game of bobbing for apples in which one of the apples contains a golden nugget (actually a nugget of caramel candy, though in that case everyone had a good laugh when it was revealed); Book #10, chapter 5 ("The Snowball Effect"), featuring a snowball fight (in which the winning team got ice cream cones); Book #15, chapter 5 ("Door Prize"), featuring a competition to paint the most doors in the mansion's downstairs (everyone got a prize — bars of soap to clean the paint off their hands); And book #16, chapter 8 ("A Little Horse"), featuring a horse race where (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). Played with in book #12, chapter 3 ("Tennis, Anyone?"), which featured 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. 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: Book #5, chapter 2 (Midnight Phone Calls) has two guests overhearing Miss Scarlet making a call to have a batch of rubies delivered to the mansion. It turns out they aren't literal rubies — they're her favorite brand of jelly beans. Book #6, chapter 6 ("Caught Blue-Handed") has the case of the priceless records — they're literally priceless, in that they're not worth a dime. Book #15, chapter 4 ("Ham It Up") has the guests fighting over a valuable sculpture of a set of teeth. It turns out to be Boddy's grandfather's old false teeth with a fake signature on it, which he set up to trick the guests into dressing up for a food-themed costume party. Book #17, chapter 3 ("A Flying Saucer Story"), with the theft of the Ersatz Diamond, being sold to Boddy by aliens from the planet Xaoh. Naturally, given the names involved, the diamond is a fake — Boddy was deliberately trolling his guests as a prank. Book #17, chapter 5 ("Truth Serum"), 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. It turns out to be a new bathtub he was having installed. |
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| Zonk / int_135eac46 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Zonk / int_135eac46 | featureConfidence |
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| Clue | hasFeature |
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| Zonk / int_1b7f57d | type |
Zonk | |
| Zonk / int_1b7f57d | comment |
Parodied on an episode of Good Luck Charlie: Teddy enters a radio contest to win a new car after singing the National Anthem at a sporting event. Said car turned out to be a child's toy. | |
| Zonk / int_1b7f57d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Zonk / int_1b7f57d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Good Luck Charlie | hasFeature |
Zonk / int_1b7f57d | |
| Zonk / int_261c8d3f | type |
Zonk | |
| Zonk / int_261c8d3f | comment |
The Simpsons: 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 was parodied in "Homer Goes To College", 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. |
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| Zonk / int_261c8d3f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Zonk / int_261c8d3f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Simpsons | hasFeature |
Zonk / int_261c8d3f | |
| Zonk / int_2bbcacd9 | type |
Zonk | |
| Zonk / int_2bbcacd9 | comment |
Subverted in the Looney Tunes cartoon "The Million Hare". Daffy Duck barely beats Bugs Bunny in a race to a television station, but is told that his prize wasn't a million bucks, as he hears, but "The Million Box": a crate containing a million little boxes. Daffy "graciously" gives the prize to Bugs, and is then told that each of the little boxes contained a $1 bill. | |
| Zonk / int_2bbcacd9 | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
| Zonk / int_2bbcacd9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Looney Tunes | hasFeature |
Zonk / int_2bbcacd9 | |
| Zonk / int_343a730a | type |
Zonk | |
| Zonk / int_343a730a | comment |
Two of the spaces in the original version of The Game of Life read "Aunt Leaves You 50 Cats" and "Uncle Leaves You a Skunk Farm". In the game's last dollar value adjustment before the 1991 overhaul, both spaces cost the player $20,000 if hit. | |
| Zonk / int_343a730a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Zonk / int_343a730a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Game of Life (Tabletop Game) | hasFeature |
Zonk / int_343a730a | |
| Zonk / int_3ab71c22 | type |
Zonk | |
| Zonk / int_3ab71c22 | comment |
Dungeon Keeper Ami: Azzathra intends this when he gives Ami the Reaper's knowledge of magical scythe summoning and techniques, knowing that the techniques would be useless for her body shape and the spell would be outright dangerous. Nonetheless, she turns it around on him and actually finds a devastating use for them: She teaches goblins to use scythes, then makes them the pilots of her remote-controlled "reaperbots". | |
| Zonk / int_3ab71c22 | featureApplicability |
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| Zonk / int_3ab71c22 | featureConfidence |
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| Dungeon Keeper Ami (Fanfic) | hasFeature |
Zonk / int_3ab71c22 | |
| Zonk / int_426a7572 | type |
Zonk | |
| Zonk / int_426a7572 | comment |
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 she won for a mystery prize that turns out to be the can. | |
| Zonk / int_426a7572 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Zonk / int_426a7572 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Animaniacs | hasFeature |
Zonk / int_426a7572 | |
| Zonk / int_42c05590 | type |
Zonk | |
| Zonk / int_42c05590 | comment |
The Rocko's Modern Life episode "Dear John" plays with this. Rocko's kitchen gets destroyed and he goes on a game show to win a new one. He wins, but it turns out his prize is a single spoon and he needs to keep winning every day for the rest of the summer to get the whole kitchen. | |
| Zonk / int_42c05590 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Zonk / int_42c05590 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Rocko's Modern Life | hasFeature |
Zonk / int_42c05590 | |
| Zonk / int_46463c4c | type |
Zonk | |
| Zonk / int_46463c4c | comment |
British quiz show Bob's Full House pulled the "trojan horse Zonk" with its "Lucky Number" bonus prizes — with the mundane item being a clue towards the actual prize. | |
| Zonk / int_46463c4c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Zonk / int_46463c4c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Bob's Full House | hasFeature |
Zonk / int_46463c4c | |
| Zonk / int_49a88442 | type |
Zonk | |
| Zonk / int_49a88442 | comment |
In Final Fantasy XIV, you can send retainers out on 'quick ventures', which are basically a roll of the dice. They can return with fabulous prizes: rare armours, glamours, expensive dyes! Or they can bring back a Lominsan Anchovy. Among the many items your retainer can bring back from Quick Exploration at random is any of the six varieties of elemental crystal - crafting materials used for literally every crafting recipe. But instead of giving you a decent number of these crystals as a reward - a hundred, fifty, even twenty! - they give you precisely one crystal. And they can give it to you (alongside any of the numerous other Better Off Sold items on the table) at any level with any gearset. Similarly, Ocean Fishing in the Southern Strait of Merlthor can yield many valuable catches, such as the Sabaton or Spectral Discus... or it can get you the Momora Mora, a frustratingly common junk fish that likes the same expensive bait. |
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| Zonk / int_49a88442 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Zonk / int_49a88442 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Final Fantasy XIV (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Zonk / int_49a88442 | |
| Zonk / int_583d841f | type |
Zonk | |
| Zonk / int_583d841f | comment |
Bidders on Storage Wars can end up being Zonked if they spend a lot of money on a locker that ends up containing nothing but worthless garbage. Occasionally, the auctioneers could end up Zonked themselves if a locker contains very little, with the result that the bids could even go down to $1. | |
| Zonk / int_583d841f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Zonk / int_583d841f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Storage Wars | hasFeature |
Zonk / int_583d841f | |
| Zonk / int_5921531c | type |
Zonk | |
| Zonk / int_5921531c | comment |
Persona 5: Each Palace ends with the Phantom Thieves stealing a Treasure that represents the source of their distorted desires. In the first palace, it's a gold medal (made of real gold). In the second, it's a valuable painting. In the third, it's a briefcase full of millions of yen... that turns out to be all fake bills. But the briefcase itself is very valuable and sells for a lot of money. | |
| Zonk / int_5921531c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Zonk / int_5921531c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Persona 5 (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Zonk / int_5921531c | |
| Zonk / int_5a0093 | type |
Zonk | |
| Zonk / int_5a0093 | comment |
The Price Is Right: In the pricing game Any Number, 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). If the pricing game Check Game is lost, the check gets stamped with the word "VOID" and given to the contestant. |
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| Zonk / int_5a0093 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Zonk / int_5a0093 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Price Is Right | hasFeature |
Zonk / int_5a0093 | |
| Zonk / int_6081ab94 | type |
Zonk | |
| Zonk / int_6081ab94 | comment |
Shop 'Til You Drop: The first season had gag gifts in the titular Bonus Round 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. In the PAX era, a frequent Bonus Round prize was a "bed in a bag" worth $50. On a rare occasion when it was not exchanged, host Pat Finn mentioned that it was one of the cheapest prizes in the rotation. |
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| Zonk / int_6081ab94 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Zonk / int_6081ab94 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shop 'Til You Drop | hasFeature |
Zonk / int_6081ab94 | |
| Zonk / int_71d2de2e | type |
Zonk | |
| Zonk / int_71d2de2e | comment |
Strike Force Heroes 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). It's surprisingly effective, despite not having any Gun Accessories. | |
| Zonk / int_71d2de2e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Zonk / int_71d2de2e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Strike Force Heroes (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Zonk / int_71d2de2e | |
| Zonk / int_7529056 | type |
Zonk | |
| Zonk / int_7529056 | comment |
In Super Mario World, 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 Bottomless Pit), but they can replace your stored fire flower or cape feather with the comparably useless mushroom. It's surprisingly infuriating. | |
| Zonk / int_7529056 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Zonk / int_7529056 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Super Mario World (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Zonk / int_7529056 | |
| Zonk / int_7f19ccc3 | type |
Zonk | |
| Zonk / int_7f19ccc3 | comment |
The Banker on Deal or No Deal occasionally included items in the price he was willing to pay for a contestant's case. Some were worthwhile, but others were clearly meant to insult the player and prompt a "No Deal". Certain international versions, and the U.S. version during theme episodes, sometimes had low money amounts in the main game replaced with Zonk prizes, such as boxing gloves, Thanksgiving turkey, etc. |
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| Zonk / int_7f19ccc3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Zonk / int_7f19ccc3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Deal or No Deal | hasFeature |
Zonk / int_7f19ccc3 | |
| Zonk / int_7ff3216c | type |
Zonk | |
| Zonk / int_7ff3216c | comment |
One episode of Garfield and Friends had a US Acres sketch where Roy found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, which turned out to be a game show run by a Leprechaun. Roy is given the choice between an old sock or Door Number 2. Obviously, he takes the second option, which is revealed to be a new car. He's the given the option to keep the car or take the prize behind Door Number 3. After taking Door Number 3, he finds out that it's fame and fortune, which he can keep or take the prize behind Door Number 4. Even though he realizes that he's won everything he ever could have wanted, he can't resist seeing what's behind the fourth door. It's an old sock. | |
| Zonk / int_7ff3216c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Zonk / int_7ff3216c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Garfield and Friends | hasFeature |
Zonk / int_7ff3216c | |
| Zonk / int_a4dabf68 | type |
Zonk | |
| Zonk / int_a4dabf68 | comment |
One space on the Sale of the Century Fame Game board was "Mystery Money or Pick/Try Again". The lowest known value of the former option was $1.75. | |
| Zonk / int_a4dabf68 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Zonk / int_a4dabf68 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Sale of the Century | hasFeature |
Zonk / int_a4dabf68 | |
| Zonk / int_b9813d3b | type |
Zonk | |
| Zonk / int_b9813d3b | comment |
During the final round of Distraction, your legitimate prizes might be turned into Zonks if you get the questions wrong. Same goes with Downfall (2010), except they tell you straight up that the prizes up for destruction are fake. | |
| Zonk / int_b9813d3b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Zonk / int_b9813d3b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Distraction | hasFeature |
Zonk / int_b9813d3b | |
| Zonk / int_badd1aa6 | type |
Zonk | |
| Zonk / int_badd1aa6 | comment |
Concentration had some gag prizes, which was part of the reason for the "Forfeit One Gift" cards. One such gag prize was a brick wall. The contestant surely wouldn't want a brick wall, would he? Oh yes, he would, and the producers were forced to build a brick wall around the contestant's house for several thousand 1960s dollars. Since then, such gifts have been described more carefully (usually as something like "[X amount] of brick wall"). | |
| Zonk / int_badd1aa6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Zonk / int_badd1aa6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Concentration | hasFeature |
Zonk / int_badd1aa6 | |
| Zonk / int_bdf1629e | type |
Zonk | |
| Zonk / int_bdf1629e | comment |
The MLP Loops: During the Great Elevator Saga (in which the Mane Six are stuck in an elevator for several hundred floors and can't get off until the top floor... and the door opens on every single floor, taking them all over the multiverse in the process), one floor opens on a game show; the host promptly announces the protagonists as a zonk prize. | |
| Zonk / int_bdf1629e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Zonk / int_bdf1629e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The MLP Loops / Fan Fic | hasFeature |
Zonk / int_bdf1629e | |
| Zonk / int_d08081ff | type |
Zonk | |
| Zonk / int_d08081ff | comment |
Atomic Betty had an episode where Betty and her crew were trying to safely transport an item referred to as "Project Zonk", which they believe to be important, but ends up just being taco sauce. | |
| Zonk / int_d08081ff | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Zonk / int_d08081ff | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Atomic Betty | hasFeature |
Zonk / int_d08081ff | |
| Zonk / int_d73200f6 | type |
Zonk | |
| Zonk / int_d73200f6 | comment |
If you were bad enough at the bonus round of Winning Lines to get only one question correct, you won a trip to a bed and breakfast overlooking the "Spaghetti Junction" highway interchange in Birmingham. Contrast the grand prize, a trip around the world. | |
| Zonk / int_d73200f6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Zonk / int_d73200f6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Winning Lines | hasFeature |
Zonk / int_d73200f6 | |
| Zonk / int_e5c93c13 | type |
Zonk | |
| Zonk / int_e5c93c13 | comment |
In Miitopia, there are ragged items that can sometimes be won via Roulette, which provide 0 Defense. | |
| Zonk / int_e5c93c13 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Zonk / int_e5c93c13 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Miitopia (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Zonk / int_e5c93c13 | |
| Zonk / int_ed02aa08 | type |
Zonk | |
| Zonk / int_ed02aa08 | comment |
In Mary Skelter: Nightmares, fulfililng one of the Jail's three desires gauges activates Jail Roulette, in which you try to stop the wheel on one of several different bonuses. These bonuses include heals, buffs for your team, debuffs for enemies, Blood Crystals, a higher chance to meet the wandering merchant, and...a measly 10 Gold. | |
| Zonk / int_ed02aa08 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Zonk / int_ed02aa08 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| MarySkelterNightmares | hasFeature |
Zonk / int_ed02aa08 | |
| Zonk / int_f5ab7e3c | type |
Zonk | |
| Zonk / int_f5ab7e3c | comment |
In MARVEL SNAP, most cards and locations with negative traits can be averted (by not playing the card or avoiding the location) or it doesn't really count as a zonk because it effects both players equallynote like District X (replaces your reserve deck with random cards) or Lamentis-1 (draw three cards from your deck, the rest of your deck is destroyed). The exception is the card "Agatha Harkness": If it appears in your hand, the AI makes all your moves for you from that point forward and you can't change or reset them. And the AI is a particularly poor player so you're probably losing that match. | |
| Zonk / int_f5ab7e3c | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
| Zonk / int_f5ab7e3c | featureConfidence |
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| MARVEL SNAP (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Zonk / int_f5ab7e3c | |
| Zonk / int_f6487540 | type |
Zonk | |
| Zonk / int_f6487540 | comment |
Kid's show Dick & Dom in da Bungalow had a real first and Second Prize, but third prize would be something like a crumpled housing benefit form, or a half-used tube of verruca cream. | |
| Zonk / int_f6487540 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Zonk / int_f6487540 | featureConfidence |
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| Dick & Dom in da Bungalow | hasFeature |
Zonk / int_f6487540 | |
| Zonk / int_fa884541 | type |
Zonk | |
| Zonk / int_fa884541 | comment |
In Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden, giving the F.I.N.A.L.G.U.N. to Mark the Gun's Collector earns you a "special rare item", which turns out to be a worthless sticker that he wrote "1/1" on in crayon to make it look more valuable. It's there purely to prank Wrong Genre Savvy RPG veterans. The correct choice here is to keep the gun for yourself, since it's Hoopz's Infinity +1 Sword. | |
| Zonk / int_fa884541 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Zonk / int_fa884541 | featureConfidence |
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| Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Zonk / int_fa884541 |
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