| abstract | - To any victim of long-term incarceration, being set free from it is the ultimate MacGuffin. Of course, it won't come cheap, but when the alternative is to rot and die in captivity, they'll gladly risk their life on whatever No OSHA Compliance Death Course is required of them to get it. The favorite motivational carrot of Boxed Crooks and Condemned Contestants, since they're already locked away, but the threat of incarceration can be used preemptively so long as the victim is already powerless to resist. Any kind of Deadly Game or Gladiator Games is likely to have this as the prize since most people wouldn't risk their life without an appropriately large reward. Likewise, the Most Dangerous Game has life as the reward. One common variant would be when its the victims friend or family member whose freedom they're trying to win. Shows great dedication when the victim could just turn and walk away and leave them to their fate. Since the kind of people who are locked up are typically not someone the captors want to let out, not to mention that doing so would mean losing their services, it's common for them to sabotage the victims attempts at fulfilling the terms of the agreement, just changing them as needed, or lying and killing them. If anyone asks, the previous "winners" were Released to Elsewhere. Just about every Evil Overlord does it at some point, typically making the challenge Unwinnable by Design. Of course the hero goes Beyond the Impossible and wins, only to realize he was being baited and breaks free instead. Forced Prize Fight and Death Course often go hand in hand with this. Practically every Closed Circle adventure game ever. Examples:
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