The Game

"The Game" is the twenty-ninth episode of Season 2 of The Amazing World of Gumball. It is the sixty-fifth episode overall.

Synopsis
The Wattersons must survive a bizarre game of Dodj or Daar through to the end.

Plot
Nicole decides to clean out Gumball and Darwin's room, and discovers, along with a glass of petrified milk, Darwin the First's skeleton, and a mutated living slice of pizza, the Dodj or Daar gameboard underneath their bed. Gumball, stating that they "swore never to play it again", quickly snatches it away from her and tosses it into the garbage bag. However, Gumball and Darwin are repeatedly attacked by urges to play Dodj or Daar, so they finally decide to destroy it.

Rushing outside to the trashcan, they discover that it has been emptied out. They run back into the house to see Anais, Nicole and Richard playing it; Richard is about to throw the dice. They yell "DON'T THROW THE DICE!" and dive towards him, but it is too late. Gumball and Darwin then explain the very real danger that the game poses to their family, but at first their warnings are not heeded. When the "dodj"s start bending reality, Nicole packs up the game, convinced that the effects, being just part of their imagination, will wear off, despite Gumball explaining to them that the effects will only stop when they finish the game.

The game continues to plague them, and gets them into undesirable situations. Anais can't get off of the couch, Gumball gets detention, Nicole ends up missing a client, Richard damages the shed (mangling his face in the process), and Darwin gets signed up for a few very undesirable activities. They all rush home in order to complete their game. Gumball then states that the fastest way to finish is if they all complete their "daar"s. Contrary to this, however, Gumball ends up taking a dodj card. They end up getting a "dodj bomb", and with the dodj's getting even worse, they struggle to complete the game, which will be accomplished when somebody rolls an exact number to land on the ending space.

After Anais is temporarily frozen, Richard is lethargized, Gumball is in an earthquake, Nicole gets huge hands and Darwin isn't affected (being an 'inverted mermaid' already), Nicole ends up drawing a card that does not allow anybody to breathe until the game is over. They nearly suffocate as Gumball throws the dice, pleading for a "six". The dice lands, displaying a "three". Nicole, in frustration and anger, slams the ground with the large hands she was afflicted with earlier, and moves the dice, achieving the six they all needed. Everything returns to normal, as Gumball states. But the Wattersons soon discover that all the damage that was caused remained. The Wattersons' house lies in shambles (in ruins), complete with a light post that has crashed through the roof.

Main Characters

 * Gumball
 * Darwin
 * Anais
 * Nicole
 * Richard

Minor characters

 * Doughnut Sheriff
 * Larry
 * Mr. Small
 * Newspaper Employee
 * Gary
 * Masami
 * Bobert
 * Anton
 * Banana Joe
 * Idaho
 * Teri
 * Leslie
 * Tina
 * Alan
 * Cyclops Dog
 * Cube Dog
 * Sausage Dog
 * Show Dog
 * Darwin the First
 * Sheep
 * Chicken Waiter

Trivia

 * This is the first episode to acknowledge the previous Darwins - according to his name, Darwin is the third of several fishes named "Darwin" that the Wattersons have owned.
 * Technically, Gumball was the winner of this particular game of Dodj or Daar.
 * The "Dramatic Music Playing Until The Game Ends" card breaks the fourth wall by playing the same music heard in dramatic scenes in different episodes and the family breaks the fourth wall by noticing the music.
 * Gumball refuses to clean himself with his tongue. However, real cats do clean themselves with their tongues.

Continuity

 * One of Gumball's baby photos from "The Treasure" can be seen on the wall of Nicole's office.
 * The picture of Gumball and Darwin from "The Dress" can be seen in the shed.
 * The way Richard pokes Gumball (via Darwin) is extremely similar to the Elmore Stream-It video "Poke Joke."
 * Among the clothes Anais wears for her Daar are Gumball's coat and winter cap, first seen in "Christmas."

Cultural References

 * The effects of Dodj or Daar are similar to the effects of those playing the game in childrens' books of Chris Van Allsburg such as Jumanji or Zathura.
 * The way the piece of pizza beneath Gumball's bed grew legs and ran off is a reference to a scene in John Carpenter's The Thing where the eponymous creature had its head removed then grew legs from it.
 * The sequence where Larry Needlemeyer switches hats may be a reference to the idiom, "wearing two hats," which means having two jobs.
 * Near the start of play, Gumball issues a warning, beginning with the words "This is how it starts." The warning mimics a line uttered by Jeff Goldblum's character, Dr. Ian Malcom, in the first act of The Lost World, the sequel to Jurassic Park.

Goofs/Errors

 * The pizzeria Larry works at is called "Elmore Pizza", but the delivery bag and pizza box say "Fervidus Pizza".
 * One of Darwin's dodj cards state that his left arm will copy Richard's left arm, and vice-versa. However, his right arm was also affected by Richard (and vice-versa) in some instances.
 * When Gumball uses Darwin's right arm to slap Richard, he slaps Darwin's right cheek, but Richard slaps his left cheek.
 * This entire dodj disappears when the Wattersons return to finish the game.
 * When Nicole starts hitting herself with a phone, her rainbow factory button disappears.
 * During the last roll of the die, on the first close-up, the Dodj and Daar card stacks are missing. On the second close-up, they reappear.
 * When everyone can't breathe, Anais is no longer in a freeze frame.
 * Richard claims he doesn't understand the game's instructions, despite being seen playing with the boys in Nicole's flashback in "The Car".
 * The correct order of players are as follows: Richard - Nicole - Anais - Darwin - Gumball. However, this order is sometimes not followed in certain scenes.
 * Gumball took his CSD Dodj card from the same pile that he picked up his Daar card.
 * Richard gets a steak to heal his eye while holding a pair of handcuffs, but when the family makes the prank pizza call, the steak and handcuffs disappear.

El Juego pt-br:O Jogo