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{{trope}}
[[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]] -
The difference between an unintended use and one that simply wasn't "obvious" is one of degrees - some tools and features are deliberately flexible and lay the base for "emergence" to occur from exploration of those features. For example, thinking outside the box in real-life and fictional combat can sometimes help when dealing with a persistent opponent. Generally, to qualify for this trope, exploring the uses of a tool or feature has to unearth something that does at least one of the following:
▲[[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]] - you found a way to apply an object, ability, feature or other such thing that is '''Not the Intended Use''' for it.
# The use arises or is applied in a manner that [[Didn't See That Coming|goes well beyond reasonable expectations]].
# Said application radically shifts the use case for that tool from its previous use.
This trope is naturally most prominent in tabletop and video games, where it typically takes the form of a [[Gameplay Derailment|gameplay derailing]] bug or glitch, and in more extreme cases threatens to [[Game Breaker|snap the game's balance right over its knee]]. Benign examples are generally considered [[Good Bad Bugs]], and a nice developer may consider turn them into an [[Ascended Glitch]] if the intended use isn't too volatile to gameplay; a less-nice one might summarily suppress it with an [[Obvious Rule Patch]], [[Tropes Are Not Bad|which may also prove necessary]] if it turns out to be a [[Game Breaking Bug]]. Expect the response to be particularly strict if this trope occurs in tournament-level play.
Neither approach is exclusive to the other, of course: it's not remotely unheard of for unexpected Game Breakers to be solved by toning them down, and then rebalancing to integrate them into that game proper. [[Challenge Gamer]]s and [[Speed Run]]ners. Such unintended uses can be applied by players to solve certain cases of [[Fake Difficulty]] - if the game itself is actively lending you a hand in some manner, it may be a case of [[Anti-Frustration Features]].
Potential subtropes include:
* [[Throw the Book At Them]], particularly cases where someone is told to read the book first and decides physical force (including a literal application of the phrase) is a better use of their time.
* [[MacGyvering]] involves combining several objects in a completely unexpected way to serve a function that is usually far different from what any of its individual components were meant for.
Compare [[Heart Is an Awesome Power]] and [[Lethal Harmless Powers]], where someone gets creative with the "intended" use of an ability considered to be weak - also compare [[Weaponized Exhaust]] and [[Recoil Boost]]. Contrast [[Useless Useful Spell]], where the intended use just isn't that applicable, and [[Mundane Utility]], where something intended to be powerful and awesome also has surprising use in "plainer" scenarios. A related trope is [[Periphery Demographic]], where a significant portion of a fanbase falls outside the 'intended' audience.
{{examples}}
== [[Literature]] ==
* In ''[[Ender's Game]]'', the point of the Giant's Drink videogame is to measure the Battle School students' reactions when they face an unwinnable situation. No matter what drink you choose from the giant, you die. Most of the kids give up after a few runs; not Ender. He figures out that you can use the drinks as a weapon to take the giant by surprise, and kill him. The game is then forced to make up new challenges for Ender, based on what it knows about his mindset.
* In ''[[Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (novel)|Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix]]'', people start tossing Dungbombs en masse after {{spoiler|Umbridge takes over and the twins leave in style, saying they'll give discounts from their joke shop to anyone who swears to get rid of "the old bat"}}, among other things. Some advanced students use the Bubblehead Charm -- a spell meant to help you breathe underwater-- to get to class without smelling dung everywhere.
* Parodied in ''[[Guards! Guards!]]''. Carrot Ironfoundersson the human was raised by dwarves, who send him to Ankh-Morpork upon reaching adulthood and tell him to seek a job at the Watch - when he becomes a copper, he'll find out who he is. They give him an official Watch rulebook and instruct him to follow it wisely. Drunkard captain Sam Vimes said no one has used the rulebook in ages, and is shocked when Carrot starts arresting thieves since the book didn't have updates on the criminal guilds. When they arrest the antagonist at the end, Vimes orders Carrot to "throw the book at him", forgetting that dwarves are [[Literal-Minded]]; Carrot tosses it so hard that {{spoiler|he accidentally knocks the villain out of a window}}. Vimes remarks they should get rid of the book since it seems too dangerous.
* In the ''[[How to Train Your Dragon (novel)|How to Train your Dragon]]'' books, this happens when Hiccup steals a book from the library to save Toothless. Hairy Scary the Librarian accost him, Camicazi and Fishlegs. He says put the book back on the shelf, or he will have to kill them. it also turns out he's a better fencer than Hiccup or Camicazi. Hiccup asks Fishlegs to look up fencing techniques in one of the books. Fishlegs grabs a book, skims it...and whacks Hairy over the head with it. Crude, but it works.
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* The ''entire'' premise behind ''[[MacGyver]]''. One such case was when the title character thought of a creative if not unnecessarily complicated way to get himself out of a locked room. There is a revolver and he could've just shot out the lock, but as he is [[Does Not Like Guns|averse to firearms]] he went through all the trouble of using the ammo off a revolver without actually using a gun.
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* [[Auto-Tune]] was originally devised to correct a singer or instrument's pitch in a particular song. And then Mark Taylor and Brian Rawling came in and discovered while working on [[Cher]]'s "Believe" that cranking it to the most aggressive setting results in an unnatural yet somewhat pleasing sound. [[T-Pain]] [[Trope Codifier|further popularised]] the trend until people got [[Deader Than Disco|burned out]] by (less-than-talented) singers having their voice manipulated to sound either robotic or better than they actually are.
** On a deeper level, the technology behind Auto-Tune was originally applied for use by oil drillers to interpret seismographic data.
== [[Sports|Professional Sports]] ==▼
* Time outs in several sports including Basketball and Lacrosse. Intended to allow teams to meet and plan strategy. Can be used tactically to prevent a player from losing possession and restart play in a controlled manner.▼
** Football, too. The most common use for a timeout is to stop the clock, and the second most common is to avoid a penalty for delay of game or too many men. It's far rarer for a timeout to be called to talk strategy on a critical play. ▼
*** Somewhat less common is the use of a timeout to "freeze the kicker". If your opponent is about to kick a field goal, calling a time out ''just before'' the play starts will often mess up a kicker's timing enough to cause him to miss the field goal when he does eventually kick it. This is only done occasionally, however, because in most circumstances time outs are much more valuable for the above-mentioned unintended uses than for this one.▼
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Dominion]]'' has the Chapel card; intended to get rid of hurtful curse cards, people realized it could be used to streamline your deck by trashing the low-value cards you start with. [[Follow the Leader|Later deckbuilding games]] such as ''Puzzle Strike'' and ''Ascension'' [[Ascended Glitch|use this as an intentional design choice]], so removing your own cards from the deck for greater efficiency is now expected. ''Ascension'' doesn't even ''have'' any harmful cards to remove.
* Where would ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' be without this? ''Magic'' doesn't really have "intended use" - it just has ''obvious'' use. Part of that long list of examples includes:
** Unsummon to save your own creatures.
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== [[Toys]] ==
* 10% Benzoyl peroxide is normally used to treat acne, but also found its niche with doll collectors, who use it to remove pen and marker stains on vinyl doll bodies.
* S.C. Johnson's ''Future'' line of acrylic floor polish, now known as
* [[Mattel]]'s IM-Me instant messaging device was (as the name implies) released as a safe and appropriate avenue for tween girls to communicate with their friends and family. But since it has a [[Texas Instruments]] CC1110 sub-GHz RF chip and JTAG headers, it became a sought-after item amongst the hardware hacking scene, with examples going up for hundreds of dollars on eBay. With the right tools, one could either convert the IM-Me to a
* Hobbyists took to hacking electronic toys for children such as Furbies and [[LeapFrog]] educational consoles, due to their relatively low cost compared to mainstream video game consoles as well as their use of off-the-shelf Linux distributions, such as in the case of the Leapster and LeapPad line receiving ports of Retroarch, repurposing what would otherwise be an easily-discarded kids' toy into an
* During the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' craze of the early 2000s, Mattel released a Nimbus 2000 toy complete with a vibration feature. It didn't take too long for Mattel to realise that the Nimbus has [https://www.beaut.ie/life/accio-bush-harry-potter-broomstick-vibrator-withdrawn-59473 seen more use] by the more raunchy crowd to have some cheap pleasure than by kids who want to play around as little witches and wizards, not to mention that the toy finding its way to sex shops led to Mattel discontinuing it not long after.
* [[Anyone Remember Pogs?]] Well if you did, you probably ''don't'' remember that they were initially intended as playing pieces in a tabletop game, but the vast majority of folks who bought them did so just to collect them.
== [[Video Games]] ==
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* When Ouroboros was introduced to ''[[City of Heroes]]'', it rapidly became a "transport hub" in addition to being the physical location of the "Flashback System". This was because you could teleport ''to'' Ouroboros from ''anywhere'' (and any''when'', which was part of the point), and then step back through the entry point to ''any'' game zone available to your alignment. More people used it as the first step in a two-step teleport than actually used the flashback system.
** It also serves as a convenient "neutral ground" meeting point for toons going on Incarnate Trials and any other missions that both heroes and villains can participate in together.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Happens in an episode of ''[[Sabrina the Animated Series]]'' "Xabrina the Teenage Warrior" a few times after Sabrina and Chloe enter a videogame world when Harvey can't stop playing:
** The goddess Athena gives him a heavy book about all the hazards in this world, and a backpack that can hold anything. When the sphinx sics a giant monster on the girls and Sabrina can't use her magic, they hole up in a tree. Sabrina remembers Athena telling them to use the book and pulls it out, with Chloe asking if there's a section on pest control. Then Sabrina drops the book, and it knocks out the monster. The sphinx concedes they technically won and lets them pass.
** The sphinx rewards the girls with a Singing Shield. They're not sure what it's supposed to do since the singing goes on and annoys them. While they end up using it to block Aphrodite's barrage of spells, the shield allows them to befriend a nice minotaur in the maze where he's trapped. They sing a duet as the girls lead him out, while covering their ears.
** Aphrodite's gift of a makeup kit proves surprisingly useful after the girls intimidate her. They use the golden dental floss to navigate through a maze with minotaurs, and combine all the cosmetics in a horn they receive from said minotaur to blow at the [[Big Bad]], the videogame CEO who appears in digital form and plans to wipe out the girls as well as Harvey who still believes he is Spartacles. He had told the girls that he's allergic to cosmetics, so he goes down in a matter of minutes.
** The backpack itself was meant to hold any items as standard for a videogame. When the [[Big Bad]] starts having his [[Sneeze of Doom]], Sabrina tosses Harvey into the backpack, before she and Chloe jump in and zip it shut. The sneeze is so powerful that it blows them and the backpack out of the game. Chloe lampshades that's probably not what the creator intended.
* In the ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' Treehouse of Horror short "Wiz Kids" that parodies Harry Potter, Bart steals Lisa's wand when Montymort coerces him to sabotage her trick for a show. He has a crisis of conscience when Lisa asks for help as Montymort steals her magic, but knows that he can't cast spells. So instead he charges at Montymort and stabs him in the leg with Lisa's wand. Turns out to be the evil wizard's weak-point; he collapses and dies.
== [[Real Life]] ==
* Mag-Lite brand flashlights were the [[Emergency Weapon|makeshift melee weapon]] of choice for both law enforcement and criminals alike, especially biker gangs such as the Hells Angels. There have indeed been incidents where Angels and their rivals were seen bludgeoning each other to pulp with Mag-Lites no thanks to their all-metal construction. They were however banned by some law enforcement units due to incidents of police brutality using Mag-Lites. That being said, one could just simply flash a Mag-Lite on a perp to temporarily blind him and thus buy time to make a quick escape.
* Clarks released two lines of children's school shoes in 2007 called "Daisy" and "Jack Nano" with a hidden compartment housing a small toy figure. BBC News reported the toys as a "term-time distraction", and the hidden compartment could, at least in theory, be used to stash small slips of paper containing exam answers for the purposes of cheating, or in the case of a certain Twitter user, other contraband such as [[LEGO]] figures.<ref>[https://mobile.twitter.com/joelbones42/status/1067420945508384768 used to smuggle lego men into school using these]</ref> Another Twitter user even jokingly suggested hiding cannabis in said compartment, cheekily lamenting that Clarks should've made adult-sized versions of said shoes.<ref>[https://mobile.twitter.com/NiallSnipars/status/1067178383174447104 Put the toy compartment in adult size shoes for hiding weed]</ref><ref>The Daisy and Jack Nano shoes were indeed sold in sizes as large as UK 5 or EU 37.</ref> The latter [[Hilarious in Hindsight|makes sense]] as Clarks was also the ones behind the Wallabees style of shoe as made infamous by ''[[Breaking Bad]]'', though of course the shoe company wouldn't want to be associated with illicit substances.
* As seen in [[American Girls Collection|American Girl]]'s ''Kit Kittredge'' story arc, housewives repurposed flour sack fabric into articles of clothing since the early 20th century. This led George P. Plant Milling Company and other firms to sell flour and feed packaged in dress-quality sacks especially during the Great Depression and World War II when fabric was in such short supply.
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* At least some narcotics and inhalants are a case of this, as they were initially intended for the treatment of certain ailments, or in the latter case, as propellants for aerosol sprays or solvents for contact cement and permanent markers. Needless to say, they became better known for being abused by destitute youths than for their intended purpose.
* This is also the basis for ''general-purpose computing on graphics processing units'' or GPGPU, where graphics processing units are used to perform calculations normally done on a CPU. Since GPUs are able to perform tons of calculations in parallel through dozens of cores, they were eventually put to use in fields beyond video games or computer graphics in general, such as digital signal processing, scientific computing and cryptography to name a few. The various "@Home" projects, of which [https://setiathome.berkeley.edu/ SETI@Home] and [https://foldingathome.org/ Folding@Home] are probably the best known, use this practice (plus the efforts of thousands of volunteers) to turn individual PCs the world over into massive virtual supercomputers to process vast amounts of data in parallel.
* The [[COVID-19
** Note that "a way to apply an object, ability, feature or other such thing that is Not the Intended Use for it" is not the same as "a ''useful'' way to apply an object, ability, feature or other such thing that is Not the Intended Use for it".
* The Willys MB Jeep was originally intended to be a rugged and reliable non-combat transport vehicle during [[World War II]], having been an iconic fixture of the war, and was subject to various field modifications in ways far beyond the original designers intended, such as "a power plant, light source, improvised stove for field rations, or a hot water source for shaving", though given the conditions it was subjected to, it is to no surprise that troops would MacGyver their jeeps to their needs. And then there was a bunch of Filipinos who, faced with the fact that their transport infrastructure was utterly destroyed by the war, took those surplus Jeeps, modified and stretched them to accommodate several passengers, and decorated these ex-military vehicles in the most campy way imaginable, giving rise to the Jeepney. Japanese scale model firm Tamiya would later commemorate them in 2019 with the "Dyipne", a Mini 4WD kit inspired by the vehicle.
* For ''decades'' cosmetologists and makeup experts used Preparation H (a hemorrhoid medication) to shrink puffiness and fade dark circles under the eyes. In the early 21st century the manufacturer of Preparation H changed the formulation such that it was no longer effective for this (allegedly ''specifically'' to prevent this use), but the change was made only to the United States market; it was still possible to buy the original formulation outside of the country; buying it in bulk from Mexico and Canada became ''very'' popular.
* In a similar case to the above-mentioned Harry Potter broomstick, the Hitachi Magic Wand was originally manufactured and marketed for relieving tension and muscle pain, but would later gain notoriety in the late 1960s as something more, ahem, stimulating, with third parties producing aftermarket accessories made with the adult crowd in mind. Hitachi caught wind of its off-label use and briefly discontinued the device in 2013, fearing a public relations nightmare as [[Old Shame|they didn't want themselves to be associated with sex toys]], only for them to acquiesce when sex toy company Vibratex persuaded them to continue production of the massager, albeit without the Hitachi branding. It is likely that Hitachi [[Money, Dear Boy|tacitly saw a market]] with the sex industry but didn't want to be directly associated with it anyway, never mind the brand being used as a by-word for electric sexual vibrators.
* Pirated repacks of computer games, e.g. those from FitGirl and DODI, are a convenient avenue for those wanting to pirate the latest titles without having to wait so much due to less-than-ideal internet connections as they are compressed to at least half or a third of the game's original install size, though they do take significantly longer to install due to aggressive use of compression. While downloading them is still not without its risk due to their less-than-legal nature, some who did buy the games on services like Steam or the Epic Games Store but are hampered by slow or limited connections simply downloaded the repacks and unpacked their contents on the folder where the legitimate copies are to be installed, thereby rendering them as legal copies.
* Ever since more restaurants started offering gluten-free food, many consumers have viewed it as a new trend in "health food". Truth be told, however, unless you actually have celiac disease, gluten free food has no additional health benefits. In fact, it might actually make you ''gain'' weight.
* Game controllers are cheap, easy to use and are familiar to younger generations. This is precisely the reason why the US military utilised them for controlling things like UAV drones as it would be easier to train rookie soldiers using something they already had experience with (which has unsurprisingly led to some controversy as some found this rather video-gamey way of killing enemy combatants ''[[Call of Duty]]'' style in [[Real Life]] to be of extremely poor taste). In 2023 it has been pointed out that the ''Titan'' submersible involved in an [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Titan_submersible_incident incident] where they went missing whilst attempting to explore the remains of the RMS ''Titanic'' used an off-the-shelf Logitech G F710 game controller, a $40 joypad they might have snatched off GameStop or some other electronics store and modified for submersible use.
* In early 2023, an Australian retailer of "adult products" called Wild Secrets [https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/sex-doll-firm-sells-out-29616054 completely sold out] of their stock of a particularly realistic sex doll -- because it was realistic enough to fool the traffic cameras that enforce certain "car pool only" lanes that require that there be at least two persons in a car using them.
▲=== [[Sports|Professional Sports]] ===
▲* Time outs in several sports including Basketball and Lacrosse. Intended to allow teams to meet and plan strategy. Can be used tactically to prevent a player from losing possession and restart play in a controlled manner.
▲** Football, too. The most common use for a timeout is to stop the clock, and the second most common is to avoid a penalty for delay of game or too many men. It's far rarer for a timeout to be called to talk strategy on a critical play.
▲*** Somewhat less common is the use of a timeout to "freeze the kicker". If your opponent is about to kick a field goal, calling a time out ''just before'' the play starts will often mess up a kicker's timing enough to cause him to miss the field goal when he does eventually kick it. This is only done occasionally, however, because in most circumstances time outs are much more valuable for the above-mentioned unintended uses than for this one.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Game Tropes]]
[[Category:Not the Way It Is Meant to Be Played]]
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