Dan vs. Phil

Dan vs. Phil is an ongoing series of videos on DanAndPhilGAMES. Love it or hate it, it has become an integral part of the channel. The concept is simple: Dan and Phil play some silly game in front of a camera (included, but not limited to video games, board games or even hand games. Hell, if they can implement a scoring system, you bet your ass they are gonna Dan vs. Phil it) and compete with each other, and the audience prays that it doesn't get too violent. And to keep track of the score, they came up with a leaderboard, which they repurposed from the unused leaf of the dining table from their first London apartment. The winner gets a sticker added to their respective side of the board.

The first appearance of Dan vs. Phil board (BUTTON BASHING PROS - Dan vs. Phil: Mortal Kombat Trilogy)

(Fun fact: They predicted DanAndPhilCRAFTS in this video)

There are 35 stickers on the front of the board, displaying 17.5 wins for Dan and 17.5 wins for Phil. Wait, how can it possibly be a decimal number, I hear you ask? Well, you see, there was a very special episode titled "Dan vs. Phil: ZELDA OLYMPICS!". And what's so special about this video, I hear you ask the second time, as you progressively get more and more frustrated with my wording choices? Alright, alright. This is the only video in the entire series where Dan and Phil tear the winner's sticker in half and share it on the leaderboard, due to a tie. As they say, friendship won!

The series is notoriously known for utilizing the right to All or Nothing. When someone proposes All or Nothing, they are basically saying "Let's dismiss all previous scores and do one final round; and the winner of this round gets the sticker. Even if the score is 4:1, nope, that's in the past! None of it matters now!". You can view it as a desperate final attempt to win when all else fails. For some inexplicable reason, Dan constantly tries to frame Phil for overdoing AON, thereby popularizing this attribution in fanon. However, in 2019, Tumblr user @theironicllama made a chart with the statistical analysis of the series, and you can view it here. If you don't want to read all that, no worries. I'll summarize the conclusions for you:

• Dan proposed an AON a total of 8 whopping times, but Phil only 3.
• 11 of the 36 games had an AON.
• Phil never proposed an AON after he won, but Dan did 5 times.
• Dan lost 4 of his wins on AON, and all of the 8 times that he proposed an AON, he only won twice. (womp womp)

The grand finale of the first season concluded in December of 2018 in the video titled "Dan vs. Phil - THE FINAL BATTLE" (Allegedly because they've ran out of space on the board, but I believe their desire to take a creative break also played a part). The prize was a glittery crown, delicately crafted by Dan out of the salvaged corpse of their last year's Christmas decoration, which Phil also managed to crush with his ass in one of the Gamingmas video. So the final round consisted out of three games:

1. 1. The Staring Contest (as decided by Phil, and also won by Phil)
2. 2. The Arm Wrestling Contest (as decided by Dan, and also won by Dan)
3. 3. Rock, Paper, Scissors (as decided by both Dan and Phil in advance)

At last, the title of the Ultimate Champion and the Winner of Dan vs. Phil was rightfully given to...

PHILLY!!!!!!

... And they released a few more Sims videos, then announced that they will be going on a hiatus, the gaming channel was highkey dead for five years, Dan and Phil gave their fans abandonment issues, you know the drill. Right, let's not discuss this right now.

Many thought it highly unlikely that the series would ever reappear on the channel, or at least not in its full capacity. But hey, guess what else was considered unlikely for many years? Dan and Phil Games revival. Guess what came upon the internet in 2023 like a lightning strike out of the clear blue sky? Like a slap in the face, but a fun consensual one? Like a refreshing gust of wind on a sweltering day, just right when you needed it most? Yep, that's right: Dan and Phil Games revival. But would you believe me if I told you that there was someone else who rolled back into town alongside the gaming channel?

In November of 2023, at the end of a certain video titled "Dan and Phil are FEUDING", Phil expressed his desire to bring back Dan vs Phil. And although Phil wasn't the winner of this Google Feud round, Dan considerately decided to just go along with it. Together they unveiled the long-neglected original board and flipped it over, revealing all of the empty space on its backside. Hence, Dan Vs. Phil season 2 is currently ongoing, and at the moment of typing this, Phil seems to stay in the lead once again... What a compelling plot twist, huh?