Imagine you're playing an RPG - it doesn't matter what the plot requires you to do. Maybe you're facing against a swarm of dire badger-pires. In a good RPG, defeating said badger-pires would appropriately difficult and not require you to read the minds of the develops.
In a bad RPG, they require you to know the fifteen spell under an element that you never knew existed because it never even mentioned it.
Welcome to the world of Guide Dang It, a trope so abused it feels like someone should've caught on by now. Admittedly this is an easy trope to misuse (as if there's any other reason for it to occur) and as games undergo development, there's always the chance mistakes happen. Still, this explains its ubiquitous nature in digital (and even non-digital) entertainment.
Now, this is so predominantly game-oriented that I felt this trope important to demonstrate a key aspect of trope use. Any trope, no matter how strong its predilections, may find a niche in writing. This trope is useful for showing how characters react and solve issues where they know the situation wasn't being fair, before it becomes crucial to the plot (which should be the biggest reason you try this). Obviously it must be adapted to the particular situation; not all environments possess video games, for example. However, most societies use some form of diversionary entertainment and some games simply don't play by their own rules.
It also provides flavor to the world, showing what a world's citizens do for fun. It also obviously shows what happens when a world's entertainment goes foul and cheats to win. This, again, gives characters an opportunity to bust their chops and see how they pull victory when the stakes are stacked against them.
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