Betty and Veronica/Playing With

Basic Trope: A character has two conflicting love interests and must choose one.

• Straight: Betty and Veronica are in love with Archie, who must choose one or the other. Both equally offer different things that Archie likes in a partner.
• Exaggerated:
  • Betty and Veronica are both in love with Archie, so they organise a gladiatorial fight to the death to decide.
  • Up to Eleven: more and more people join in the fight for Archie resulting in city-wide mayhem. Archie is disgusted and leaves while the fighting continues.
  • Alternatively: The Bachelor.
• Justified:
  • Betty and Veronica are in love with Archie, since Archie is having an affair with both of them at the same time.
  • Alternatively: Betty and Veronica are in love with Archie, since they're both the same person (clones, present/future versions, alternate reality twins).
• Inverted:
  • Archie has to, for whatever reason, choose between Betty and Veronica but neither one want him.
  • Archie has to, for whatever reason, choose between Betty and Veronica with both girls having a desirable trait.
• Subverted:
  • Betty and Veronica are in love with Archie, but Archie and ends up entering a relationship with Cheryl Blossom.
  • Alternatively: Betty and Veronica both pretend to be in love with Archie for their own reasons, but they aren't. Maybe they're just in it for the competition, or they both actually want Cheryl but think they can't have her.
  • Alternatively: None of them have a problem with polygamy.
  • Alternatively: If homo- or bisexuality is involved, Betty and Veronica fall for each other and tell Archie where to go.
  • Alternatively: Archie and Betty are in love and in a relationship before Veronica enters and gets along swimmingly with Archie. Though everyone, including Archie and Betty, takes this to mean that Archie and Veronica have feelings for each other; with it wreaking havoc on Archie and Betty's relationship; Veronica ultimately doesn't, viewing Archie and herself as nothing more than Platonic Life Partners. Archie's feelings are somewhat more ambiguous but there's usually the implication, even if he stays with Betty, that he's pondering What Could Have Been if he and Veronica had gotten together.
• Double Subverted:
  • Betty and Veronica are in love with Archie, but Archie chooses Cheryl—so Betty and Veronica team up to get rid of Cheryl.
  • Alternatively: Betty and Veronica both pretend to be in love with Archie for their own reasons, but they aren't... until they both fall in love with Archie for real.
  • Alternatively: Archie chooses Cheryl, but has second thoughts about turning down Veronica. Betty is now out of the picture (or vice-versa).
  • Alternatively: Archie chooses Cheryl to escape this trope, only to discover that Chuck is also vying for Cheryl's affection.
  • Alternatively: Betty and Veronica both love Archie, but for whatever reason one thinks the other would be the better match, and pushes Archie in that direction.
  • Alternatively: They both think the other is the other match, so Archie ends up alone or with disgusting, destructive Cheryl because Betty and Veronica seem to shun him.
  • Alternatively: Betty and Veronica fall for each other and tell Archie where to go. But it turns out that Betty still loves Archie, so now it is she, who has to choose between two love interests.
• Parodied: Betty and Veronica are in love with Archie, but both Betty and Veronica are horrible and/or obsessive people whom Archie can't stand.
• Deconstructed:
  • Betty and Veronica are in love with Archie, and the resulting strain this three-way triangle places on them ends up ultimately destroying the relationships between all three.
  • Alternatively: Betty and Veronica are in love with Archie, and one of them decides to Murder the Hypotenuse.
  • Alternatively: Betty likes Archie and Veronica, Veronica likes Betty and Archie, Archie wants the others as Just Friends but is too nice to say anything and/or enjoys the attention.
• Reconstructed: Betty and Veronica are in love with Archie, and the resulting strain this three-way triangle places on them ends up ultimately destroying the relationships between all three. They eventually manage to repair their relationships and come to an accommodation.
• Zigzagged: Betty and Veronica are in love with Archie. Then they aren't. Then Archie's in love with them but they don't reciprocate. Then they do, but Archie's moved on. Then Cheryl enters the picture...
• Averted:
  • Archie, Betty and Veronica are just friends.
  • Alternatively: Archie and Betty love each other, and Veronica is just friends with them.
• Enforced: "We need romantic tension between these three!"
• Lampshaded: "You know, having two women fight over you is not as much fun as you'd think it would be."
• Invoked: "Let's see if I can get Betty and Veronica to fall in love with me at the same time..."
• Defied: Betty and Veronica love Archie, but Veronica withdraws, respecting Betty as a friend and not wanting a lover to come between then.
• Discussed: "Much as you'd like to believe otherwise, Archie, having two women chase after you at the same time hardly ever happens."
• Conversed: "I wish Betty and Veronica were both chasing after me..."
• Implied: Betty and Veronica are never outright said to be love interests for Archie but both do have a lot of subplots with him that suggest they're harbouring romantic feelings for him.

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