"The Royale" is the name of an episode from the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Commander Riker, Lt. Worf and Lt. Commander Data beam down to a strange building located on an alien planet. Upon entering the building they find themselves trapped in an old earth style Hotel/Casino called the Royale.

While exploring the building they find the remains of a very old NASA astronaut and a book titled The Royale, which may be a reference to the Ian Fleming novel Casino Royale. They eventually discover that they are inside a living version of the book which was created by aliens.

They deduce that the earth spacecraft went off course and was found by aliens who, out of pity, created a place that they thought would be similar to Earth. Ironically, the astronaut's journal indicated that the Royale was a living hell. After following the book's plot out to its conclusion, Data, Riker and Worf were able to return to the Enterprise.

The Royale was written by Tracy Tormé under the pseudonym Keith Mills due to extensive rewrites. One major loss was the character of the Astronaut himself, living as a recreation amid the recreation of his novel.

Memorable quotes

• "Baby needs a new pair of shoes" - Data
• "It was a dark and stormy night..." - Picard reading the first line of The Royale.