Back to Skool is a computer game, sequel to the popular Skool Daze, created by David Reidy (whose wife Helen was a school teacher at the time for the ZX Spectrum and released by Microsphere in 1985. The gameplay is very similar to - if more advanced than - Skool Daze, even incorporating most of the same characters, gameplay elements and graphics.
The game is ranked 19th in the Your Sinclair official top 100 Spectrum games of all time.
The game differs from its predecessor by a growth of the play area (including a neighbouring girls' school) and a number of gameplay changes.
The girls' school incorporates its own new characters including undistinguished girls with hockey sticks, Hayley (girlfriend of the main character Eric) and Miss Take (the headmistress). Only at break time and lunch times are the girls allowed to mingle with the boys, in the central grassy playground, separated at other times by a high fence. The opening and closing of the fence is controlled by the school caretaker Albert, a new character to the game. It is also possible for Eric to sneak over the fence into the girls' school during lesson times, either using the bicycle (after completing the challenge of finding its lock's combination and then performing a tricky manoeuvre on it) or by watering the flower beside the fence and then jumping on it. When the girls and boys are allowed to mingle and when Eric gains access to the girls' school, he can kiss Hayley, who would then agree to do some of his lines for him.
Elements added in Back to Skool include stink bombs (used to trigger the opening of windows), water pistols, mice that can be released in the girls' school causing widespread panic, and sherry (which can be squirted into cups and used to "intoxicate" teachers by splashing it on them with correct timing).
It is possible to commit suicide by opening the top storey window and making Eric jump out. (Jumping out of a window is necessary to sneak into the girls' school, but only from the first floor - not the second.) When this happens, Eric would lie incapacitated on the ground outside the boys' school until Mr Wacker approaches and tells him "Eric you are not a bird", and the game ends. This effectively replaced the mumps instant Game Over from Skool Daze.
There is a bug in the game that enables you to see what goes on in the girls' school without leaving the boys' school. To do this go as far left as possible in the Blue Room, then face right and press the key that would have Eric pick up a mouse or frog (C). The whole screen will scroll if you press any button until it goes all the way to the girls' school. Once the scrolling is complete Eric can move around as usual, unseen, and will NOT pick up any lines. You can, through trial and error, get to the girls' school upon which the game will go back to normal. This is best attempted at playtime, and really isn't that difficult to do provided you know your way around the boys' school.
Source: Wikipedia, "Back to Skool," available under the CC-BY-SA License.
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