Skool Daze

Skool Daze sets you as Eric, a typical scamp of a schoolboy whose school report is due, and it is so bad that his parents can't be allowed to see it. This means retrieving it from the headmaster's safe, by obtaining every piece of the pass-code from the teachers, by hitting each of the shields with your catapult.

Released: 1984
Platforms: Commodore 64 Commodore C64/128/MAX ZX Spectrum
Genres: Action-adventure Adventure Platformer Puzzle
Developers: —
Publishers: Microsphere
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Side view
Themes: Action
Country: United Kingdom
Languages: English

About

Skool Daze is an action-adventure game released by Microsphere in 1984 for the ZX Spectrum and ported to the Commodore 64 the following year. It was written by David Reidy (whose wife, Helen, was a school teacher at the time) with graphics designed by Keith Warrington. The game was commercially and critically successful, and praised for its original concept. It has since been regarded as one of the pioneers of the open world sandbox game genre.

Keywords

side-scrolling
slice of life
single-player only
non-player character

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The player assumes the role of a schoolboy named Eric whose objective is to steal his report card out of the staff room safe by accomplishing various tasks around the school. The computer controls all the other characters, including the headmaster, the teachers, and the pupils.

The four teachers are Mr Wacker (the headmaster), Mr Rockitt (the science teacher), Mr Withit (the geography teacher) and Mr Creak (the history master). Other than Eric, three of the pupils are named: Boy Wander (the tearaway), Angelface (the bully) and Einstein (the swot). The player has the option of renaming the characters before the game begins. There are also many unnamed, undistinguished pupils at the school.

Reception

Skool Daze was a commercial success when first released, selling 50,000 copies despite very little marketing or promotion. Reidy later realised he could have made more money with an appropriate campaign, and regretted the loss of income due to software piracy, but was still happy that the game was profitable and covered costs.

The ZX Spectrum version was one of the Spectrum games listed in 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die.

Legacy

The game was followed by Back to Skool, which expanded the gameplay to include a neighbouring girls' school and a love interest (with the benefit of being able to reduce one's lines), in addition to stink bombs, mice, water pistols, frogs, sherry and a long-suffering caretaker.