Pencils Down

Pencils Down is an analog horror exam roguelike. You sit a 44-question test divided into four sections, wagering 1–5 confidence chips on each answer. Correct answers win chips back and wrong ones cost them; erasers are your lives, and questions printed in red ink put an eraser at stake. A proctor can be heard approaching before it is seen.

Taking the exam

The test has a 70% pass mark. You answer questions under a section clock, which continues running if you leave your seat. When your pencil goes dull, you can cross Room 44 in first person to reach the wall sharpener. The door leads to the New Wing, where things you encounter can appear on the exam. Stay out of your seat too long and the proctor comes for you; it moves only when you are not looking. When it approaches, you must sit down. When its shadow crosses your desk, you must stop working or it notices you.

Questions can rot on the page in harder forms, so slow reading has a cost. The answer sheet can move, making it important to check your bubbles before locking them in. You can look up with TAB to see the clock on the wall, though sometimes other things are there too.

The room and the proctor

Room 44 and the New Wing are explored in first person at night, while the lights fail one section at a time. You can turn this out-of-seat feature off in Settings. The proctor’s approach and the rules around looking at it shape how you manage time outside your seat.

Questions about you

From Section C onward, the exam asks about your own test-taking, including which earlier answers were guesses, how many times you erased, and what the chalkboard said during the break. These questions are generated live from your actions in that sitting, so the answers depend on what you remember rather than information you can look up.

Examination forms

There are four forms: Standard Administration, Honors Track, the District Protocol and THE OCTOBER ADMINISTRATION, which appears every October. The District Protocol makes the test misbehave and includes question 45 of 44. The game has five endings, with secrets to uncover.

Questions and study aids

The exam draws on more than 800 questions written to fit 1999, alongside mathematics generated fresh for every sitting. School Store meta-progression offers study aids, each of which is both a blessing and a curse.

Name settings

The exam can optionally know your name. You can deny the request in Settings, and the District records each denial.