No longer being involved in the macabre, trap dodging, kill or be killed Spy vs Spy we rapidly leave the area in our plane and look towards our next game, hoping that life in our next Your Sinclair Top 100 entry will not be so brutal. However looking at No.#19 it appears we’re not escaping the clutches of vicious sadists anytime soon, as we are going Back to Skool with Microsphere.
Back to Skool arrived in 1985, created by David S. Reidy with Keith Warrington, a follow up to the rather excellent Skool Daze which arrived in 1984 and one of the games in our recent Ten ZX Spectrum Games that you have to play video.
Once again we take on the role of the Eric, who in the last outing managed to steal his report card, now needs to replace it back into the Headmaster’s safe with all the forged signatures in place. However, he’s got his work cut out in this new term as he’s not only got the old Masters to deal with – in the Boys School – but now he’s also got to work out how to gain access to Girls School to get not only get the key from around the Head Mistress; neck, but also her supply of sherry to get the Masters drunk! This is going to be difficult, you’re not hitting shields anymore.
Back to Skool is an extremely well thought out game. Skool Daze itself was excellent and is still to this day, but both David S. Reidy with Keith Warrington took the core essence of the game – which is childish anarchic fun – then made it that bit more bigger, smarter and much more tricker. It’s very enjoyable to play, though for myself I still first return to Skool Daze before Back to Skool, just because of the simplicity.
Nothing has been lost in the thirty-one years since Back to Skool first appeared – it’s still an enjoyable game to load up and play. Currently both Skool Daze & Back to Skool are in the process of being brought to mobile platforms by the Involution Team and Alternative Software so that’s something to keep an eye on.
Originally published August 9, 2016. Updated May 18, 2023.
