Ok, so I think we’ve established Fallout 76 hasn’t been the most successful from a critical perspective – but one thing that’s kept me absolutely fascinated by the game is its community, who keep coming up with inventive (or illicit) new ways to play the game.
One of the most flamboyant creators is Vault101manguy – a Canadian called Mike who we previously interviewed about his Deathclaw maze, player oven and murder church. This time he’s made something far, far worse: a trap room where players are forced to do maths – or die. It’s all very Fallout.
In order to fool players, Mike first constructed a convincing school complete with lockers, desks, bookshelves, and even small details like “page nine math homework due on Monday” written on a blackboard. On the outside it resembles a traditional American school: but should unfortunate wastelanders step inside the “tutoring room”, they’ll get more than they bargained for.
“Curious wastelanders who investigate the school and enter the room suddenly find the door mechanically locked behind them,” Mike explained on Reddit. “The game then begins.”
1 of 3 Caption Attribution School of hard knocks.
On the wall is a sign saying “keep calm, do math, open door to live” – with a keypad next to the door asking players to show their work. The maths question itself is relatively simple if you remember BIDMAS from junior school: 230 x 10 + 2 – but perhaps it’s hard to think clearly when everything around you is literally going up in smoke.