Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning

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Overview

Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning, also known simply as Baldi's Basics is an indie horror video game parodying and based on educational video games from the 1980s and 90s. The game features a crudely animated character named Baldi who attempts to stop the player from escaping the school by asking them to solve math problems.

History

On March 31st, 2018, the independent game developer Micah McGonigal released Baldi's Basics for free on Itch.io.^[1]
In the game's description, McGonigal described the game:

"Inspired by creepy/bad edutainment games from the 90s (Sonic's Schoolhouse, I.M. Meen, 3D Dinosaur Adventure: Save the Dinosaurs), this game starts out seemingly innocent enough, but it quickly becomes clear that this isn't edutainment. Collect all 7 of the notebooks and escape the school, all while avoiding Baldi. Baldi has many friends in the school that will slow down your progress and put you at risk of being caught, so learn how each character works and how you can avoid their attention. Find and use items to your advantage. Oh, and finally, try not to get the quiz answers wrong… Each wrong answer makes Baldi angrier…

That day, he tweeted,^[2] "It's finally finished… Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning is now available to download! https://mystman12.itch.io/baldis-basics Be warned, it's really bad. #MetaGameJam #gamedev." The post (shown below) received more than 50 retweets and 310 likes in two months.

Reception

The game was created for the Meta Game Jam, a video game competition in which users attempt to create the most self-aware game possible. Baldi's came in 2nd place with 39 ratings and a score of .548.^[5] Following the release, the game received a 4.8 rating on Itch.io.

On April 12th, the video game website Kotaku ^[6] gave Baldi a positive review. They wrote, "The titular Baldi will stalk you throughout the school, creepily smacking a ruler against his hand. If he finds you, you get a jumpscare and a game over. Baldi’s Basics isn’t that deep, but I loved both its commitment to the joke of making fun of bad edutainment games and how well it pivots from humor to horror. It’s free on itch.io, and probably would be fun to prank your friends with."

On May 28th, 2018, YouTuber Markiplier published a "Let's Play" video of the game. The post (shown below) received more than 1.2 million views in 24 hours.

Fandom

On April 27th, 2018, a Baldi's Basics wiki launched.^[3]

On May 18th, Redditor ^[4] kittens_from_space launched the /r/baldisbasics subreddit.

Kickstarter

On July 24th, 2018, McGonigal created a Kickstarter^[7] campaign to expand the game. Within one week, the Kickstarter received more than $20,600 of its $50,000 goal. For the updated game, McGonigal revealed plans to add new characters, randomly generated levels and field trip features. The game is planned for release on PC, Mac and Linux systems through Steam, GOG and Itch.io.

In the coming days, posted about the Kickstarter were submitted to the /r/creepygaming,^[8] /r/BaldisBasicsEdu^[9] and /r/baldisbasics^[10] subreddits. Additionally, an article about the Kickstarter was published on Kotaku.^[11]