Riddle School Walkthrough: Getting Out of Mister Kahm's Class

Riddle School has no tutorial, and the fastest way to fail it is to press a key: the game restarts on any key press. This walkthrough covers the opening, from the title screen to the moment you realise you need a hall pass. It points out what to click without giving away every joke.

The menu

The title screen has one button, Main Menu. Behind it are Start Game, Instructions, Disclaimer, Credits, Fun Facts and Quit. Instructions is worth a look once. It says that clicking a word balloon advances the dialogue, clicking an item collects it, and clicking the same item in the inventory uses it. Clicking around a room makes Phil comment or act. Then, in large red capitals, it warns that pressing any key during gameplay restarts the game.

Mister Kahm's class

Start Game drops you into the classroom. Phil groans and complains that he has been sitting there for two hours straight listening to addition facts. Click the balloon to get through his speech. When it ends, the screen changes: a red Inventory panel appears bottom left, a map top right and a South label at the front of the room.

Click the teacher first. Phil introduces him as Mister Kahm, who asks lots of questions and does not know any of the answers. The blackboard says Mathness over a sum that does not add up. Then click around: the windows, the wall socket, the crack in the wall, the desks. Most of these get a comment and nothing else. That is normal in Riddle School; you are clicking to find the one thing that matters.

The thing that matters is on the teacher's desk: a pencil sharpener. Click it. Phil says "That's it!" and asks Mister Kahm whether he can sharpen his pencil. Click the balloons through the reply, and Phil ends up outside the classroom with a groan-worthy pun about it.

The corridor

Outside is a corridor of lockers. The sign over Mister Kahm's door is a joke of its own, so read it. From here the red labels do the walking. West, North and East lead off this first stretch. On the map, the row of eight squares at the top is the rooms and the row below is the corridor; the lit square is where you are.

Walking east you pass:

• Ms. Cophey's room: a door with a clock over it and a drinking fountain beside it.
• The janitor's closet: note the green puddle on the floor in front of it.
• The men's room: North from its stretch of corridor. Inside are stalls covered in graffiti, a row of taps, and one stall that Phil calls untouched, in perfect condition and currently on display.
• Richy: the hall guard at the far end.

Richy and the hall pass

Walk far enough east and Richy stops you: "Hey, it's me, Richy, the hall guard. Got a hall pass?" You don't, so you can't pass, and the game walks you back a room. This is the first real puzzle of the game. Everything from here is about getting past him, and after that out of the building.

How to solve the rest yourself

Riddle School is short, and it plays fair once you know its habits:

• Every room has one or two things that matter among many that only get a joke. Click everything, then click it again later with a new item in your hands.
• Items do nothing until you use them. Click the item in the inventory, then click the person or thing you want to use it on.
• Doors have names on them for a reason. If someone blocks your way, ask what they want, and look for it in the rooms you have not opened yet.
• Watch the map. A dark square is a room you have not seen.

When you have beaten the first game, read the series guide to see what comes next.