1st Prize
1st Prize is a hugging robot with one goal: to hug people for all eternity. In practice, that means he turns towards you, speeds up and shoves you down the hallway, sometimes into a wall and sometimes straight into Baldi. He can’t end your run on his own, but he is very good at putting you somewhere you don’t want to be. Here is how he moves and how to deal with him in Baldi’s Basics Plus.
How he moves
1st Prize is always active and always goes for you. When he notices you, he slowly turns to face you, then accelerates and pushes you down the hallway. His motor sound rises in pitch as he speeds up, which is a useful warning that a push is coming.
Two things make him harder to avoid than he looks:
- He sees in every direction. 1st Prize has a full 360° view, something only he and The Test have. You can’t sneak behind him.
- He follows you, not a route. Unlike Gotta Sweep, who sweeps on his own schedule, 1st Prize is focused on you whenever he can see you.
While he pushes, you hear his line “I HUG PEOPLE FOR ALL ETERNITY.” His voice is text-to-speech, and he is one of the few characters in the game not voiced by the developer.
What his push can do
| Situation | Result |
|---|---|
| Baldi is behind you | The push can carry you away from him faster than you can run |
| Baldi is ahead of you | He can push you straight into Baldi. He can’t push Baldi himself and passes right through him |
| Playtime has you in jump rope | The push can interrupt her game |
| The end of a hallway | He can pin you against a wall, blocking your view and your movement |
| A window | He can smash windows, and a broken window in the Principal’s office lets you leave detention |
If you stop at the end of a hallway after a push, he keeps turning from side to side until you move or he is cut with Safety Scissors.
Counters
| Counter | Effect |
|---|---|
| Safety Scissors | Cut his wires: he slows down and spins for 30 seconds. More scissors add more time |
| BSODA | Pushes him away before he can push you |
| Beans’ gum | Slows him down, though he often rushes at you and crashes into a wall when he breaks free |
| Techno Boots | Resist pushes against your movement |
The Faculty Nametag doesn’t work on 1st Prize. He keeps pushing faculty members just like students.
Stop him or ride along?
Not every push is bad. A good rule is to think about where the push is taking you:
- Let him push when he is carrying you away from Baldi, towards the elevators or along a hallway you wanted to cross anyway.
- Stop him when he is pushing you towards Baldi, into the Principal’s view while you are guilty, or into a dead end.
Safety Scissors are the cleanest answer when you need him gone, because they stop him for half a minute. Our Safety Scissors guide explains how they also handle Playtime and Beans.
Using him as cover
1st Prize can block your view, but he can also block a corner. Hiding behind him in a hallway corner is known to trigger some of his rarer voice lines. When he reaches a spot without seeing you, he also has a small chance to say something, which tells you he is nearby but not tracking you.
Listen for the motor. The rising pitch as he accelerates is the moment to decide: spray, cut or let him take you for a ride.
1st Prize and other characters
- Baldi. 1st Prize can’t push him and passes through him, so you can’t use the robot to move Baldi away.
- Cloudy Copter. Moving against the wind makes 1st Prize flicker, unless he is pushing you.
- The Principal and Arts and Crafters. If you get sent to detention or teleported while he is pushing you, the teleport can rarely fail. It is a known bug.
His story in development
1st Prize appeared in the Early Access trailer but was delayed, because his physics-based movement didn’t fit the way the game moves characters. He was planned for version 0.2, didn’t actually spawn in it, and was fixed in version 0.2.1. Since version 0.14, his pushing speed also takes movement modifiers into account.
FAQ
Can 1st Prize push Baldi?
No. He passes straight through Baldi. He can, however, push you into him.
Does the Faculty Nametag stop him?
No. It has no effect on 1st Prize.
How long do Safety Scissors stop him?
He spins slowly for 30 seconds, and extra scissors used during that time add to it.
Meet the rest of the school in the Characters section, or compare him with the other pusher in the halls, Gotta Sweep.
