Maintenance
Think of Maintenance as the floor where the school runs out of electricity. Every classroom starts switched off, you are the one who turns the lights back on, and the wiring can only take so much before the whole floor shuts down. Maintenance shows up on level 4 or level 5 of a run, and it rewards patience far more than speed. Below you will find how the electrical system behaves, what a blackout does to your escape and a route plan that keeps the lights on until you reach the exit.
The electrical system
No activity on this floor can be completed in a dark room. Before a Math Machine, Balloon Buster or Match Machine will respond, its classroom needs electricity, and electricity comes from levers placed somewhere outside the room.
- Levers. Pulling a lever up switches on the lights and machines of the classrooms wired to it.
- Wires. You can trace which room a lever feeds: a cable leads from one to the other, and a live cable hums. Your eyes and your ears both help here.
- The load meter. A gauge tells you how close the floor is to its limit. Each lever you pull up pushes the needle further.
- Overload. Go past the limit and the fuse gives out. Every light on the floor dies until someone resets it.
- The breaker box. This is where you reset a blown fuse. A green lamp and a ringing alarm give away its position, which helps a lot once everything is dark.
- The reset button. Added in version 0.14, it drops every lever that is up in one press, so you can start the wiring over without walking to each lever.
Version 0.14 also shortened the walk: levers now spawn nearer to the classrooms they feed than they did when the floor was introduced.
What a blackout does
A tripped fuse changes the whole floor at once, and almost none of it in your favor:
| Effect | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Darkness everywhere | Where it is fully dark, nobody can be seen, and that includes Baldi coming towards you |
| Elevators shut down | There is no way out until the breaker is reset; afterwards each elevator goes back to the state it had before |
| Machines without electricity | Neither activities nor bonus questions work in a room that has no power |
Check the load meter before you pick up the final notebook. A blackout on the walk to the elevators leaves you stranded at the exact moment Baldi reaches his top speed for the floor.
Other things on the floor
| Feature | How it behaves | How to play it |
|---|---|---|
| Steam valves | Turning one on a leaking pipe fills the area with steam | Inside the cloud you are harder to spot, though your own view is worse too |
| Lightbulb testing room | The room flips between light and dark on a ten-second cycle | Time your movement with the dark phase to stay hidden for a moment |
| Breaker box | Brings the power back after an overload | Find it early, before you start pulling levers |
Route plan
- Locate the breaker box. Knowing its spot in advance turns a blackout into a short detour instead of a search in the dark.
- Work in small zones. Pull up only the lever for the rooms you are heading to, finish their activities, then continue.
- Keep an eye on the meter. As it nears the limit, drop the levers of finished rooms or press the reset button.
- Listen for the hum. A live cable is the quickest guide from a lever to the classroom it feeds.
- Save headroom for the end. Before the final notebook, leave the circuit well under its limit and know your path to the elevators.
Hiding on this floor
More than any other level type, Maintenance is about not being seen. A spot that is as dark as it can get keeps you out of sight of every character, and in complete darkness nobody can see anybody. Steam and the flickering test room add even more cover. The catch is obvious once you play it: the same darkness that hides you from Baldi also hides Baldi from you. Play with sound on and pay attention to the slap of his ruler.
Your ears do most of the work on this floor. Doors and lockers still make the same noise for Baldi, while the darkness gives you less time to react when he turns up.
What to bring
| Item | Use on this floor |
|---|---|
| Super Stretchy Glove | Flip a lever or press a button that is in view but out of reach |
| Dirty Chalk Eraser | A cloud that conceals anyone standing in it, on top of the darkness |
| Invisibility Elixir | Half a minute unseen for a hallway that still has its lights on |
| BSODA | Your answer when Baldi finds you in spite of the dark |
| WD-NoSquee | Silence around the doors you pass through again and again |
When the chalkboard in the Pitstop announces Maintenance as the next floor, shop for these in Johnny’s Store. Our item ranking shows how they stack up across a whole run.
Typical errors
- Pulling up every lever on the way. Sooner or later that trips the fuse.
- Not knowing where the breaker box is. Hunting for it in a pitch-black floor while Baldi roams is a quick way to lose a power tube.
- Starting an activity in a room without electricity. Switch the room on first.
- Heading for the elevators mid-blackout. They stay dead until the breaker is reset.
FAQ
Why won’t the activity in this classroom work?
The room is unpowered. Follow its cable back to the lever and pull it up.
Can I get Maintenance on both level 4 and level 5?
No. The last two floors of a run always use two different types, so a Maintenance level 4 means level 5 will be a Factory or a Laboratory.
Does Baldi see me in the dark?
Not in complete darkness, but you can’t see him either, and he still hears every sound you make.
Maintenance is one of three special floor types; compare all of them in the Floors & Levels section, and see where they fit in How to Beat Hide & Seek. Ready to try it? Start a run from the home page.