Locations and Game Strategies

While you're moving on rails, there are several locations you may visit. The Midway is basically a loop and if you click forward you will eventually come back to where you started.

If you're playing to see a certain event, keep in mind that entering and exiting a building will advance the game's clock (except when playing as Dagmar).

Further down below, I listed some information that may help you during your playthrough. Keep in mind that this makes it easier for you to get to know all the bits and pieces of the game and its story, but will probably water down the experience for you. So, proceed with caution!

Attractions

Map of the Midway

Here's a map of the Midway, courtesy of the "Prima's Secrets of the Games" official strategy guide, written by Jeff Sengstack.
Copyright © Prima Publishing, all rights reserved.

Click to enlarge

Gameplay stuff and hints

Here, I will point out some lesser known facts and tidbits, that may guide you a little more throughout your journey.

Please be advised that this section will contain spoilers. Even though these won't be classical spoilers, because the game is very different from a movie or other games, these information may still spoil your playthroughs. I'll not get into every detail of the game, but will rather give you some starting points. What's the fun in an unpredictable game, when you can predict everything?

In case you did not read this line, let me make it clear:

Spoilers ahead!

Anyways, here we go:

Save early, save often

• Contrary to popular opinion (and contrary to some incorrect information on the internet), you can save and reload the game basically at any point. On Windows, hit Control-S to save. On Mac, it's Command-S. If you want to reload, hit Control-M (Windows) or Command-M (Mac) to open the menu bar.
• If you are at a crossroads, it's a good idea to save your game and later reload it. Due to the randomness of the game, reloading a saved game will cause the progression after a reload to always differ. So, if you reload a savegame (and take it as a basis), you can explore the randomness of the game pretty well.
• You cannot access all areas as all characters, at all times. Save, and try again with a different character, or at a different time if something is off-limits to your character.

Time and the clock

• Time (and its progress) is a very weird thing in BDotM. The official Prima stategy guide acknowdledges that by stating: "Time passes in a decidedly Residents-like fashion, that is, in a nearly undefinable and certainly irregular way" (p.66). This is absolutely true. Every game starts at 1pm and then mostly progresses if you enter or exit buildings, with the exception of Dagmar (see page "About the game & gameplay" for more details). Even Dagmar is not save from randomness; she sometimes enters a state where she spawns a lot of thoughts at once, then time progression is either accelerated or slowed down.
• The clock at the top of your screen is sometimes (intentionally) unreliable. Usually, it announces when time progresses. But sometimes it may not do so, rather, gong-ing at you only a few hours later. It just displays the current time more than being an alarm or notification bell, so to speak.
• Also, sometimes the clock can't seem to decide if it wants to stay on the left side of your screen. It may just pop up on the right side, too. Because... it just is like that!
• You're constantly battling the progression of time (as does the Midway itself), trying to get as many interactions and info out of characters and locations as possible. You can stick to Timmy, who will meet most of the characters - with the caveat that time will progress quickly, since you'll enter and leave lots of locations.
• If you want to speed up time, just zip in and out of locations. This sometimes avoids other characters dying of Red Rat Plague in front of you. (However, they still may die with you not watching!)
• If you want to slow down time, switch to any adult character and stay outside of locations. Wait for other characters to cross your way, to interact with them.
  • Be aware, if you stay outside and do nothing, the game sometimes seems to prank you - for example, Timmy may remember that he's missing his violin lesson and run along, ending your game. This is mostly randomized, so make sure you keep at least somewhat moving to avoid this.

Character specifics

• Want to be someone else? Longing for a character change? Not so easy in real life, but no problem in this game: just click on them if they are in front of you.
  • However, it can be difficult to find a specific character since their movements are randomized. A good start is to become Otto right away and wait for people to pass your Racing Rat booth. Keep in mind to do so before 5pm, though.
  • And since Otto is such a pain to talk to, some characters don't want to speak to Otto, so prepare for rejection... like, a lot.
• If you want to stay safe and switch to Timmy, you must do so before 10pm. After 10pm, you will not be able to switch to Timmy anymore.
• If you want to see Dagmar's show, best use the peephole just to the right of her theater. Kids (i.e. Timmy) can't go in and if you enter as an adult there's a high chance to get killed by Ted. Make sure to watch until the end!
• Ike's Diary can only be found by Dixie in the Sperm Whale exhibition, and only as late as 11pm. To find it, you'll need to inspect the tail of the sperm whale: head to the back of the whale, turn right, then right again and walk up the stairs inside the whale, then right again and up another set of stairs. Ike's Diary is then to the left on top of the stairs. Click on it twice and enjoy your read. (Phew... Thanks to the Prima strategy guide for these directions, it's a bit complicated to find.)
  • Other characters will not be able to enter the whale's tail and switch on the lights but instead get zapped, getting kicked out of the whale's tail.
  • Note that Dixie will have around 10% of a chance to get killed by Ted when she leaves, so remember to save your game here.
• Speaking of Dixie, her dad left her some twenty poems worth a read. You'll find them in the private chamber within the Shooting Gallery on a table to the left. However, as soon as you encounter his suicide poem, Dixie won't read any more of them, so you might save and reload here.
• "Take a tour through selected attractions of the Midway - presented in glorious Rat Cam Vision™!" ...or something like this, anyway. There are some spots where you can enter Oscar's little rat mind and see through his eyes. He will then take you through a tour of the Midway, including the otherwise inaccessible roller coaster. You can do so as soon as Oscar breaks his confinement at Otto's booth. This will happen even if you don't see it yourself, mostly after 5pm. If you see Oscar, quickly click on him. The timing is sometimes a bit tight, so here are locations to look out for Oscar:
  • Ike's workshop in the Abominable Snowman exhibit (Oscar's running on a conveyor belt there),
  • Sperm Whale attraction (Oscar's chilling in one of the broken aquariums),
  • Ted's room in the back of Lottie's cabin (Oscar will jump from his bed to a box), and
  • in the Coma Man's room (you can see Oscar on the horse's head if you face the stack of Dixi's father's poems).
• The IRS Man's backstory is hard to get to. I had some trouble getting to that one myself. Again, thanks to the Prima strategy guide by Jeff Sengstack, here are some hints: Dagmar and the IRS Man need to be the only survivors of your playthrough. Click on him to become the IRS Man, then enter Dagmars tent. As this is pretty late into the game, make sure to save and reload if either of both bite the dust too early.
• You cannot become Dagmar after 7pm. If you keep being Dagmar after 7pm, she will die of Red Rat Plague at around 8pm or 9pm.
• You cannot become Lottie, since she will never open the door of her room to you. Except for when she dies of Red Rat Plague right in front of you, that is. Too bad, isn't it?
• Yes, it's absolutely difficult to figure out who is still alive and who's already pushing up daisies - especially after somewhat around 10pm. If you're walking around the Midway, you'll see some characters dying. Other than that, try to keep a tab on who's alive and who's passed by changing locations every now and then. Good luck with that!

How to avoid death, or, I want to survive!

• If you want to survive, just play as Timmy. That's it. 100% success rate, every time. But also extremely boring. Leave it up for the Residents to make dying fun!
• As stated in the section "Endings", if you visit some locations as an adult, Ted will end your game - by killing you. Theres usually a 50% to 75% chance Ted will show up when you stay in these locations for more than a few seconds, and the same chance again when you exit the location. There's no way to save your character if Ted spots you, although you can save yourself, as already explained in this ending's section.
• A very, very annoying thing is the Red Rat Plague. After some time around 5pm, Otto's rat Oscar is on the run and will infect random other characters. It's a good idea to save at least once before 5pm since the characters killed off by the Red Rat Plague are randomized. That also means, you can just reload the savegame and hope for someone else to die. You won't notice when exactly your character is infected (since it's an airborne virus), but you'll notice it when it's too late and your character thinks about having a fever, feeling ill or sick, etc. Soon after, the screen will go red and you should now really, really switch to another character - because you'll drop dead within seconds, meaning another game over.
• At around 10pm, you should probably save again. By then, characters will drop dead in front of you like flies. Keep an eye out for your characters thoughts and switch immediately if they get sick (or reload your game for another chance). This is the part where most stuff is randomized, so you'll need to just try different things, really.

Misc and Trivia

• "So, where are these damn tax records?", I hear you ask. You need to be strong here, the truth is: Ike didn't give a damn about taxes and never did taxes. Oops.
• "Well then, at least tell me where's the gold Ike talked about to Jocko!", you ask me. Uh... well... you see, Ike liked to brag about things that don't exist, you know? In hindsight, probably not the best fake story to tell Jocko.
• While we're at it, Jacky certainly is an interesting character, isn't he? He will reveal his true identity (not that is too hard to guess, ya know...) only to Dixie in Ike's workshop. Make sure that he and Dixie meet at 5pm on the Midway.
  • If you enter the workshop (it's on the further back side of the Abominable Snowman attraction) as Dixie, turn around and face the door.
  • If you're Jocko, ehh... I mean, "Jacky", just enter the workshop anytime after 5pm.
  If you wait until Dixie leaves, click on the acid barrel to see a short flashback of a young Ike. Then go up the stairs and look at the tripped wheelchair. Another flashback will occur. Well, I don't know about you, but I couldn't help but feel very uncomfortable after this.
• In Ike's workshop, take your time and be sure to check out the CCTV tapes! They are certainly worth a watch and allow a glance into the interesting dynamics of the Midway.
• You can't save Lottie or Otto. Dixie and Ike either kick the bucket together, or Ike can be seen stumbling around in the other endings.

Go, play!

I hope you're all set now and you learned more about the inner workings of the game.

There is much more to discover, so go ahead - have a Bad Day on the Midway!