School Crossing Patrol handbook

How to play

You are the lollipop patrol outside Bramley Primary. Get the children across eight at a time, step out right behind the last car, let go the moment they are over, and keep the council's letters to a minimum.

The controls

There is really only one. Hold to step out with the sign and stop the traffic. Let go to walk back to the kerb.

On a computer

• Hold Space or ↑ to step out. Let go to walk back. Holding the mouse button anywhere on the street does the same.
• Esc pauses. On the rota, W blows the Whistle and T takes a Tea break once you have approved those memos.

On a phone or tablet

Hold a finger anywhere on the street. A two-finger tap pauses.

Reading the traffic

Cars need room to stop, and the faster and heavier they are the more room they need. The ring under the next car in each lane tells you what happens if you step out now. Green stops easily, amber brakes hard, red is too close. A blue ring is an ambulance, and it never stops for you. Tags at the edge of the screen count down cars still on their way.

Each lane you are holding turns red. A car already too close to stop drives through first: it is tagged Too close: let it pass, its lane pulses amber, and the walkers wait at the kerb or the centre line until it has gone by. Then the lane turns red and they cross.

Some vehicles change the road. A double-decker needs about three times a car's room to stop. A school bus at the stop, or a parent double-parked on the zig-zags, holds its whole lane while it waits, so you only have the other lane to worry about. When an ambulance comes, every car in its lane pulls over, and the road behind it is clear for a moment.

A hold, and its three pips

Every time you step out is scored on three things.

Walkers pay as they reach the far kerb: 10 for a child and 5 for a grown-up or a dog, plus a quarter more for each place further back in their wave. When you let go, the hold adds half its points again for every pip. Holds with two or more pips and nothing going wrong build your rhythm, a multiplier shown at the top of the screen that grows by a quarter each time, up to three times.

Fuses and letters

Every driver you hold burns a fuse, shown as a bar over the car. Vans and 4x4s have short ones, buses long ones. Holding the traffic with nobody on the crossing burns them twice as fast. When a fuse runs out, that driver writes to the council.

A letter comes from a burnt fuse, a near miss, a shunt, or a child who gets tired of waiting and jaywalks. Stopping an ambulance earns two. Three letters and you are off the crossing. Children still on the kerb when the bell goes at 8:55 are late.

The Autumn Term

The term is a set of handmade school runs, a week at a time. Each week brings one new thing to the street: platoons of traffic, buses, a refuge island, an ambulance. Monday introduces it, the middle of the week turns it round, and Friday is a remix of everything the week taught. Finish a day to open the next.

Every day has three stars: everyone in by the bell, a points target, and one challenge that needs the day's idea, such as using a parked car as a wall or crossing in two halves at the island. The first time through Week 1, a spotlight shows you what to do.

On island days each hold takes walkers half way. They wait safely on the island while you let the traffic go, then you hold again for the second half.

The rota

The rota is a random week, Monday to Friday, with the same rules. Before each day the council sends three memos; approve one. On the rota, three letters last the whole week, and every three children late at the bell cost one more. There is a new numbered rota every day, the same for everyone. Win a week and a harder term opens. New patrol officers join when you pull off their feat.

Tips

Watch the gaps, not just the crowd. Step out as the last car of a bunch goes by and every car behind it stops gently. Wait for eight if you can, but not so long that a child gives up. And the moment the last one is over, let go.

Questions