SURVIVAL DIFFICULTY:
Class 1e - Environmental
- Safe
- Secure
- Non-Entity Effects
Description
One of many tables with Level 370, showcasing an abandoned game that was in-play.
Level 370 is an finite, indoor landscape consisting entirely of empty rooms of varying sizes, with each room containing fully functional pool tables. The rooms themselves vary in size and width, and are painted and carpeted in various warm shades of brown, yellow, orange, and red, as well as occasionally in blue. The rooms do not take on simple shapes, and can have divets and extensions which can often contain bookcases, cabinets, shelves, and even small drawer tables with shelf space.
These storage areas usuall house various books on playing variations on the billiard pool games, such as eight-ball, blackball, nine-ball, ten-ball, seven-ball, straight pool, one-pocket, and bank pool; assuming that these books haven't been taken by wanderers in the past, which is an incredibly common occurrence due to the finite size of Level 370, only being approximately 20 rooms long and 45 rooms wide.1
Each room is separated from one another by either hallways or doors, although it is common to witness doors that open directly into the end of a hallway. All rooms, whilst being indistinguishable from another on the surface, each contain small differences which make them unique. Whether it be unique floor plans, unique pool tables, specific books which are unique to one room, unique wall or carpet colours, or even random chips and blemishes in any of the decor which make each room feel lived in and unique.
An example of an empty hall that connects two rooms together.
The pool tables of Level 370 are placed in random locations across each room. Sometimes, pool tables may take up every square inch of a room's floor plan, or indeed some rooms may have only one, or no pool tables at all. Whilst certain pool tables contain anomalous mechanical quirks,2 the physical builds of the pool tables are constructed with no non-euclidean or supernatural quirks.
As explained within the books on this level, the pool tables themselves are arranged in virtually any popular iteration of billiard pool, which can be easily learned from the various books in the level. However, it is extremely easy to rearrange and change the amount of balls, or indeed play the game however individuals choose. Individuals can even decide to pocket or break any of the pool equipment. The level lacks any form of self-cleaning or self-healing qualities, and as such breaking or stealing equipment is not recommended. As well as this, mainly due to the lack of the above effects, the entire level is often subject to grime and ageing. It is believed that, should the level be abandoned for long enough periods of time, the entire structure of it could naturally deteriorate.
Should any equipment ever happen to go missing or break within Level 370, there are at least occasional wall-embedded storage units which are found in the hallways between the main pool rooms which often come stocked with new pool cues, pool cue chalk, and an abundance of tin boxes filled with pool balls. These rooms are often non-Euclidean in depth, spanning back by as much as 15 meters in select examples despite there being rooms behind where the storage unit reached back to.
A game being played by one of this level's groups.
Despite coming across as ordinary, each of Level 370's pool tables produce "prizes" upon a game of pool being won. Whilst regular billiard pool3 is exceptionally easy to cheat, winning in this level has to be done fairly; following all predetermined rules of the table itself. Should one play fairly, the winner shall receive material prizes such as catalogued, anomalous objects, money, perishables, or occasionally even trophy cups which contain unique inscriptions on fake golden plaques.4
Whilst losing individuals are not subjugated to any form of punishment for not coming first, an incredibly rich and competitive culture has formed around Level 370, which has shaped its usage and existence from as early as the 2000's. Even when the level was in a more dangerous state, tournaments were held in quinquennial gaps by many former groups such as the F.T.B, Hyperia, many towns on Level 11 prior to that level's unification, The M.E.G, The Border, and even The Republic of the Valley.
Of course, in more recent years, Level 370 has become less used after the initial amalgamation. The tournaments that would previously bring entire organisations together across The Backrooms have been moved to take place mainly on Level 11, or Level 13.1. This shifting has been done to reduce travel times of spectators and players alive, given the increased age of the veteran players, among other factors. In the years following the unofficial departure from the level, maintenance crew have occasionally been sent into Level 370 in order to maintain and upkeep it. This upkeeping is done mainly as a preventative measure in order to ensure that the theory about the level decaying if it is not maintained does not occur, should it be true in the first place.
Bases, Outposts and Communities
An archival image of a competition. The player in this photo, Amanda Townsend, was a member of the Winner's League until passing away in 2030.
Despite falling into virtual disuse in the modern day, Level 370 is still inhabited by a small-scale, privately run group that—whilst still falling under the M.E.O.D. umbrella—is not strictly governed under the same exact regulations and leadership, and exists moreso as an independent hamlet that can be reconglomerated when needed. This base is different to regularly named towns, as individual citizens of other levels are not able to move to it via usual renting, letting, or purchasing property due to the proprietary governing of each of theses. This major group within Level 370 is as follows:
Winner's League
A small clique of more elderly individuals, the Winner's League is a semi-private town formed of a few specific winners from approximately the first ten years of the pool league's official commencement. In recent years, a few of the groups members have succumbed to old age, and have been successed by their descendants. Whilst not open to non-league individuals living at their community, or even open to direct communication, they do allow passersby to take brief respites, and are unofficially known to challenge individuals to pool.
Winner's League was formally run by the late James Crane, and has recently been successed by their daughter Anya Crane. She, alongside the aid of the other elderly yet still able-bodied members of the group, govern the choices and lifestyle of the level, and were the ones to decide against acting as strictly a part of the M.E.O.D. Their lifestyle is quaint as basic, relying on crop cultivations from neighbouring levels and a combination of tents, crude beds, and wooden homes for their food and sleep respectively, akin to the likes of camping retreats found in Level 10 or Level 205.
Entrances And Exits
Level 370 is accessible through a fairly large array of other levels, as are most well-documented levels of The Backrooms. Whilst not all entrances and exits have been listed below, due to the quick rate of new entrances and exits being found rendering the current list quickly out of date, a large selection of the "main" entrances are listed below.
Entrances
The sign to an entrance to Level 370, found in Level 209.
- Level 370 can be accessed from Level 11, Level 153, and Level 209, by finding a British pub anywhere down the respective level's roads.5 In a similar vein, Level 370 can be accessed from Level 82 via going into any stalls based around pub, alcohol, or billiard pool.
- Within Level 20, Level 598, and Level 21, occasional doors constructed out of a dark black wood act as direct access to Level 370, with doors in the latter level usually appearing with pool ball images inscribed onto them.
- Level 108, Level 214, and Level 853 all contain an unknown, yet small number of rarely appearing billiard pool tables. Attempting to play any kind of pool game with these tables will result in all players transporting to Level 370.
- Walking into any door on Level 196 labelled with a blue sign that is printed with a full set of 15 coloured pool balls will go to Level 370.
Exits
- Going through glowing doors of gray, black, white, or yellow wood will lead to Level 11, Level 64, Level 218, and Level 410 respectively.
- Ascending any flights of stairs leads to Level 54.
- Exiting to Level 215 can be done by entering into any closet space which appears eroded and covered in rust.6 In a similar vein, closet interiors covered in bright neon lights lead to Level 808.
- A singular wall on one of Level 370's outer walls has been recorded to resemble that of the exterior of a mall store. Going through the door on this wall leads to Level 224.
- Noclipping through any windows displaying sights of trees usually leads one to Level 309, and noclipping into windows which display a more suburban aesthetic tend to lead to Level 995.
- Noclipping into any bookshelves on Level 370 that more greatly resemble store aisle shelves will lead to either Level 423 or Level 480.