I heard t- Wait, who set off that alarm? - The alarm clock item throws me off pretty easily... If I hear that, I'll likely go investiagte that over other noises I've heard. Tick tock, I'm going to the clock, hahahaa!
In general, the Alarm Clock has a blue rim with two black stands on the bottom of it. It has a white interior with the word "TIME" written on it, and two gold bells on the top. Although the Alarm Clock appears to be small as an item to pick up, it appears to become very large when the player places it.
In Baldi's Basics Classic and Baldi's Basics Birthday Bash, there are four lines signifying 3:00, 6:00, 9:00, and 12:00. The Alarm Clock still works despite having no hands. The bells look a little bit different from the design in the other two games.
Usage
The Alarm Clock in action.
After using the item, the Alarm Clock will be put down on the floor, starting at 30 seconds, and the player can adjust the arrow for when it goes off by (right/left) clicking on it. The Alarm Clock will tick depending on the time selected in seconds and ring after the time. If it is set to 15, it will keep ticking until 15 seconds has passed and the same happens if it is set to 30, 45 or 60 seconds. Once the player adjusts the time of the Alarm Clock, the timer will reset. It will start ringing after the clock hand moves from 15 to 60.
The Alarm Clock's hand visibly alters between the four times shown as the countdown progresses. This allows the player to reset the timer after it gets placed. The player can, for example, set it to 60 seconds, come back when it says 15 seconds, and reset it back to 60. If played well, this can prolong the lifespan of an Alarm Clock for when it's actually needed.
Once it rings, Baldi and Dr. Reflex will become aware of it and begin moving towards it. They prioritize the Alarm Clock's ringing noise over any sound with a noise value lower than 112 and will continue to move towards it until they either reach it, hear a noise with a higher noise value, or see the player. This means that until Baldi or Dr. Reflex reaches the Alarm Clock's location, the player can open doors and blue lockers, reach exits or elevators, and even get sent to detention without Baldi or Dr. Reflex noticing them (as long as the player does not enter their line of sight). The Alarm Clock will also have an after-effect on their hearing for a short time.[1][2]
However, some sounds with a higher noise value than 112 can overwrite the Alarm Clock's ringing noise, meaning that an Alarm Clock will not always distract Baldi or Dr. Reflex. These sounds include:
A window breaking, which has a noise value of 120.
If any of these sounds play after the Alarm Clock rings, Baldi will instead go to the source of that sound first, before going to the tile where the Alarm Clock rang.
The Alarm Clock will not attract Baldi or Dr. Reflex if it rings in the library, rings in any area that has been sprayed by WD-NoSquee, or if it rings while either the tape player or pay phone are playing.
In Baldi's Basics Classic, the Alarm Clock is a very rare item, as there is only one available. It is found in a faculty room along with a Quarter. The clock's standers partially clip through the ground, so the only way to see the whole sprite is when it is placed down is by hacking.
In Baldi's Basics Birthday Bash, the Alarm Clock can be found randomly in either presents or Crazy Item machines. Like in Classic, the bottom part of the standers is missing when looking at the Alarm Clock normally.
Alarm Clock in action in Baldi's Basics Classic Remastered V1.1.
In Baldi's Basics Classic Remastered, V1.1 is the first version where the Alarm Clock's mechanism was changed.
In Baldi's Basics - Field Trip demo: Camping, in one of the endingscreens, Baldi's head is replaced by a purple Alarm Clock (the Alarm Clock is purple due to a different dithering effect), while the real head is off of his body.
If looking closely, the left side of the clock's frame appears to be slightly broken, as the pixels do not match up.
The Alarm Clock has no collision, so it can be illogically passed through.
It has similarities to the tape player and pay phone, except it does not affect Baldi's hearing until after a delay, and it only plays a noise once that attracts Baldi, instead of a continuous noise that distorts his hearing.
The Alarm Clock's winding sound was taken from Warner Bros. Sound Effects Library.
The Alarm Clock might be inspired from an unused video in Sonic's Schoolhouse. A link of the video can be seen here.
Baldi's Basics Plus/Classic Remastered
Prior to V0.3.8 and V1.1, respectively, the Alarm Clock's time could not be changed and was always 30 seconds. Its sprite also had the "TIME" text at the center instead of above the arrow, and the arrow itself wasn't present in its sprite.
Despite this change, the large and small icons for the Alarm Clock remain unchanged.
This still happens on other games and demos.
Baldi's Basics Plus
The Alarm Clock is one of the few items with an alternate sprite used when it is displayed in the inventory, along with the Portal Poster, BSODA, and Diet BSODA.
Despite the description saying that the Alarm Clock distracts Baldi, it does not mention that it also distracts Dr. Reflex.
Prior to V0.4, the Alarm Clock could not be moved by outside forces. This includes BSODA, Cloudy Copter's wind, conveyor belts, and whirlpools during the floodevent.
Baldi's Basics Classic/Birthday Bash
Placing an Alarm Clock outside of the Schoolhouse will result in Baldi heading towards the clock (therefore heading out of bounds) and staying in that position once the Alarm Clock rings. This does not happen in Baldi's Basics Plus and Classic Remastered, likely due to how the NavMesh was baked at that time.
If the player places an Alarm Clock in an elevator, they will be unable to alter the time because the trigger inside the elevator blocks interaction between the player and the clock.
Prior to V0.3.4, the Alarm Clock in use sprite was unaffected by fog.
From V0.3.6 to V0.3.8, the Alarm Clock could remove Beans' bubble gum.
Alarm Clock from the "Rewards" header from the Kickstarter page.
References
↑"For those wondering, the alarm clock, when dropped, will go off after 30 seconds. When it does, Baldi will hear it and go towards it. This takes priority over a lot of sounds, even detention, and he'll pay no attention to most other sounds until he sees you or reaches the clock." - mystman12. June 29, 2018. Twitter/X
↑"Oh, the Alarm Clock is for, um, I guess I can explain it that clear and in the full game, but the Alarm Clock, y-you set it down and it ticks for 30 seconds, and as the 30 seconds is up, it- it goes off and it distracts Baldi, he'll- he'll basically go towards the clock and as long as he doesn't see you or you don't make like a noise that like overwrites- overwrites the Alarm Clock, then he'll go all the way to the Alarm Clock before he like pays attention to the things like doors opening and stuff, so it can be pretty useful." - Livestream archive 15:33-16:08
↑"I heard t- Wait, who set off that alarm? - The alarm clock item throws me off pretty easily... If I hear that, I'll likely go investiagte that over other noises I've heard. Tick tock, I'm going to the clock, hahahaa!" - Baldi's Tips'n'Tricks'n'Lessons
