Level 290 is the 291st level of the Backrooms.
Contents
Description
Level 290 appears as a brick maze, with a clean (290-2) and dirty (290-1) part, each with a couple of lights scattered about, a gray floor and ceiling. The most common object you will find hanging on these walls are paintings of sceneries depicting open fields on a sunny day, shown in the photograph to the right.
It is difficult to noclip into any objects or structures inside of Level 290, and even successfully doing so will cause one to fall back into the beginning of the level; often causing injuries due to blunt force trauma. Because of this reason, noclipping within this level is not recommended, as you will be critically injured.
290-1
In this section of the level, there are puddles of Almond Water occasionally strewn about on the grey floor; more uncommonly found within openings in the walls, seemingly defying gravity in the way they stay in place without being pulled out of the walls. However, drinking from these puddles is not recommended due to the array of bacteria that they contain inside of them, each of which has the potential to cause infections that can harm you severely. Due to this, it is only recommended that you drink from the puddles if you are on the verge of going insane. The only entity that resides within this section of the level are Lighters.
Lighters are creatures that contain bioluminescent properties (the property of being able to create natural light via biological processes). These entities can manipulate the luminosity of the light they generate, being able to render any person temporarily blind within at least 4-6 seconds of eye contact. Afterwards, they use the momentary distraction to kill the person they have blinded via mauling and biting. In encounters with this species of entities, you must always run away as fast as possible in the opposite direction, as combat of any melee kind will almost certainly result in your death without proper equipment (such as guns or black paint, which can blot out the natural light).
The most common object that you will find in this section are garbage bins, coinciding with the dirty setting of this part of the level. Most of the time, when opened, these do not possess any unorthodox properties. However, on rare occasions, these can have discarded pipe bombs within them that will make a high frequency beep before exploding (usually with a second or 2-3 of delay after the beeping). Not only will this likely injure you, the high frequencies have the potential to attract nearby entities, resulting in multiple unwanted encounters if precautions are not taken into effect immediately. On even rarer occasions, the garbage bins can also transport you to Level 34, though garbage bins that have the ability to do so are incredibly low to come across. Key identifiers of a garbage bin like these include being about average human-sized in diameter and having a distinct sewerage smell exuding from them as you pass by.
This part of the level is estimated to be about 100 million square miles, though only a tiny fraction of the level has been accurately mapped out currently.
290-2
This section is akin to the first except for one major differentiation: its anomalous doors. In the event that you stumble across doors in the bricks walls, do NOT open them. they contain a huge amount of Smilers (usually a pack ranging from 10-15 Smilers), and there is a very small chance of being teleported into The Smiling Room afterwards via an unknown pull (likely gravitational). This should not be used as a means to escape the level however, as out of the 49 people who have tried to do so, only a recorded 18 have come back since the discovery of these doors. And of the 18, every single one of them had remnants of The Disease within them.
Hounds can be found here too, but are very uncommon. You can know ahead of them when you are approaching Hound territory by listening for the sounds of a wolf howling in the distance, or by looking at your nearby surroundings and checking for scratch marks; likely to be that of a Hound.
Emergency Boxes are very rare containers that can only be found beyond a 20 mile range of the origin point of the level. When opened, they contain a fire axe that has the unusual effect of being able to break through the normally impenetrable brick walls of the level. When you successfully break through a wall using this axe, you will be greeted by the sights of the outside of a random house in Level 251. It is possible to go back, but doing so causes you to be transported to any one of the endless hallways within Level -1. Garbage bins can appear in this section, although they are much more infrequent.
This part is estimated to be about 350 million square miles in area.
Colonies and Outposts
There is one known outpost on this level.
The Backroom Colonists
This outpost is stationed in 290-2, and is meant for mostly travel, so it isn't usually manned. If you come across it, which is extremely unlikely, they are willing to trade and have got stocks of almond water they give out. They also have some special axes.
Entrances and Exits
Entrances
To enter Level 290, you must find a brick house in Level 9.
Another entrance is clipping into a house in Level 251.
Exits
Every door has a rare chance to lead to The Smiling Room.
Larger garbage bins can take you to Level 34 if you happen to jump into one, but this exit is much less likely to encounter.
Entering through a vent in the first section of the level can lead you to Level 534.
Breaking the wall with a special axe transports you to the outside of a beginning house in Level 251.
