The Trouble Meter is a HUD meter on the screen in Bully.
Purpose[]
The trouble meter measures how much trouble Jimmy Hopkins is in when he breaks the rules. Whenever Jimmy violates a rule, the level of trouble that he is in will show up on the meter. The Prefects and Faculty on campus, Police outside of campus, and nearby Orderlies will display vision radius in yellow - if Jimmy enters their vision radius and it turns red, they will chase him to try and bust him.
To get rid of the Trouble meter, Jimmy must hide or stay away from the authority's vision radius and wait until the meter drains to empty. Jimmy can also empty his Trouble Meter by entering the Boys' Dorm or by attending class.
Trouble Level[]
Jimmy's trouble meter is set roughly into 6 levels, divided by colors based on severity. The first two levels are bright yellow, the second two are dark yellow, and the last two are red.
If Jimmy's trouble meter only goes up to a half yellow color, the authority figures will only yell at him rather than try to bust him.
If Jimmy's trouble meter is at a full yellow color level or lower, he can apologize for misbehavior depending on who he is apologizing to and how many levels of English class he has passed. Prefects can be apologized to after passing English 3, Faculty and Police officers only after passing English 5. If Jimmy's trouble meter is at full yellow color level or at any orange level, any authority figure who can see him will attempt to bust him. However, if grabbed, he can generally escape. He cannot apologize for trespassing, truancy or violating curfew.
If Jimmy's trouble meter reaches red, any authority figure who grabs him will bust him automatically.
If Jimmy's trouble meter hits the highest red level, all prefects, teachers, and/or policemen in the vicinity will appear on screen and give chase. As before, if any of them grab him, he will be instantly and automatically busted. The trouble meter will not go down for about 30 in-game minutes (30 seconds in real time).
Crimes[]
Acts of misbehavior cause the meter to fill to varying amounts based on the severity of the offense. Some misbehaviors escalate - that is to say, if Jimmy continues to engage in them, they continue to fill the trouble meter.
- Main Article: List of rule violations