🐕 booker, the actual best dog
Nearly every other entry in this Compendium is named after software. booker is named after a dog, because booker is a dog: the actual best dog, and the only buddy in teachChat who keeps himself entertained while you are busy typing. Wheaten face, grizzled saddle, zero leetspeak.
Name origin
No jailbreak tools, no archivers, no shell puns: booker is the one buddy named after someone real. He is the developer's actual dog, a Cairn Terrier mix, pixeled faithfully down to the floppy ears and dark nose. Cairn Terriers are the scrappy little Scottish breed that once worked rock piles in the Highlands, and one famously played Toto in The Wizard of Oz, so "Ankle rocket" is less a joke than a field report. Some legends need no leetspeak.
Life stages
Buddies grow from your participation score, never from taps. booker's stages arrive at these levels (the cap is 30, which leaves The GOAT three spare levels to simply be the GOAT):
| Stage | Arrives at level |
|---|---|
| New pup | 1 |
| Pocket pup | 2 |
| Ankle rocket | 4 |
| Couch captain | 7 |
| Zoomie engine | 11 |
| Good boy | 16 |
| Great boy | 22 |
| The GOAT | 27 |
How to bring them home
booker costs 500 points in the buddy store inside the pet window, which makes him the most expensive buddy on the shelf. The code explains the pricing in exactly one line: "booker is the GOAT and priced like one." Like every buddy, his price includes his own yard scene, and once he is yours he is yours for good: his level bucket and dance count stick with him even if you rotate other buddies in. Points come from participating in class, so the GOAT is earned, never clicked.
Their yard
booker arrives with a cozy rug yard: a living room scene with the couch up top and a constellation rug, stars and all, spread across cream carpet. It is drawn from a photo of the actual rug the actual dog naps on.
Field notes
- His retro window docks beside the chat send button with booker.exe in the title bar.
- He is the only buddy with an idle theater: zoomies, spins, hops, digs, naps, and the occasional boof, at random, "because that's just who he is."
- Tap him for a little dance and a bump to the heart counter. The counter means nothing, and that is the point.
- His palette is written into the code by name: grizzled saddle, cream muzzle, cream paws.