If you’re a senior with a free period, you own a legitimate Minecraft license, and your school’s IT policy is vague, a VPN-based unblock might be fine. But if you’re in middle school, using a cracked launcher, and trying to play during a math test—don’t.

Leo’s stomach dropped.

Assuming you’ve weighed the risks and decided to proceed, here are the most effective techniques that students have used successfully to run TLauncher on school networks.

“We don’t want to punish curiosity,” Principal Reeves said. “We want to direct it.”

Despite the restrictions, tech-savvy students are constantly finding ways around school firewalls. Here are the most common methods used to access TLauncher in a restricted environment, along with an analysis of their effectiveness.