What is Fractalia?

Imagine an adventure story where unsolved puzzles spread chaos throughout the land and a clever solution to an unsolved puzzle can release enough energy to undo its chaos.

Imagine a puzzle where there are 30 known answers and more out there waiting to be discovered.

Imagine an interactive book where cunning readers can come up with answers that are better than the ones given in the book and then submit their answers online for all to see.

Imagine a world in which almost everything has the shape of a fractal.

This is Fractalia!

Get the book at either www.booklocker.com or www.amazon.com.

This wonderful picture of a two-to-four was drawn by Rose, age 11.

A two-to-four stands about 7 feet tall. When this kreature wants to sit down, it leans back and two small legs drop down from behind its large legs so it can sit in place to graze with its long snout. It goes from having two legs to four legs. The extra legs are hidden in the fur behind its large legs.

Because it looks like it is sitting on a chair while it is grazing, it is also called a "chair-grazer."

This picture of Brandelmoat was drawn by Rose, age 11.

Brandelmoat is a Talian scientist and mathematician. She has fractal ear lobes and fractal hair. Her hair is straight until her waist and then gets wavy in a fractal pattern.

She invented fractalvision goggles that allow you to see the chaotic puzzles that are normally invisible and she monitors the spread of chaotic energy using advanced equipment deep below the surface in Core Cavern.

She loves all the math behind fractals and chaos theory.

This incredible picture of Honig was drawn by Rose, age 11.

Honig was a Talian that was caught by Kayoz and mutated into a kreature. Honig now helps spread Kayoz's chaotic puzzles and tries to send other Talians into brainlock so they can be caught and mutated into kreatures.

A mutated Talian is zombie-like and so is called a Zalian.

A root-tail is one of the kreatures of Fractalia. This awesome picture was drawn by Rose, age 11.

A root-tail can use its mouth to eat but it can also force its muscular tail into the ground and take up nutrition like a plant does. It will sit there for days sleeping while its tail takes in nutrition from the soil.

You don't want to wake up a root-tail when its tail is in the ground. It gets very angry, rips its tail from the ground, and chases after you. It leaves a huge hole in the ground so be careful not to fall in.

This is a wonderful picture of Wudlig created by Rose, age 11.

Wudlig is the wisest and oldest resident of Fractalia. He has a fractal beard and teaches the Talians how to solve the puzzles so they can battle the kreatures. He teaches them how to make sense out of any nonsense.

As Wudlig always says, "There is no such thing as nonsense for those who have eyes to see."

Outtie #24

What does this look like?

Send in your answer.

Outtie #23 (as difficult as...)

Complete the phrase "as difficult as..."

Examples:
"as difficult as herding cats"
"as difficult as catching your own shadow"

Outtie #22 (Headlines)

Create a headline for the following news story.

"A fast food restaurant burns to the ground overnight."

Go ahead, put in a pun.

Examples:
"Burger King Gets Flame-Broiled"
"Where There's Smoke, There's Fries"

Outtie #21

What does this look like?

Send in your answer.

Outtie #20

What does this look like?

Send in your answer.

Outtie #19 (Out of Place)

Here are some common phrases for saying something is extremely out of place.

"He's a fish out of water."
"She's a square peg in a round hole."

Create new phrases for being extremely out of place. You may phrase your answer as a simile, as follows.

Example:"He's as out of place as a Red Sox fan in an all-Yankee section."

Outtie #18 (Strange Sentences)

"The stars have ears."

Here is a strange sentence. Suppose you walked by a group of people and heard one of them say this sentence. What was the group talking about? Create a situation in which it would make perfect sense to say this sentence.

Example:
There are so many satellites in the sky watching and listening. It is as if the stars have ears.

Outtie #17

What does this look like?

Send in your answer.

Outtie #16

What does this look like?

Send in your answer.

Outtie #15

What does this look like?

Send in your answer.

Outtie #14

What does this look like?

Send in your answer.

Outtie #13

On page 160 of Fractalia, the youth rescue one of the Talians who is brainlocked. To be brainlocked means to be frozen in mind and body because a puzzle, an outtie, has stumped you.

Solving the puzzle will unfreeze the brainlocked Talian and send out an energy ripple that will freeze all the kreatures in the area for a while so you can escape. The better your solution the bigger the energy ripple will be and the longer the kreatures will remain frozen.

Can you solve the outtie?

Remember, outties have many, many answers. Maybe your answer is better than the ones given in the book. Send in your answer!

If you have the book, you can play along with this outtie. If you need to get the book, you can get one from either http://www.booklocker.com/ or http://www.amazon.com/.

Outtie #12

What does this look like?

Send in your answers!

Outtie #11

"knee box"

This phrase could mean many things.

What do you think it means?

Outtie #10

A new glyph outtie.

What does it look like?

Send in your answer.

Outtie #9

What does this look like?

Send in your answer!

(David, age 14, also created this one.)

Outtie #8

Another glyph outtie.

David, age 14, created this one also.

What does it look like?

Send in your answer!

Outtie #7 (Two-Holed Donut)

Create a clever name for a two-holed donut so people will want to buy it. Send in your answers.

Imagine a two-holed donut. Here's a sketch of its basic shape.

You can add things to the donut if it helps you come up with a good name. Please describe what you added when you send in your answer.

What is a fractal?

Send in examples of fractals from Earth or from Fractalia.

What is a fractal?

Almost all things in Fractalia are fractal. Many things on Earth are also.

A fractal is a pattern that repeats itself as you go smaller and smaller. Let's make a simple fractal. Start with a straight line (as in the top of the picture). To make the second line from the first one, just put a pointy bump in the middle of the line. Now let's make the third line from the second line. Everywhere there is a straight line replace it with one that has a pointy bump in the middle.

The line keeps getting bumpier and bumpier. This is an example of a fractal because the same pattern repeats itself as you go smaller and smaller.

Trees are fractals because they start out as a trunk that splits off into many branches. Each branch splits off into smaller branches again and again until you reach the twigs. The same pattern repeats itself as you go smaller, so it is a fractal.

Send in other things from Earth or from Fractalia that are fractals.