Numberblocks 99 🔖

Ninety-Nine looked at his own blocks. Nine rows of eleven. Suddenly, he had an idea. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Instead of staying as a solid rectangle, he split his top row of eleven into 10 and 1. Then he shifted the 1 down. He took another row and did the same.

Ninety-Nine stepped forward. "I can be a rectangle," he rumbled, and he neatly arranged himself as 9 blocks wide and 11 blocks tall.

Ninety-Nine sighed. "I think I only have those two arrangements: 1x99, 3x33, 9x11... and that’s it. I’m not very flexible." He felt a bit plain compared to the dancing, shape-shifting smaller numbers. numberblocks 99

The parade ground went silent, then erupted in cheers. "A waterfall! A number rain!"

From that day on, Numberblock Ninety-Nine didn't worry about being a simple rectangle. He knew he was the bridge to One Hundred, the master of elevens, and the only Numberblock who could make it rain math. And every time he did, the others would shout, "Look! It's Ninety-Nine—making a hundred feel just a splash away!" Ninety-Nine looked at his own blocks

"Rain?" Ninety-Nine blinked.

But then Ninety-Nine did something no one expected. He told all the little "11"s to break apart too. Each 11 became a 10 and a 1. And then he arranged all those tens and ones in a cascade. He closed his eyes and concentrated

Then, little Seven piped up. "Don't be sad, Ninety-Nine! You’re almost One Hundred! And you know what’s super special about you?"