Activities and Notebooks

Every notebook in Baldi's Basics Plus is earned by solving the activity in its classroom, and a correct solve is also the only way to refill stamina, so activities decide both your progress and your escape speed. Three activity types exist: the Math Machine, Balloon Buster and Match Machine.

Reading a Classroom Before Entering

Exterior signs beside each classroom door show which activity waits inside, and a hanging neon BONUS sign appears beneath them when a bonus question is available. Chalk boards inside each classroom explain how to solve its activity. Reading the sign from the hallway lets you plan which rooms fit your route before committing to a door Baldi might hear.

On Maintenance floors a classroom must be powered before its activity can be solved; follow the humming cable to its lever. If a room's doors are locked, solving its activity unlocks them. Any activity in an unpowered room, including rooms darkened after the time limit, cannot be completed.

The Math Machine

The Math Machine shows a problem, and numbered balloons float around the room. Push the balloon with the correct answer into the machine to solve it. Balloons drop slightly when they can be interacted with, and the machine sits close to the wall so nobody can hide behind it. A correct answer makes Baldi pause to praise you, refills stamina and releases the notebook; a wrong one feeds his speed.

In Endless Mode a Math Machine switches to a bonus question right after its notebook is collected, then returns to normal if the notebook respawns before the bonus is solved.

Balloon Buster

Balloon Buster displays a target number on its device. Pop balloons in the room until exactly that many remain, then pull the pulley to submit; the device pops and counts what is left. Too many balloons left at submission fails the activity, and so does popping too many before submitting. The device shows a hologram that switches off when unpowered and turns red on failure.

1. Count the balloons before popping anything.
2. Pop down to the target slowly as you get close.
3. Pull the pulley only when the remaining count matches the device.

Match Machine

Match Machine is a memory game. Every balloon starts as a question mark and reveals an object when clicked. Matching pairs stay revealed and earn stamina and YTPs while Baldi pauses to praise you; mismatched pairs flip back after a moment. A mismatch that includes a balloon already turned into an exclamation point fails the activity. The current version needs three matches, after which the remaining pair reveals itself automatically.

Stamina, Praise and Speed

Notebooks themselves give no stamina. Stamina returns only through successful activities, so skipping classrooms to save time leaves you running on empty. The staminometer needle slides as stamina changes, and the Energy Flavored Zesty Bar is the item that refills it outside an activity.

Baldi's speed curve rises with failed activities and with each floor. On Level 4, collecting every notebook without failing an activity leaves him slightly faster than on Level 3, and Level 5 is faster still. One failed activity late in a run costs far more than one on Level 1, which is why careful solving beats fast solving.

Classroom Hazards During Activities

Activities pin you to one room, which is exactly when other characters catch up. Mrs. Pomp can announce a class elsewhere and expects you to arrive quickly for her YTP reward, so a long Balloon Buster attempt can cost that bonus. Dr. Reflex follows sound, and a room with a single doorway funnels every noise you make through that door.

Random events change the picture too. During Gravity Chaos the school flips upside down, and while you are in the opposite orientation Mrs. Pomp cannot drag you and Dr. Reflex cannot squish you. During a Flood, water slows everyone and keeps regular doors open, so a classroom stops being a closed space. Balder Dash balders can crush you mid-activity, but they also break windows and open locked doors on the way.

The safest order is to finish the activity in one go once started. Stepping out halfway leaves Chalkles charged, gives Baldi another chance to close in and wastes the stamina refill you were working toward.

Bonus Questions and Chalkles

Bonus questions pay extra YTPs once the main activity is done. They are tempting on early floors, but time limits make them risky: once the timer expires and the lights go out, unpowered rooms lock their bonuses away. In Endless Mode, a bonus for the previous activity only opens after you collect a notebook.

Chalkles lives on chalk boards in some classrooms. He loses some charge with every step of activity progress, resets fully when the activity is completed and does not return until you enter another room with a Chalkles chalk board. Working quickly inside his room is the answer. Chalkles does not spawn in Endless Mode. More on him and the rest of the cast sits on the troublemakers page, and the floor-by-floor picture is in the floors guide.