The Incredible Machine

The idea of The Incredible Machine goes back to at least 1984. It should have been a Commodore 64 game. But then Dynamix was busy with Arctic Fox, sort of a very early FPS, and The Incredible Machine had to wait until 1992 (or possibly early 1993), when it was released for DOS. A Macintosh release must have been planned from the beginning (the graphics are sized precisely to allow for the menu and window bar, and with its mouse-based interface the game seems far more at home on the Mac anyway), it followed in 1993.

Take a look at the screenshot above. This puzzle is already solved. When started, the bowling ball will fall on the mouse cage, activating the mouse in the wheel. Thus the conveyor belt starts to move, dropping the bowling ball on the next mouse cage, and so on, till finally the basketball goes through the hoop. This was the goal of the puzzle.

This is, of course, a very easy puzzle, one of the first tutorial levels. Later on they get fiendishly difficult, as one reviewer remarked, probably too difficult for the stated beginning age of 6. Besides, you can always create a free form machine, for which you can even configure gravity and air pressure!

As for hardware, the game seems a bit picky. On a very well tuned 386-25, it was far too slow to play, even when run from a RAM disk. On the Mac, that's less of a problem; it ran well on my IIcx.

If you are interested in a completely different game by Jeff Tunnell, check out Rise of the Dragon.

The Sequels

• The Even More Incredible Machine (1993) wasn't really a sequel. It was an extended version with twice as many levels and some new parts for Mac and Windows, in 1994 released for DOS too. At least on the Mac there were 256 color graphics.
• The Incredible Machine 2 (1994) with new graphics and new interface, but still in VGA. It came on CD.
• The Incredible Machine – Version 3.0 (1995) was basically a Windows/Mac remake of The Incredible Machine 2, but it took full advantage of the windowed environment and allowed players to build backgrounds for the puzzles. The Windows version was 32-bit, but ran under 3.1 with 32s. This was the last version created by the original team.
• Return of the Incredible Machine: Contraptions (2000) and
• The Incredible Machine: Even More Contraptions (2001) were remakes by a new development team.

Reviews

• Undoubtedly one of the most unique games ever produced for the PC, Home of the Underdogs thinks (TIM 1, DOS):

  It is a puzzle game par excellence and beyond: you have to use wacky gadgets and tools given for each level to accomplish objectives. Puzzles start out relaxing and get fiendish very quickly, as later levels require not only ingenuity but also precise timing. A true classic.

• If your bag is puzzle solving without all the multimedia hype and noise, Jay Plyler concludes, then TIM is for you (TIM 3, Mac):

  TIM is an impressive work of imagination, and FOR imagination. Some of these parts I could have never thought up in a thousand years, but what I find most impressive about the game is its physics model. Each object has a set of physical 'rules' to follow, and will do so religiously. Part of the challenge is figuring out what each part will do and how it will react with other parts. There is even a brief description available for each part to help you out. These properties make the game very versatile. For most of the puzzles, there is not just one correct solution. If you can figure out a way to get the job done—say, blow up Curie Cat (just kidding)—without using all of the parts in your part bin, more power to you. It might not be what the puzzle designer had in mind, it might be butt ugly, but as long as the fur flies, you have achieved your goal.

• Adults will have a lot of fun helping younger players, Gordon Aplin guesses, and vice versa (The Return of the Incredible Machine, Windows):

  Those of you already familiar with the Incredible Machine games will be pleased to note that the winning formula has not been tampered with and this game sees the return of many of our old favourites including the cat, the mouse and of course Mel Schlemming. The graphics have been improved and the interface is still the easy to use point and click. A greater choice of background music is provided and the good news is that Pictures from an Exhibition is still there.