812 The Incredible Machine

I have a ton of memories of gaming and child. It’s actually, bizarrely, some of the only major memories I have of being young.

We had PCs for most of my life, although I do recall a short time early on when we didn’t; such a simpler time. Just kidding. Fuck that boring life.

One of the games I remember that somehow ended up on the computer (likely from my older brother), was simply labeled TIM.exe in a games folder on our Windows 98 desktop. The Incredible Machine. This game was awesome.

Each stage was essentially a Rube-Goldberg puzzle, except missing some number of the elements. And to replace those missing elements of the machine, the player was given bizarre and interesting objects they could place in the level anywhere they wanted, with the end goal of getting the “starting” action to trigger some “ending” action. Things that were triggered from other objects or triggered objects when used… off the top of my head, things like a pop gun, balloons, weights, a rat in a cage, some sort of electricity thing, see-saws, and more.

Retrospectively, it was an amazing educational tool, playing it. Of course, at the time it didn’t feel that way. And, it’s not as though it was designed as an educational game. But that happens. And some of the best “educational” games I’ve ever played aren’t even designed to be ones. Or not explicitly sold that way, anyway.

[ Today I Was Playing: nothing… ]

#educational-game, #game-opinion