The Incredible Machine

The Incredible Machine is a toy and a puzzle rolled into one, and remains one of the most endearing ideas ever to come out of DOS. Every level's goal is simple: get the balloon into the basket, light the bulb, feed the mouse. The means to achieve it, on the other hand, are absurd. A box full of pulleys, ropes, conveyor belts, trampolines, cannons, scissors, balloons, candles, a cat and a mouse, and other props is at the player's disposal, all needing to be assembled into one giant chain of cause and effect. The player places the pieces, hits start, and then watches as the contraption either runs like clockwork or gets stuck halfway through, missing just one centimeter of track.

The game's strength lies in its honest simulation. Objects have mass, balls bounce, ropes stretch taut, gas rises, and a burning candle really will burn through the rope hanging above it, meaning there's never just one correct solution. Alongside dozens of pre-built puzzles, there's also a free-form editor where players can build their own machine with no goal at all, just for the joy of watching it run. Visually, it's a cheerful, cartoonish VGA game with hand-painted parts that stay clearly recognizable even at small sizes. The sound is filled out with clicks, thuds, and whistles from each individual piece, so starting up a machine sounds like a miniature orchestra of nonsense.

The game became a staple of school computer labs and spawned a string of sequels and modern successors, because its formula is bottomless. Its influence shows up wherever a player builds an apparatus to solve a problem instead of tackling it directly, from physics-based construction games to the puzzle modes of major titles. Today it feels remarkably welcoming: it never rushes, never punishes experimentation, and rewards curiosity instead. It's one of the few games from the early nineties that can be shown without hesitation to a child or to someone who has never played anything at all, and both will understand what it's about within a minute.