First of all, let me say that this is a great game. It's loads of fun for the whole family to play, and it runs smoothly on even my older Mac G4.
That said. My whole family was stumped about what to do when plugging cords into machines in the game. If you've run out of plugs, the other end of the cord just floats there, and you cannot continue the game! Nowhere in the manual does it mention that you can give up on a cord by pressing the 'ESC' key. I suppose that's a good key to choose, and it makes sense, but they simply forgot to mention it in the manual, and we wasted a whole day trying to play the game and getting stuck over and over. Crazy Machines: The Wacky Contraptions Game
I am 8 years old and I got Crazy Machines for my Birthday. This is the best game in the world but if you don't like complicated things you won't this game. The four main things are fire, rope, electronics,and the next one I will let you discover. You can either build your own machine or you can figure out problems that may seem hard but after you've done them awhile they are easy. Some of the things that you can build with are boards, balls, robots, cannons, goo, blimps, cords, gravity controlers, scissors, tubes, and plants. Buy this game and have tons of fun!
This is an awesome, good, clean game that will provide hours and hours of entertainment. Remember Rube Goldberg? You can build Rube Goldberg-esque machines and put them into motion. You can also "solve" puzzles by figuring out what things to put where to make your crazy machine do something - like lighting a candle or launching a rocket.
Our kids also like to work together and also with their friends - not always something we see when they play on the computer - so it's great for families and friends to play all together. I like the way the people who made this smuggled the physics in there with the fun. How nice to see intelligence combined with real fun.
(We got this for our kids but we are having fun with it too.)
I have a fairly new Intel iMac and an older G4 Powerbook, and I was looking for games for my mechanically-inclined 5 year old son that would run on Macs. The game does run on both the Intel and G4 Mac, but crashes frequently - one learns to save "inventions" constantly to avoid losing a masterpiece. Also, the sound frequently stops and can't be restored unless you exit and restart the program. And, if that weren't enough, it becomes unbearably slow when you have more than 20 - 30 elements in your "inventions." I also have Parallels for the iMac which allows me to run Windows programs. The PC version would install but refused to run at all in Parallels. Needless to say, it's a very frustrating program, at least for Mac users. From these reviews it appears that some even some "real" PC/Windows users have similar problems. Apart from the Mac problems, the other weakness of the program is that there is very little help available and the (tiny) printed and electronic manuals are not particularly helpful, and there isn't much in the way of "getting started" or "hints." On the other hand, this is supposed to be a "figure it out yourself" type of game, so that's not a major problem.
Having said all that, the game itself is a blast, and my son loves building contraptions with building blocks of electricity (batteries, motors, generators, switches, etc.), fire, light, steam, bouncing balls, explosives, etc. (Think "Rube Goldberg" if that term means anything to you.) I see some resemblance to "real" contraptions I built (with considerably more risk...) as a youngster. The games are challenging, perhaps too challenging, even for adults. And it's technically accurate - for example, in a daisy-chain of light-bulbs and solar panels, each successive light in the chain will be dimmer than the previous one due to losses in transmission. For those to whom it matters, the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics are not violated. (Suggestion to the authors: create a sequel program that allows one to build moving vehicles and obstacle courses based on these building blocks.)
Kids and adults love solving the puzzles. It is a great intro to basic physics (w/o your kids realizing it!) There are problems to solve and you have to place tools (pulleys, balls, dominoes, candles, etc.) in the right place in order for the goal to be accomplished. Our 5 year old needs help; our 8 year old plays alone. Our friends' teenagers enjoy it also.
This is an incredible piece of software. I don't know whether to label this entertainment or educational software. We gave it to our 10 year old at Christmas and he literally played it non-stop for days on end. It was so much fun, everyone in the family took a turn. I was impressed by how much our 10 year old learned by creating the fantastic machines with the software. The software starts the user out very slow, teaching the basics of gravity powered "devices", steam powered, electrically powered, etc. and then requires the user to create a machine (actually a "chain reaction of machines") to complete specific tasks. The tasks become increasingly harder and complex. You don't have to stay within the structured program, however, since the software allows you to freelance and create machines of your own just for fun. This is a well written software program and is tremendous value for the money. The software installed quickly and ran smoothly on our moderately equipped Dell desktop running Windows XP Home Edition.
First, as a present, this is a great gift! Whatever computer your recipiant has, this will run on it, so no worries there. Next, it is positive and fun for any age, or even a whole family to play. I would have loved to play something like this with my dad when I was little, or even with my friends, or by myself. Soon, I am even going to put this on my laptop so I can play during free time on the go or at work, or with my students at lunch as I am a teacher. I am almost sure whoever you buy it for will like it as a gift once they get into it and they will thank you for it! ... Take care, and good luck shopping.
p.s. great game, great gift - Puzzles - Kids - Mac - Physics'
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