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THE INCREDIBLE MACHINE WALKTHRU

THE INCREDIBLE MACHINE is one of the those games whose puzzle solutions can
be most difficult to describe with words. Still, I'm going to give it my best
shot. For those of you interested in getting a hint before the proverbial
beans are spilled, I've tried to begin most of my solutions with just such a
clue.

The nice thing about most of TIM's puzzles is that many of them can be solved
in several different ways. Thus, I neither claim that my answers are the
easiest nor the most elegant. They do work, however, if executed properly. I
encourage you to use my solutions as a springboard to your own, more
imaginative Rube Goldberg contraptions.

Instead of listing all of the passwords for levels 2 through 87, I will
simply note that "GULF" is the password for level 87. Once you've entered this
password for the last level, TIM will allow you access to any of the game's
puzzles.

A word of explanation: At times, I may refer to a size "x" trampoline or
conveyor belt. Size 1 refers to the smallest (or shortest) of these objects,
size 2 indicates that the object should be one step larger, and so forth up to
the maximum size (size 4 for an incline, size 5 for a conveyor belt).

Thanks go to "\/arzil the Good" for his hints in getting me through the 3 or
4 puzzles that I found to be particularly brain-busting.

1. PUT THE BALL IN THE HOOP

This puzzle provides introductory practice to using mouse motors and belts.
The far left bowling ball should land on a mouse motor connected to the first
conveyor belt. Each successive ball should travel right bumping into another
mouse motor connected to the next higher conveyor belt. When the basketball
takes its turn on its conveyor belt, it will fall directly into the hoop.

2. MIRROR IMAGES

More tutorial. Build a machine on the right that's a mirror image of the
left. Be sure you reverse the position of the mouse motor or the bowling ball
will fly off to the right.

3. BELLOWS AND BALLOONS

Practice with bellows. Blow the top balloon into the rotating gear. Blow the
bottom balloon into the scissors.

4. FLIP, FLIP, FLIP

Practice with seesaws. Position a seesaw under each cannonball so that each
flipped cannonball will flip the next, and the next, and the...

5. PUNCH OUT

Practice with boxing gloves and seesaws. Place a seesaw under each cannon-
ball, a boxing glove to the left of the second bowling ball, and a boxing
glove to the right of the baseball. The top bowling ball will flip up the top
cannonball, which will engage the second boxing glove, projecting the second
bowling ball onto the second seesaw, flipping the second cannonball into the
lower channel so that its collision with the bottom boxing glove will send the
baseball home.

6. BOUNCING OVER TO MORT

Practice with trampolines. Here, it's important to realize that the lower the
trampoline, the more bounce (and height) you'll get out of the basketball. So
place 2 trampolines to the right of the first (and at the same level) and
place your last trampoline a few spaces to the left of Mort's cage. Make sure
the basketball falls squarely on each trampoline.

7. JACK SAYS, "HI BOB"

Practice with Jack-in-the-boxes. Connect the top mouse motor to the middle
jack-in-the-box. When the cannonball gets flipped into the air, have it hit
another mouse motor connected to the jack-in-the-box under Bob the Fish.

8. TILTING AT WINDMILLS

Practice with Windmills. Place a windmill to the right of the top bellows,
then connect it to the top conveyor belt (you'll need to reverse the windmill
in order to move the conveyor belt to the left). The baseball will travel left
and fall through the gap where you should have it land on another set of
bellows blowing another windmill connected to the second conveyor belt. This
time, the tennis ball will move right where it should fall through the hole
and land on another set of bellows blowing the bottom windmill connected to
the gear. Bye Bye Balloon!

9. LOWER ALL THE BUCKETS

Practice with scissors. Have the cannonball fall onto a pair of scissors that
you position on the first rope to the left. The baseball on the right should
fall onto the trampoline positioned immediately beneath it so that it bounces
up and collides with the scissors on the right.

10. BANG, BANG, BANG

Practice with guns. Tie a rope from the left side of the seesaw to the pulley
below and then to the bottom gun. Place a pail under the pulley on the left
and tie a rope from the pail to the pulley to a gun that you position to the
right of the pulley.

11. LIKE A HURRICANE

Practice with switches and fans. Place a trampoline under the right switch
and a fan to its immediate left. The baseball will fall on the trampoline and
bounce back up, flipping the switch, turning on the fan, which will blow the
balloon to the left so that it turns on the middle fan. Finally, position a
fan immediately to the right of the lower left switch.

12. GENERATORS AND MOTORS

Practice with...well, you know. Position a windmill to the left of the fan
and connect it to the top generator. Position an electric motor next to this
outlet and connect it to the conveyor belt (if necessary, reverse the motor so
that its belt connector is on the right; otherwise, the conveyor belt will
turn in the wrong direction). The basketball should roll right, onto the mouse
motor which you should connect to another generator to the left of the tennis
ball. Finally, place a fan to the right of the generator and the left of the
tennis ball. The fan should blow the tennis ball into the pipe hole.

13. PUTTING THE GEARS IN MOTION

Practice with gears and solar panels. Position a motor to the right of the
top solar panel (you'll need to reverse it) and connect it to the top conveyor
belt. The cannonball should roll right, fall through the gap, and onto a
flashlight which you should aim at the middle solar panel. Position a fan
under this middle outlet so that it blows the windmill which you should
connect to the bottom conveyor belt. Tie a rope from the pail to the lower
lightbulb so that when the pail falls it will turn on the light, powering the
bottom outlet, and turning on the electric motor. Lastly, of course, connect
this motor to the gears.

14. LIGHTING A FUSE

Practice with cannons and fuses. Follow the example with the first cannon and
place a magnifying glass and flashlight to the right of the middle cannon
(you'll need to reverse the magnifying glass), and another flashlight and
magnifying glass to the left of the bottom cannon.

15. BOOM, BOOM, BANG

Practice with dynamite. Tie a rope from the pail to the lightbulb. Position
your dynamite to the right of the lightbulb and magnifying glass and below
and to the left of the basketball (be sure its fuse is on the left!). Arrange
for the flying basketball to turn on a flashlight/magnifying glass combination
which you should position to the right of the bottom cannon (this magnifying
glass will need to be reversed).

16. BLASTOFF

Practice with rockets. Have the bowling ball hit a flashlight to the left of
the second rocket so that it lights its fuse (with the help of a magnifying
glass, of course). Place the lowered end of a seesaw above this second rocket
and tie a rope from this end of the seesaw to a lightbulb (which you position
to the left of the candle) via a pulley below the lightbulb. The light from
the bulb should shine through a magnifying glass and light your way free of
this level.

17. DOING SOME BLASTING

Practice with dynamite plungers. Place the upper end of a seesaw under the
falling bowling ball and tie a rope from the lower end to a pulley to the
right of the gun, then to the gun's trigger. Place a stick of dynamite on each
of the 3 brick shelves on the left of the screen. (The stick of dynamite on
the top shelf will need to be as far left as possible.)

18. SENDING MORT THE MOUSE HOME

Practice with cats and mice. Position a trampoline under the bowling ball so
that it bounces up and smashes Bob's bowl. Place a conveyor belt under Mort
and connect it to the mouse motor. Finally, place a Pokey the Cat on the
bottom brick level (facing right), far enough left that he'll chase Mort into
his hole without eating him.

19. MONKEY BUSINESS

Practice with monkeys and bicycles. A piece of cake: Tie a rope from the cage
to the left monkey's shade.

20. BRIDGING THE GAP

Practice with inclines. Reduce the size of your incline to a size 2 so that
it fills in the middle gap. Place a seesaw in the far left gap with its left
end down and right end up (the left end of this seesaw should be level with
the wooden track). Tie a rope from its left end through both pulleys to the
left end of the middle seesaw.

21. CLIMBING A HILL

This one's similar to puzzle 1. Fill each gap with a connected mouse motor
and size 1 conveyor belt. Then say "So Long" to Pokey.

22. TURN, TURN, TURN... POP, POP, POP

Okay, the tutorial's behind you...now comes the fun! The idea here is to
properly connect all of your gears. Tie the left end of the upper seesaw to
the top monkey's shade. Connect the two free gears under this monkey with a
belt. Place a gear immediately to the left of the lower-most gear so that
they're properly meshed. Connect this newly added gear to the conveyor belt
and the mouse motor to the gear at the top of the screen. Finally, connect the
bottom monkey to the gear immediately under the mouse motor.

23. TRICK SHOOTING

This one's interesting. Position a gun above and to the right of the top
seesaw and tie it to the left end of the seesaw. This gun's bullet should hit
the top baseball sending it into the container on the right. (Don't hit it too
squarely or it will bounce off the right wall and away from the container.)
Place a gun below and to the right of this same seesaw and tie it to the lower
end of the top seesaw. This gun should take care of the middle baseball.
Finally, place a gun above and to the right of the bottom seesaw and tie it to
the upper end of the bottom seesaw. Have its bullet take out the bottom
baseball.

24. SAVE THE BALLOONS

This one's a cinch. Simply tie balloons 2 and 4 together the same way that
balloons 1 and 3 are tied. Stringing the rope around the bottom of pulley 2
and the top of pulley 4 will create a sort of counterweight so that balloon 2
will pull on 4 and vice versa preventing either from floating too high.

25. POP TWO BALLOONS

The trick here is to drag the right most balloon to the middle of the screen.
Place a pulley above and to the right of the bottom left brick, roughly level
with the bottoms of the balloons. Position a balloon to the far left of the
screen at the same level as the other balloons and tie it to the balloon on
the far right via the pulley. The left-most balloon will rise and drag the
right-most balloon toward the gear, then will swing right, engaging the mouse
motor.

26. DROPPING THE BALL

The gun is what will send the bowling ball into the cave. Timing is what will
ensure that the pails are not in the way. Position the gun between the two
pails and aim it right at the bowling ball. We'll need the use of a
cannonball, so tie the lower end of the seesaw to a pulley at the bottom of
the screen to a lightbulb which you position to the right of the cannon. Use
a magnifying glass to light the fuse. To get the cannonball to fall into the
right-most pail, place a mouse motor just above the gun. To fire the gun,
place a seesaw below and to the right of the first seesaw, and tie a rope from
its lower-left end via a pulley to the gun. Finally, place a size 1 conveyor
belt just above the lower-left end of the top seesaw and another one between
the two seesaws to create a "step" that will slow down the bowling ball's
progress. The bowling ball will then hit the top seesaw (turning on the light
and setting off the cannon), bounce off the conveyor belt, roll off the right
end of the top seesaw onto the conveyor belt step (slowing it down while the
cannonball gets the pail out of the way), and fall onto the upper-right end of
the lower seesaw, firing the gun.

27. POPPING BALLOONS ON THE MOON