Yet another way to avoid working
Posted on August 27th, 2008
Fantastic Contraption is a free, simplified riff on the old Incredible Machine game. Your aim is to move a box into a zone by hooking together some wheels and sticks. It lacks the inventive motor elements of the older game (set the balloon to pop to lower the basket that has the mice that will cause the elephant to move onto the scale that flips the lighter that sets off the rocket, etc.), but its simplicity also works in its favor.
You may have a child that will love it. You might also. If not, there are bunches of other games on the site.
[...] David pointed to Fantastic Contraption which is obviously a subtle plot by some terrorist organization to bring the productivity of U.S. workers to a grinding halt. Mine, anyway. The boys and I used to love The Incredible Machine (I even miss the intro theme), the game on which Fantastic Contraption is obviously modeled. Likewise, my dad and I loved Rube Goldberg cartoons (one of the Christmas presents I remember most vividly was a catalog from Goldberg’s 1970 exhibition at the Museum of History and Technology). I wish I could clear away the whole long list of tasks that need my attention, so I could devote a whole day or two to these entrancing puzzles. [...]