History VideoGame / TheIncredibleMachine

A Puzzle Game published by [[{{Creator/Sierra}} Sierra Online]] in 1992, ''The Incredible Machine'' (AKA "[[FunWithAcronyms TIM]]") centers around the construction of [[RubeGoldbergDevice Rube Goldberg Devices]]. The player is provided with a predetermined set of parts to use in order to achieve the given objective. There are over 100 puzzles to complete, each of varying difficulty, but custom puzzles and machines can also be made (with full access to all the parts in the game). Many parts are available, ranging from the simple (gears and ropes) to the downright bizarre (alligators and blimps).

For the more modern variant, see ''VideoGame/CrazyMachines''. It's also receiving a SpiritualSuccessor from the team that worked on the original game, called ''[[http://contraptionmaker.com/ Contraption Maker]]''.

** However, if you're playing the enhanced MissionPackSequel, ''The Even More Incredible Machine'', the new "characters", Mel and Edison, are already named that way.

** Played straight with the Ray Gun, though, whose projectiles travel slower-than-light and have plenty of knockback.

** The Super Ball of ''[=TIM2=]'' somehow ''gains'' momentum with each bounce, in blatant defiance of real-world physics. In fact, it's so bouncy that the ball will take to the air, even if you set it precisely on top of a flat surface. It can't even be {{Hand Wave}}d as being made of some sort of {{Unobtanium}}; if you take a customizable ball and simply set its Elasticity to maximum, leaving all other properties alone, it too will gain momentum with each bounce. Needless to say, nothing can generate momentum on its own simply by being super-elastic. Well, unless it's [[TheAbsentMindedProfessor flubber]].

* PublicDomainSoundtrack: Pictures At An Exhibition is one of the recurring soundtrack songs.

** The Super Ball of ''[=TIM2=]'' somehow ''gains'' momentum with each bounce, in blatant defiance of real-world physics. In fact, it's so bouncy that the ball will take to the air, even if you set it precisely on top of a flat surface. It can't even be {{Hand Wave}}d as being made of some sort of {{Unobtanium}}; if you take a customizable ball and simply set its Elasticity to maximum, leaving all other properties alone, it too will gain momentum with each bounce. Needless to say, [[CriticalResearchFailure nothing can generate momentum on its own simply by being super-elastic]]. Well, unless it's [[TheAbsentMindedProfessor flubber]].

* GuideDangIt: Level 22 on "Hard" in ''[=TIM2=]'', "Jolly Jolly Jumpin' Jack". The same level is also level 30 on "Difficult" in ''Return of the Incredible Machine: Contraptions.'' The mechanic the game uses in this level makes absolutely ''no'' physical sense and has ''never'' been taught. [[TakeAThirdOption Thank God for alternative solutions.]]

** And, perhaps most [[JustForFun/Egregious egregiously]], [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking placing Newton Mouse next to a cat will reveal that he's actually the size of a rat]].

** And, perhaps most egregiously, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking placing Newton Mouse next to a cat will reveal that he's actually the size of a rat]].

--> "Wipe that [[StealthPun puzzled]] look off your face. It's just a game, mon!"

* TheProfessor: Professor [[PunnyName Tim]], a man in his late 20s, early 30s with [[EinsteinHair wild hair]], giant glasses, and slightly unkempt manner of dress. He appears only in ''[[FunWithAcronyms TIM]]2'' and its UpdatedRerelease ''[=TIM3=]''. In subsequent installments, he just becomes "[[SpellMyNameWithAThe The Professor]]", and is downgraded to TheVoice.

* TheVoice: Professor Tim.

->''"Roll the baseball down the ramp that triggers the boxing glove that pushes the bowling ball that strikes the teeter-totter that launches the tennis ball that bounces off the trampoline and powers the bellows to fan the mill to crank the gears to spring the toy that sends the basketball down the drain pipe off the pinball bumper flipping on the beam that travels through the glass that lights the fuse that fires the cannon! Welcome to [[TitleDrop the Incredible Machine]]..."''
-->-- '''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyIdAaa4WHI Advertisement for The Incredible Machine 2]]'''

** The Super Ball of ''[=TIM2=]'' somehow ''gains'' momentum with each bounce, in blatant defiance of real-world physics. In fact, it's so bouncy that the ball will take to the air, even if you set it precisely on top of a flat surface. It can't even be {{Hand Wave}}d as being made of some sort of {{Unobtanium}}; if you take a customizable ball and simply set its Elasticity to maximum, leaving all other properties alone, it too will gain momentum with each bounce. Needless to say, [[CriticalResearchFailure nothing can generate momentum on its own simply by being super-elastic]].

* VocalDissonance: The mandrill's yawn in ''Even More Contraptions'' is unexpectedly loud and deep.

*** Nitroglycerin vials can be set off if it falls more than a few pixels, is pushed by a physical object or moving air, or comes in contact with fire. Bizarrely, these vials will ''not'' explode if they bounce on springboards.

** Each game has several kinds of explosives, each of which detonates if exposed to an explosion from another source. You can place explosive objects next to each other for a domino chain effect. Each explosive also has one or more unique ways to set it off.
*** Dynamite explodes when you light the fuse or shoot it with a phazer bolt.
*** Remote-controlled explosives detonate when you push or pull down a remote button or shoot it with a phazer bolt.

* StuffBlowingUp: Easily caused by vials of nitroglycerin, where even a ''fan'' blowing air against it can set it off. Blimps will explode if shot by the phazer gun (but not the cannon or laser), or if it comes into contact with flame. There's also dynamite, which will exlode if shot by the phazer gun or if its fuse is lit.

*** [[Music/Scorpions Puzzle 11: Like A Hurricane]]

** ''The Incredible Machine 2''
*** Examples go here.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong:
** [=TIM2=]'s "Detective" track bears more than a passing resemblance to the Theme From Peter Gunn.
** [=TIM2=]'s also has a track called "Huey Dewey", a song in the style of Music/HueyLewisAndTheNews. The title also references [[ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck the names of a certain tightfisted duck's nephews]].