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Professor Tim's Incredible Machine
 
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Professor Tim's Incredible Machine

by Crucial
Platform:   Windows 95
5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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1 new from £19.99

System Requirements

  • Platform:   Windows 95
  • Media: CD-ROM
  • Item Quantity: 1
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Product Features

  • Over 100 pre-set puzzles
  • 100 animated parts
  • Timed, single and tournament play
  • Includes mini-movies on the machines' working of parts and fully orchestrated music

Product details

  • Delivery Destinations: Visit the Delivery Destinations Help page to see where this item can be delivered.
  • ASIN: B00004UCTS
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 3,215 in Software (See Bestsellers in Software)

    Popular in this category:

    #67 in  Software > Children's Fun & Learning > Activities & Interests > Printing & Painting

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
Professor Tim's incredible Machine will provide hours of fun for the puzzle enthusiast. There are hundreds of mind-teasers to solve by constructing machines from wonderfully diverse elements such as snooker balls, lasers, explosives, flints and even a mouse and an alligator!

Each puzzle has a simple goal. Select components and drag them over to the puzzle, where they can be rotated or enlarged. The secret to solving the problems is to understand cause and effect and to construct mechanical sequences. So, if the goal is to fire a canon, placing a magnifying glass by the canon fuse and tilting it towards a light source such as a torch will ignite the fuse. However, there is also the problem of switching the torch on. Perhaps the force of gravity can help with the aid of a ball poised above the switch.

Although aimed at 6-12 year olds, really it is for all the family. The youngest will need plenty of advice, and for any parent fretting at the thought of flexing their scientific muscles, there are 40 Tutorial puzzles to solve before tackling the four levels of difficulty. There are plenty of hints in each individual problem (excluding the fourth Really Hard level), which helps stop the frustration levels rising too high.

To increase the tempo, two players can go "head to head" in a timed contest and for a completely different perspective; anyone can don the apprentice's hat and create new individual puzzles with goals, clues, assembled parts and music. There is even the facility to experiment by altering the gravity and air pressure.

Overall, the puzzles wear well because of the range of difficulty and because they are fun--in fact it is a surprisingly addictive pastime. Intellectually stimulating and educational, this CD-ROM is highly recommended, and at an unbelievably low price it is excellent value too. --Tracey Hogan

Manufacturer's Description
Professor Tim has invented some really wacky machines--but he has misplaced some vital components! By correctly placing the 100 construction components, children can make the machines work again, and even create their own devilish devices. Split into four levels of difficulty, these unique brainteasers will be enjoyed by the whole family.

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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
5 star:
 (4)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Money very well spent, 28 Dec 2000
By A Customer
This game was some of the best spent money in a very long time. It provides hours of entertainment for all the family and at the same time teaches my seven year old son the basics of physics and mechanics without him even realising it. Very highly recommended
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Watch out for the crocodiles..., 11 Dec 2000
By A Customer
Excellent game for all Heath Robinson fans. The puzzles get progressively harder, the intro ones are suitable for a 5 year old, the very hard are fiendishly difficult for a 50 year old engineer... The game also allows a design it yourself element that lets you build your own machines, or set puzzles to really annoy your parents... The machines themselves are made up of wonderfully strange elements - Lasers, super balls, cat food tin openers, cats, mice, blocks of cheese, balloons and dirigibles, rockets and flints, levers, boxing gloves on springs, and of course man eating crocodiles, that flick balls with their tails. The only limitation is that the harder puzzles have no hints, so if you are stuck you stay stuck, although you can skip on to the next puzzle, and also that some of the puzzles are a bit 'samey.' Even so it has a high 'just one more' factor, and my 7 year old nephew and I have had hours of fun,working together or in competition mode. He has also learned a good deal about levers and balances, and physics in general. The game is old, and demands 266 colour mode when you set it up (ignore that - it works under Win 98 with no problems) but it is still good - clever idea, good gamplay, who needs 16 million colours? Highly recommended.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb game, but not sure if it runs well on new systems, 23 Nov 2008
By A. J. Sturgess "Alan Sturgess" (North Yorkshire, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
The whole family of 'Incredible Machine' programs are superb, and with the advent of the various 'Contraptions' versions, there are now a lot to choose from. The whole idea of being able to build machines to solve problems is one that just has to fire the imagination. The fact that you do not have to find just one solution for most challenges is also a very welcome feature. (ie: there can be many ways to solve a puzzle even with the limited selection of components that you might be given).

However - I would sound one word of caution. I managed to install this program on a machine which runs using Windows 98, but had real problems trying to install on a machine that uses XP.

After searching through a few forums (and after advice from a friend), I found the solution. So if you have XP and want to install this game (which would be an excellent idea), here's how I did it:

Copy all files from the CD onto hard drive in a backup folder.
Open up the folder and find TIMWIN subfolder
Find TIMWIN.exe inside that folder
Right click and choose PROPERTIES
Set for Windows 95 and 256 colours
Exit to main backup folder and choose SETUP
Choose INSTALL
Do NOT choose the system test
You see a display - ignore notification of any failed tests.
Opt to continue the Install.
Game will be placed in C:/Sierra/TIM
You can then run the game from there and also be able to load and save your games.
When starting the game each time, you will be warned about the 256 colour mode - but that's no problem. Just ignore it and click on through to start playing.

As for Vista ... who knows? There are so many anecdotes about software that fails to run on Vista which is fine on '98 and/or XP that the whole thing seems like a minefield.

My advice is to scout around for info if you have Vista to first be sure that 'PTIM' will run on your system. There are several forums where you might get help.

As a bit of extra information: it is now possible to find and download as freeware, the original DOS game 'Incredible Machine'. Paradoxically, I've had no problem getting this to run on XP.

Computers (especially those using Microsoft operating systems, can be peculiar and frustrating beasts, can't they?

--------------------------------------------

In case you don't know: there are three other easily available programs in the same vein as 'Incredible Machine'.
(a) Contraptions (which is a recent update of 'IM'
(b) Even more contraptions (an even more recent update)
(c) Crazy Machines (different designer and excellent)

Downsides to (a) and (b) are that you can only play the games with the CD in the drive and both hassle you during installation to also instal AOL. You have to be careful not to accept that installation by default.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Amazing
This is indeed the most marvelous game I've ever seen. Amazing for kids but great fun for adults as well!
Published on 10 Aug 2000

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