The Incredible Machine

Designed by Kevin Ryan and initially published in 1993, this series of games asks players to construct Rube Goldberg machines which “solve” certain scenarios. Each level has components pre-placed on the screen and offers players a set of “parts” they can place to achieve a goal (generally moving an object to a particular location).

The limited toolbox is sometimes used to make the levels more challenging, but it’s mostly about reducing unbounded complexity and making the level solvable at all (Constraints as cognitive scaffolding). The levels are sequenced to introduce each part over time, gradually involving them in increasingly elaborate combinations: Fine-grained task progressions as cognitive scaffolding.

The first game was programmed in nine months! Remarkable.