I'm having a great time playing Armadillo Run. It's a physics-based game in which you have to build a Rube Goldberg style contraption to make it to the next level. The simulated physics is incredible.
For each challenge, you're given a budget to buy rope, cloth, metal bars, metal sheet, and other components. Then you have to assemble a structure and adjust the tension of the component so that it will successfully deliver a basketball rolled up armadillo to a circular blue portal. The challenges get harder as you progress. The game cost $20, but you can download a 10-level demo version for free. (It's for Windows only.) Link
Reader comment:
Michael says:
Armadillo Run seems to me to be a mixture between Alex Austin's Bridge
Builder and Sierra's Incredible Machine. If you like the physics of the
game and can deal with less Rube Goldberg, I strongly suggest the 2006
free version of Bridge Builder. I got it from www.crypticsea.com.
There are prettier and more complex versions at www.chroniclogic.com.
Then there is a whole community built around the Bridge Builder games at
www.bridgebuilder-game.com. Thanks!
Joshua says:
Your readers also might like to know that the game's website has a plethora of user-created scenarios, so if they decide to purchase the game they'll have a large quantity of challenging 3rd-party scenarios to choose from after they finish the built-in levels. They'll also have free access to the game's built-in scenario editor so they can create and share their own puzzles. I bought the game a few months ago and I still play it from time to time. There are some extremely challenging puzzles available for download.
Oh, and a minor correction: the "basketball" is actually intended to be a curled-up armadillo (hence the name of the game); although that's not exactly an important distinction.
