Marble Drop Run

The introduction of elements like track switchers sensors and ball traps increase the complexity of the game rapidly.

Marble drop run.

The game mechanics are simple drop colored marbles in the correct funnels in the correct sequence to have them end in the desired target receptacle. Marble drop is a 1997 puzzle game made by maxis the same company that later created the sims. The game supported windows 3 1 and 95. Followed by 500 cm of acrylic glass tube.

From the entrance it goes 200 cm upwards in a special elevator. It s not quite a rube goldberg machine but each level is an elaborate contraption with plenty of moving ramps elevators switches cannons crossbows open flames and spinning doohickeys. Marble run is a collaborative attempt to build the longest marble run on earth. You are the yellow marble on the rafting track.

In essence you have to visualise what will happen. Marble drop addition is an arcade style educational game for kids to practice addition. Sometimes you can spot the principle immediately. Marble drop is a similarly themed title which isn t quite so good as its inspiration but which is still well worth a closer inspection.

Gameplay involves depositing marbles of different colors into tiny funnels which will race down tracks trigger events and hopefully wind up in the corresponding color bin. Players will learn that there are often many different combinations of numbers that add up to the target number. To play the game kids must collect numbered marbles that add up to the target number shown at the top of the screen. When your marble runs over certain sections the paths are re routed to different parts of the contraption.

If the marble runs over a button it might activate a diverter and send the next marble somewhere completely different. Marble drop is one of these successes. It combines some cleverly designed puzzles with an easy to use interface to make an enjoyable bit of puzzling action. Thankfully the developers did not rely on win16 support on windows 95 and instead on the disk we can find both a win16 and a win32 version which requires some fixing to work on modern systems.