[0] https://store.steampowered.com/app/26900/Crayon_Physics_Delu...
0: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/petterssons-erfindungen/id5246...
https://www.gog.com/en/game/the_incredible_machine_mega_pack
[1] https://www.myabandonware.com/game/super-solvers-gizmos-gadg...
Mia Mouse/Mia’s Big Adventure Collection was something I recall playing as a kid.
I definitely think I was much younger than 7 though, I’d been playing RuneScape for close to 3 years by the time I was 7. Mia’s is probably still appropriate & engaging enough for that age though.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mia%27s_Big_Adventure_Collec...
I think I’m specifically remembering Mia Math, but it looks like there’s Math/Science/Reading/Language, seems to be marketed for education.
Oh wow. I forgot about this game for a long time, until just now.
Our elementary school didn't have enough buses to take everyone home at once. The bus departures were staggered so a few buses would take some kids home and return for the next groups.
You definitely wanted to be in that last group of kids to leave, which meant you got to sit in your classroom and play one of the three games we had on our two Macintosh SE machines: Oregon Trail, Number Munchers, and The Incredible Machine. Hours and hours spent waiting on the bus playing this wonderful game, usually with your friends sitting next to you quietly yelling suggestions at you. Thanks for the reminder!
It's all about devising elaborate Rube Goldberg machines to solve puzzles. The cat knocks a ball into the goldfish bowl, which tips over and fills a bucket that operates a pulley that flips a switch that opens a door. That kind of thing.
I remember it being very freeform and exploratory, teaching cause and effect and thinking through complex interaction chains.
I was probably around 7 when I played it. Very age appropriate.
It's available on a web-based DOS emulator!
https://www.myabandonware.com/game/the-incredible-machine-1m...