Gearworks

Each level fixes a target mechanical advantage. Pick parts from the bank into the machine chain so the combined output ratio lands exactly on target, overshoot or undershoot and it fails. Solve a run of puzzles to finish, with the engine doing all the ratio math for you.

• Different parts multiply force by different ratios
• The chain's output must equal the target exactly
• Clear several puzzles in a row to complete a run

• Desktop: click parts in the bank to add them, click Lock In to check, Clear to reset, Next for the next puzzle
• Phone & tablet: tap parts and the action buttons, touch-friendly

• Daily: one shared run of puzzles
• Practice: endless fresh chains

• Factor the target into the ratios available, work backward from it
• Watch the live multiplier update as you add each part
• Fewer mistakes score higher, so plan the chain before locking in

Gearworks is a simple-machines puzzle about combining mechanical advantage to hit an exact target, teaching how gears and levers multiply force.

• Skills: simple machines, gears, mechanical advantage, ratios
• Best for: roughly grades 5–10 (ages 10–16)
• For parents & teachers: mechanical advantage made concrete and precise.

Chaining parts so the combined output ratio lands exactly on a target is mechanical advantage through a gear train.

Requiring an exact ratio, with overshoot failing as surely as undershoot, is the original strictness.

Exactness is what makes it arithmetic rather than tinkering. Ratios multiply along a chain, so the reachable targets are products of the available parts — which means some targets are impossible and the search is over factorisations rather than adjustments.

Further reading: Chaining Advantage

Gearworks is an original simple-machines puzzle about combining mechanical advantage to an exact target. It's free to play in your browser, no download required.

A free, original browser game on PlayPendium. No download, no install.

1. Chaining Advantage

   In Gearworks, you don't just build machines, you build arguments in force, multiplying small advantages until their product is exactly the number on the screen.