PuzzleBeat

Gearworks

 

How to play

Goal: make every numbered pin turn the way its badge says, keep every red gear still, then press Spin.

Tap a gear size in the tray, then tap an empty axle. Tap a placed gear to take it back.

Gear sizes are Small 1, Medium 2 and Large 3. Two gears on axles joined by a line mesh when their sizes add up to the number on the line. If they add up to more, they would overlap, so that isn’t allowed. If less, they don’t touch.

Meshed gears turn opposite ways. Bigger gears turn slower: speed = driver speed × driver teeth ÷ gear teeth (10, 20 or 30 teeth).

A loop with an odd number of gears jams and shows red. A red gear that meshes the machine turns, and that fails. Every gear you place must turn.

The arrows show which way each gear turns as you build. Spin tells you whether the machine works.

Small 1Medium 2distance 3 = 1 + 2

Frequently asked questions

How do you play Gearworks?
The board is a set of axles joined by lines, each line marked with its distance. A fixed driver gear turns by itself. Tap a gear size in the tray (Small 1, Medium 2 or Large 3), then tap an empty axle to mount it; tap a placed gear to take it back. Every numbered pin must end up turning the way its badge says, every red gear must stay still, and every gear you place must turn. Press Spin to test the machine.
When do two gears mesh?
Two gears on axles joined by a line mesh when their sizes add up to exactly the distance on the line: a Small 1 and a Medium 2 mesh across a distance of 3. If the sizes add up to more, the gears would overlap, so the move is refused. If they add up to less, they don't touch. A meshed gear turns the opposite way, and bigger gears turn slower: speed is the driver's speed times the driver's teeth divided by the gear's teeth (10, 20 or 30). A loop with an odd number of gears jams.
What happens on a failed spin, and how are medals decided?
A Spin that doesn't solve the puzzle tells you, for every pin, which way and how fast it actually turned against what it needs, and warns you if a red gear turned. It never tells you which gear to change. Gold is a solve with at most one failed spin and no hint, silver at most four failed spins, bronze any solve. A hint shows one axle of the answer and the size it needs; it counts in your share text and rules out gold only. Every day has exactly one working machine, and everyone gets the same puzzle (US Eastern); open a past day with ?d=YYYY-MM-DD.