Others say...

"Watch out for the system requirements"
Be sure to double check the system requirements using the Viva Media web site before you buy!

The 1.0 version had a bug where it would not start even though it installed properly, for which the developer issued a patch.
This version (1.5) has the same problem, but NO PATCH is available. When I emailed Viva Media about the situation, they responded that I didn't have enough graphics memory. Too bad those requirements are NOT spelled out in the Amazon listing!

Buyer beware!

"Crazy Fun"
Solving the puzzles is a lot of fun. There is also a learning aspect as you have to understand the physical properties of the individual items and how they can be used to solve the problem.

I think you need to like physics to really enjoy the game.


"Fun with slight install issue...."
Software is great. My kids, age 6 and 7, really like it and have learned about some basic mechanical mechanisms. Quite a few entertainment hours for the cost.

The only issue I have is that the software requires the user to be an 'administrator' level account. Not just to install but to run. My kids account is 'limited' for obvious reasons. I run XP Pro.

Luckily, I'd seen a comment about this issue in another posting.

4, not 5, because of this item.

"Great, mind growing fun"
Bought this for my 9 yr old daughter and 6 yr old son. Found that I enjoyed it as much as they do. We have not found that the game required really precise positioning of items to solve the puzzles, as some have mentioned. But we've mostly been making our own machines anyway.
One small gripe: discovered that in Win XP Home, Limited Accounts are not able to run the game. Since many homes probably set up Limited accounts to minimize the damage young kids might do the operating system, etc., it's odd that the game doesn't run from these. So the kids have to log on to my account or my wife's to play it.
On the plus side, that does allow us to control access a bit more, and the game is a bit addictive!
We also had to upgrade our system. Our video card was an ancient 32 MB thing and probably not DirectX 9 comaptible.
The rest of our system was fine (800 Mhz Ahtlon, 512 MB RAM), but the cost of a video card these days is about equal to the cost of a new motherboard and RAM, so we went ahead and upgraded.
The game also crashed once on my laptop. I'm guessing I need to fine tune some video settings. Other than that one time, it has been stable.

"Great fun!"
We purchased this game for my 8yr old and he loves it! He spends a long time trying different combination to accomplish the tasks. He loves both Crazy machines and Crazy Machines 1.5.