54. SET OFF FIREWORKS

 Speaking of fireworks, this one's a bit trickier than #53 since you have to set off a chain reaction. Place a flashlight under the baseball to light the rocket in the bottom right corner. The rocket should crash into Bob the Fish which will lure the Pokey the Cat onto the level with Mort the Mouse. Mort will run off to the left where he should fall onto a pair of scissors placed so as to cut the rope holding up the pail. Have the pail fall onto the dynamite plunger blasting the tennis ball up into the air (make sure the dynamite is below and ever so slightly to the right of the ball) and onto a trampoline at the bottom of the narrow pipe channel under the switched outlet. The ball should switch on the outlet which should start an electric motor connected to a generator which should power on a fan blowing a windmill connected to the jack-in-the-box. All that's left is to have the cannonball fall onto a flashlight next to the magnifying glass.

 55. PUNCH THE BUCKET

 Which balls to use? How about the bowling ball in the top right, the baseball, and the cannonball in the bottom left. Place a seesaw with its lower-right end under the baseball and another seesaw with its lower-left end under the cannonball in the bottom left. Position a size 1 incline four spaces under the bowling ball and adjacent to the far right wall. The bowling ball will deflect to the left and land on the seesaw, flipping the baseball into the gap between the incline and the short vertical block to the right of where the baseball was. The baseball will roll down the lower channel onto the seesaw where it should flip the cannonball into the channel on the left. There you should use a trampoline at the bottom of the channel and a seesaw with its upper-right end at the top of the channel to direct the cannonball into the boxing glove.

 56. HAPPY SECOND BIRTHDAY

 This solution is pretty much the same as that for puzzle #55. Have the cannonball fall onto a trampoline and bounce into the upper-right end of a seesaw. This should deflect the ball into a boxing glove to the left of the pail.

 57. LET MORT OUT OF THE BOX

 This should be more like "Blow Mort Out of the Box." Place a trampoline under the baseball and a boxing glove above it to deflect it right, onto a dynamite plunger, blowing a hole in the bottom left corner of the box. The ball should then bounce back to the left onto a seesaw whose upper-right end is tied to Kelly the Monkey inside the box. Kelly's pedaling should then drive a conveyor belt placed under Mort at the bottom of the box, sending Mort to the left, down into the hole and oblivion.

 58. EXERCISE ALL FOUR MICE

 In this puzzle, you not only have to exercise all 4 mice but you must get them running simultaneously. The resulting solution is a relatively symmetrical one: Position a seesaw so that it's centered under the vertical wall separating the two basketballs. This will cause each basketball to perpetually flip the other into the mouse motors in the center. Connect these two mouse motors to size 3 conveyor belts under the tennis balls and send one down the brick chute to the left, and the other down the brick chute to the right. Send each tennis ball down a combination size 4 and size 1 incline so that they land right on top of a trampoline at the bottom of each pipe chute. There, the tennis balls should eventually make there way up to the mouse motors at the far left and right. (Make sure the size 1 inclines are adjacent to the trampolines; this will ensure that one tennis ball doesn't stop bouncing before the other tennis ball has reached its mark.)

 59. LOWER THE BOOM

 Drop the pail into the "hole" at the bottom center of the screen. You only need to use one of the cannons here. Have the baseball fall onto a seesaw whose upper-left end is tied to a lightbulb next to the cannon on the right. Use the lightbulb with a magnifying glass to ignite this cannon, and position a pair of scissors so that the ejected ball hits the bottom of the scissors, cutting the rope, and releasing the pail. If necessary, line up a couple of pieces of pipe to direct the falling cannonball into the pail.

 60. CAT-A-PULTING

 Another timing puzzle. Here, you must first lower the middle bucket with the cannonball, then "punch" Pokey off the right edge of the brick floor. Position a seesaw with its lower-right end just under the left edge of the cannonball. Center a horizontal piece of pipe over the bucket that's suspended just under the gap in the brick floor. Place a basketball to the right of the suspended bucket in the top left corner of the screen and have it fall onto a size 4 incline. Lastly, place a boxing glove to Pokey's left. The basketball should roll down the incline and fall onto the seesaw flipping the cannonball into the air where it will hit the metal piping and fall down into the bucket. This bucket will fall and raise the bucket blocking Pokey's path. In the meantime, assuming the basketball built up enough momentum, it should bounce over to the boxing glove, scooting Pokey off the right edge and down below.

 61. PUT MORT IN PRISON

 Cut the rope holding up the cage, blow up the wooden flooring, and you're home free. You can cut the rope by positioning two size 4 inclines end to end to lead the baseball onto a pair of scissors pointing right. A trampoline under the dynamite should bounce and deflect it onto the wooden shelf above Mort. Tie the gun to the upper-left end of the seesaw and aim it at the ultimate destination of the dynamite. All that's left is to delay the bowling ball's arrival onto the seesaw via a couple of size 4 inclines and maybe a mouse motor.

 62. ELIMINATE THE BALLOONS

 A fairly simple puzzle complicated by the fact that Kelly is preventing the baseball from directly falling onto the seesaw. So use a size 4 incline to send the baseball right, bouncing off the tip of the cannon onto a size 2 incline, leading the ball back to the left, where it can fall onto a size 4 incline (positioned below and to the right of Kelly) and, finally, deposited onto the seesaw. [Alternatively, you can have the baseball turn on a flashlight and with the help of a magnifying glass, ignite the cannon (positioning of the flashlight and magnifying glass is very tight); then use a size 2 incline under the first gap in the wood floor to roll the cannonball to the right, down, and to the left into the boxing glove; a pair of size 4 inclines can then be used to get the basketball onto the seesaw.] With the help of a rope tied from the seesaw to Kelly's shade, start Kelly bicycling. Connect Kelly to the first of three meshed gears (above and to the left of the conveyor belt), the third of which should be connected to the conveyor belt. This will then help convey a dire message to the balloons.

 63. LAUNCH ALL THE ROCKETS

 Use the baseball and basketball. With the help of a size 4 incline, roll the baseball onto the seesaw whose lower-right end is tied via a pulley to a lightbulb/magnifying glass combination in the bottom right to ignite the two rockets there (the space is a little tight). Similarly, position a seesaw under the basketball and tie its lower-right end via a pulley to a lightbulb/magnifying glass combination in the bottom left to ignite the rocket there.

 64. FIRE THE CANNON

 Perhaps this puzzle should be more aptly titled "Try Lighting the Flashlight with the Baseball." Actually, this puzzle is not too bad. Have the ball hit the lower-left end of a seesaw onto a mouse motor/conveyor belt combination which should whoosh it off to the left and down. There it should collide with another mouse motor/conveyor belt combo which should whoosh it back to the right. Use another conveyor belt to direct the ball into the wooden channel and onto the flashlight.

 65. BREAK BOB'S FISHBOWL   Chain reaction time again. Have the boxing glove hit a mouse motor connected to the generator which should power an electric motor connected to a the single "free" gear. Deflect the tennis ball with a fan or two so that it falls on top of the flashlight which then shines through a magnifying glass, ignites the dynamite, and does Bob in.

 66. KNOCK IT OFF

 Keep it simple. Have the falling baseball drop onto a conveyor belt leading to the baseball on the wooden block. Connect this conveyor belt to the mouse motor. Deflect the floating balloon into the mouse motor with a gear positioned against the bottom right corner of the lower conveyor belt. Baseball in the side pocket...

 67. TEN, NINE, EIGHT, IGNITION SEQUENCE START...

 You may not like my solution. The puzzle goal says that you should "make the rocket fly off the top of the screen." It doesn't actually say you have to ignite it. Position a seesaw so that the rocket falls on its lower-right end and the cannonball falls on its upper-left end. Flip the rocket onto a trampoline. Up, up, and away!

 68. MORT-TRAP

 This puzzle's not terribly different from #61. Connect the gear to the conveyor belt under Pokey and mesh this gear with another gear connected to the mouse motor. Have Pokey land on a seesaw tied via the pulley to the gun. Place a stick of dynamite under the cage to blow up the brick and land the cage on Mort. You'll need to position an incline on the lower piping to keep Pokey from eating his dinner too early.

 69. SHEDDING SOME LIGHT

 The first seesaw's connected to the...first pulley. The second seesaw's connected to the... You got the idea. First, place a mouse motor under bowling ball 2 (have the mouse face left) and connect the motor to a conveyor belt under bowline ball 1. Tie lightbulb 1 to pulley 1 (the first of the triplet of pulleys) to the right end of seesaw 1. Tie lightbulb 2 to pulley 2 to the right end of seesaw 2. Tie lightbulb 3 to pulley 3 to the right end of seesaw 4. Tie lightbulb 4 to the pulley in the bottom left corner to the pulley in the top left corner to the left end of seesaw 2.

 70. SAVE THE BOB SQUAD

 Another simple puzzle whose layout is trying to make you think that the solution is a complicated one. All you need to do is deflect the left cannonball with a seesaw and cut the rope connected to the lightbulb with a baseball/scissors combination. The worst part is waiting for TIM to realize you've solved the puzzle.

 71. THE WOODEN SHAFT

 The trick here is to compress the bellows with a balloon-powered seesaw. Have the tennis ball drop onto the upper-left end of a seesaw on the brick floor and ricochet into a pair of scissors setting the balloon free. The balloon should collide with the lower-left end of a seesaw (whose lower-left end is about 3/4 of an inch under the tip of the bellows). The rising seesaw will set off the bellows which should blow a windmill connected to a generator powering a motor connected to a conveyor belt placed under all three baseballs.

 72. LAYING DOWN A BUNT

 More like blowing down a bunt. Have the cannonball drop onto a seesaw tied to a lightbulb. The lightbulb should shine on a solar paneled outlet which should power a fan blowing the baseball to the left. Direct the ball into the bucket with one or two carefully placed pieces of pipe.

 73. A PIRATE'S LIFE FOR ME

 Free the candle. Center a mouse motor (mouse facing right) on the brick flooring directly under the tennis ball. Next, position a flashlight above the mouse motor so that the tennis ball first hits and turns on the flashlight and then bounces to the right without directly hitting the mouse motor. The flashlight should shine through a magnifying glass so that it can ignite a stick of dynamite sitting on the left side (but not too far to the left) of the brick shelf below the candle. After the explosion (which should free the candle but not disturb the mouse motor), the candle should fall onto a size 5 conveyor belt centered two spaces below the brick shelf where the dynamite was sitting. There, the candle will also be lit by the flashlight. Meanwhile, the falling baseball should hit a pair of scissors freeing the balloon so that it's not in the bouncing tennis ball's path. Have the tennis ball bump into another pair of scissors and bounce back to the left where it can collide with the mouse motor. Connect the mouse motor to the conveyor belt and the candle will be delivered to its appointed destination. (Alternate: Instead of deflecting the tennis ball to the right and back to the left into the mouse motor, use a series of seesaws to delay the cannonball's collision with the same mouse motor connected to the conveyor belt.)

 74. CHASE AWAY THE MICE

 I found this one to be especially mean. That cannonball has to perform three tasks: turn on the fan, start a conveyor belt, and set off some dynamite. Use a block to fill in the gap to the right of the upper mouse. Place three size 4 inclines to create a path from the opening in the sidewall (below the tennis ball) up toward the mouse motor. Position a size 5 conveyor belt to Pokey's left, connect it to a gear (placed beneath Pokey's wooden perch) meshed with a second gear connected to the mouse motor. Have the cannonball flip on a switched outlet powering a fan blowing at Pokey. The cannonball should then bump into the left side of the gun (placed above the mouse motor pointing right), bump into and set off the mouse motor, fall onto the triplet of inclines, roll into the sidewall gap, where it should fall onto a dynamite plunger (blowing up the horizontal brick lip on the left center side of the screen), and, finally, roll off the side of the screen. Meanwhile, Pokey gets thrown to the left toward the mouse and the two of them subsequently fall through the hole in the flooring. Position a size 4 incline under the dynamite wiring allowing enough room underneath it for the mouse to sneak through but not enough room for Pokey. (For an even greater challenge, skip this last incline and try to get the cannonball to arrive in the bottom left corner of the frame about the same time that Pokey and the mouse do. Then the cannonball can intercede between Pokey and the 5 mice.)

 75. BLOW UP

 This solution is similar to puzzle #28. Place a seesaw beneath each of the three inclines under the bowling ball. Each of the three seesaws should have its left-end down and their fulcrums should be lined up directly under the bowling ball. Place two more seesaws between the inclines on the right so their left-ends are pointing up. Place a sixth seesaw below the lower-right incline so that it's upper-left end barely lines up underneath the upper-right end of the bottom seesaw on the left. At this point, if the solution is started, the bowling ball should hit each seesaw and, finally, set off the boxing glove. Once this is in place, position five pulleys just under the lower end of each of the first five seesaws. Tie the lower-ends of the first five seesaws via their corresponding pulleys to the top five guns. Tie the upper-end of the sixth (lower-right) seesaw to the sixth gun via a pulley positioned under pulley 5. Now as the seesaws are flipped, the guns will be fired and the first six sticks of dynamite set off. Place a magnifying glass and lightbulb to the right of the candle. Tie a rope from the lightbulb to a pulley beneath the brick flooring (yes, it can fit) to the lower-right end of the sixth seesaw. When the sixth seesaw flips (firing the sixth gun), it will also turn on the lightbulb, lighting the candle, which will set off the last stick of dynamite after being hit by the boxing glove.

 76. BALLOONS IN DANGER   The trick to this puzzle's solution is understanding that a balloon will not only break upon being hit by a flying bullet, but that it will also prevent that bullet from hitting anything else. That said, place a balloon to the right of the third gun as close to the brick wall as possible. Position the scissors over the rope tied to the third gun, and place a second balloon under the scissors. This balloon should hit the scissors (cutting the rope) and be deflected toward the first balloon positioned above. The first balloon will stop the first balloon, the second balloon the second, and the third gun will never fire.

 77. GETTING THE BALLS TOGETHER.

 This can be pretty sticky until you figure out how to have the basketball both nudge the bowling ball off the edge and follow it. The trick isn't to put the basketball on the incline but rather to place it above and right of the bowling ball's center. Then, the falling basketball will knock the bowling ball off, bounce to the right onto the incline, and then roll off itself. Position a mouse motor against the wooden wall one space below the bowling ball and connect it to a size 5 conveyor belt positioned several spaces below the baseball. After the bowling ball hits the mouse motor, have it flip a seesaw whose fulcrum is 1 diagonal space away from the bottom left corner of the mouse motor. Place a trampoline just above the incline at the mouth of the hole to the right of the balloon. Both the bowling ball and basketball should bounce off the mouse motor, onto the seesaw, bounce onto the trampoline, and into the hole. Position a magnifying glass and flashlight to the right of the cannon fuse. Place a stick of dynamite on the wooden flooring above the flashlight, and a gun to its left, tied to the lower-right end of the seesaw. When the bowling ball lands on the seesaw, the gun will be fired, exploding the dynamite, and providing a path for the baseball to fall down onto the flashlight setting off the cannon.

 78. FREE POOR POKEY THE CAT

 This is another puzzle whose solution can be elusive. The trick behind raising the cage is dropping the cannonball into the bucket. And the trick to flipping the cannonball off the seesaw is to tie a balloon to the seesaw's lower end. First, the easy stuff. Position a size 1 incline (pointing up from right to left) with its bottom point directly on top of the right balloon so that the balloon bounces off the third mouse motor into the second mouse motor. Tie the bucket to the cage via the two prepositioned pulleys. Finally, don't have the cannonball fall onto the prepositioned seesaw...it's too low. Instead, position another seesaw whose lower-right end is immediately under the cannonball and tie that end to the balloon in the lower-left corner. Use a size 1 incline to bounce this balloon off the side of mouse motor 1, then let it rise and pop the cannonball off the seesaw and into the bucket.

 79. PUT THE BALLS INTO THE BASKETS

 Figuring out where to position a seesaw tied to the right balloon in order to activate the lower mouse motor is the secret here. Place the seesaw just above the opening to the smaller wooden basket and tie its lower-left end to the right balloon. Then connect the lower mouse motor to the conveyor belt under the basketball. Connect the upper mouse motor to the upper conveyor belt (under the bowling ball) via a pair of meshed gears (in order to reverse the direction of the conveyor belt). Also, place another seesaw so that its lower-left end is adjacent to the lower-right corner of the vertical piece of brick that's roughly center screen. This should deflect the bowling ball into the taller basket.

 80. BASKETBALL ON THE MOON   A jack-in-the-box will perform the foul shot. Place it immediately under the basketball and connect it to the left-most gear. Connect the meshed gear to Kelly's bicycle which you should locate just below the gears. Tie Kelly's shade to the cage and blow up a stick of dynamite placed under the cage using the flashlight, magnifying glass, and baseball.

 81. BREAKING DOWN THE WALL

 The title says it all. But how and where to position the dynamite? My idea is as follows: Position the trampoline so that it is adjacent to the brick wall and its legs are level with the cannon muzzle. Position the dynamite just above the trampoline. The bowling ball should fall onto the seesaw whose upper-right end pulls on a lightbulb located just to the left of the highest piece of brick (above and to the left of the trampoline) and whose lower-left end turns on a lightbulb (via the lower pulley) located to the left of the cannon. The lightbulb by the brick should light the dynamite (via a magnifying glass positioned close to the lightbulb) and, naturally, the other lightbulb (and magnifying glass) should light the cannon. Tweak the positions of these various objects until the cannonball safely makes its way into the bucket.

 82. BOUNCE, BOUNCE, BOUNCE GO THE BALLS

 It's all in the positioning. Place one trampoline at the bottom of the far right well (under the basketball). Place another so that's it level with the top of the adjacent well to the left. (Deflect the basketball to the left of the first well by placing a size 2 incline high above the first well so that half of the incline is off the top of the screen.) Then play with three more trampolines. I put one just to the left of the bottom of the wells, a second above and to the right of the pipe basket, and a third just to the right of the pipe basket.

 83. LIGHT MY FIRE

 Light the rocket and fly it sideways! Have the cannonball fall onto the left side of a flashlight and bounce to the left. The flashlight should light the candle via a magnifying glass; the cannonball should bounce onto a size 2 conveyor belt and then land on a mouse motor (the conveyor belt prevents it from landing on the mouse motor prematurely) connected to the gear above and to the left of the candle. Mesh two more gears to the right of this gear and connect the third of the three to the lower-right conveyor belt (under the rocket) and the second of the three to one of the pair of gears above the rocket. The second of the pair of gears should connect to a size 5 conveyor belt positioned immediately under these two gears. Thus, the candle is lit, then shifted right on the conveyor belt to light the rocket which takes off and hits the upper conveyor belt moving it to the left. Use a size 4 incline, then a pair of unpowered size 5 conveyor belts following by another size 4 incline to continue to move the rocket to the left lighting the four candles sitting on the brick pedestals. The candle that originates in the top left corner (the last one to be lit by the rocket) should fall onto the upper-left end of a seesaw whose lower-right end turns on a lightbulb (via a pulley beneath the brick flooring). This lightbulb in conjunction with a magnifying glass can be positioned near the bottom-left corner to light the remaining two candles.

 84. REMOVING THE PATTERN

 Perhaps this one should be called "Tweak till Your Blue in the Face." I placed a pair of scissors pointing left just above and to the right of the the farthest right pulley (in the cross). I placed one cannonball so that it dropped immediately into the left bucket and the second cannonball above the right bucket and just under the top piping. This way, the second cannonball falls into the right bucket at exactly the same time that the bucket itself bumps into the scissors cutting the rope (don't let the cannonball hit the scissors and bounce away from the bucket). Then it's a matter of watching the puzzle unravel.

 85. PUT THE CAGE IN THE HOLE

 Swing your cage to the left, then promenade back to the right. Tie a rope so that the falling bucket fires the gun at the cage and the bucket hits the mouse motor. The cage should be tied to the hook under its wooden base. Place a size 3 conveyor belt just above (but not right on top of) the wooden flooring at the bottom of the screen so that the right edge of the conveyor belt lines up with the hook. Place a size 5 conveyor belt right on top of the wooden flooring at the bottom of the screen so that its left edge lines up with the scissors' red handles. Fill the gap between the wooden incline and the brick with a size 3 conveyor belt. Now wire it all up. Connect the mouse motor to the far-right gear, the far-left conveyor belt to the far-left gear, the lower- middle conveyor belt to the bottom gear, and the lower-right conveyor belt to the third of the top four gears. The cage should be shot off the side of its wooden base, and land on the first conveyor belt. It should then fall off the right edge of this conveyor belt and just hang there by the rope until the baseball hits the scissors and cuts it free. The cage should then fall onto the lower conveyor belt, move right, climb the incline onto the last conveyor belt, and be dumped into the hole.

 86. SAVE MORT FROM THE CATS

 This one's nothin' compared to the last few. When Mort falls through the first gap, have him bump into a mouse motor (mouse facing right) and fall to the left toward the gears onto a size 4 conveyor belt whose left edge is immediately above the far right gear. Connect the conveyor belt to the mouse motor, and Mort's problems are behind him.

 87. UP, UP, AND AWAY

 Lots of options and lots of red-herrings. But when you figure that all you need is for the lower baseball to fall onto the flashlight, the problem gets easier. Keep the cannonball from blocking the gap by placing a size 1 conveyor belt immediately below it. Roll the baseball left by placing a seesaw immediately below it. The baseball should land on a size 5 conveyor belt connected to a mouse motor (mouse facing right) off to the left. The rolling basketball should hit the mouse motor before the baseball rolls off to the left. Once the mouse starts motoring, the baseball will get thrown to the right, down the hole, and onto the flashlight. Then all you need is a magnifying glass, and patience while you wait for "More Incredible Machines" coming to a store near you in early '93.

 THE INCREDIBLE MACHINE is published and distributed by Sierra On-Line.

 This walkthru is copyright (c) 1992 by Larry Schneider. All rights reserved. Not to be distributed without permission.