Marble Drop
Encyclopedia
Gameplay
Players are given an initial set of 42 marbles divided evenly into six colors. These marbles are picked up and dropped by the player into funnels leading to a series of rails, switches, traps and other devices which grow more complex as the game progresses. The aim is to ensure that marbles arrive in the bin with the same color as the marble. Players must determine how the marble will travel through the puzzle, and how its journey will change the puzzle for the next marble. When a marble runs over certain sections of the puzzle, the paths are possibly re-routed or cut-off, temporarily or permanently. For example, if the marble runs over a button, it might activate a diverter that sends the next marble down a different path.There are 50 puzzles in all, including five bonus puzzles which can only be accessed via combination locks which appear in certain puzzles. Each puzzle is decorated with very nice Leonardo-esque sketches. Explanatory notes in da Vinci's handwriting form part of the background, informing the player of new pieces of equipment and their effects. At the end of each puzzle, the marbles guided into their proper bins are returned to the player. Lost marbles must be purchased when they are needed to complete a puzzle. Steel balls are 20% the price of colored marbles, and can be used as test marbles or to help release a catch instead of using a valuable colored marble. Black marbles are very expensive, but acquire the correct color when they arrive in the target bin.
Levels
Each level is named after a historical scientist, philosopher, or mathematician.- Thales of Miletus
- Tarquinius the Elder
- PriscianPriscianPriscianus Caesariensis , commonly known as Priscian, was a Latin grammarian. He wrote the Institutiones grammaticae on the subject...
- XenophonXenophonXenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens, was a Greek historian, soldier, mercenary, philosopher and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates...
- Galileo (Bonus Level)
- AristotleAristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
- ArchimedesArchimedesArchimedes of Syracuse was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity. Among his advances in physics are the foundations of hydrostatics, statics and an...
- EuclidEuclidEuclid , fl. 300 BC, also known as Euclid of Alexandria, was a Greek mathematician, often referred to as the "Father of Geometry". He was active in Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy I...
- EratosthenesEratosthenesEratosthenes of Cyrene was a Greek mathematician, poet, athlete, geographer, astronomer, and music theorist.He was the first person to use the word "geography" and invented the discipline of geography as we understand it...
- PolybiusPolybiusPolybius , Greek ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic and its gradual domination over Greece...
- CtesibiusCtesibiusCtesibius or Ktesibios or Tesibius was a Greek inventor and mathematician in Alexandria, Ptolemaic Egypt. He wrote the first treatises on the science of compressed air and its uses in pumps...
- Ma Chun
- Hero of AlexandriaHero of AlexandriaHero of Alexandria was an ancient Greek mathematician and engineerEnc. Britannica 2007, "Heron of Alexandria" who was active in his native city of Alexandria, Roman Egypt...
- SpeusippusSpeusippusSpeusippus was an ancient Greek philosopher. Speusippus was Plato's nephew by his sister Potone. After Plato's death, Speusippus inherited the Academy and remained its head for the next eight years. However, following a stroke, he passed the chair to Xenocrates. Although the successor to Plato...
- DemocritusDemocritusDemocritus was an Ancient Greek philosopher born in Abdera, Thrace, Greece. He was an influential pre-Socratic philosopher and pupil of Leucippus, who formulated an atomic theory for the cosmos....
- BrunelleschiFilippo BrunelleschiFilippo Brunelleschi was one of the foremost architects and engineers of the Italian Renaissance. He is perhaps most famous for inventing linear perspective and designing the dome of the Florence Cathedral, but his accomplishments also included bronze artwork, architecture , mathematics,...
- Archytas of TarenteArchytasArchytas was an Ancient Greek philosopher, mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and strategist. He was a scientist of the Pythagorean school and famous for being the reputed founder of mathematical mechanics, as well as a good friend of Plato....
- Christiaan Huygens (Bonus Level)
- Philo of AthensPhilo of LarissaPhilo of Larissa, was a Greek philosopher. He was a pupil of Clitomachus, whom he succeeded as head of the Academy. During the Mithradatic wars which would see the destruction of the Academy, he travelled to Rome where Cicero heard him lecture. None of his writings survive...
- Cato the ElderCato the ElderMarcus Porcius Cato was a Roman statesman, commonly referred to as Censorius , Sapiens , Priscus , or Major, Cato the Elder, or Cato the Censor, to distinguish him from his great-grandson, Cato the Younger.He came of an ancient Plebeian family who all were noted for some...
- Philo of ByzantiumPhilo of ByzantiumPhilo of Byzantium , also known as Philo Mechanicus, was a Greek engineer and writer on mechanics, who lived during the latter half of the 3rd century BC...
- HipparchusHipparchusHipparchus, the common Latinization of the Greek Hipparkhos, can mean:* Hipparchus, the ancient Greek astronomer** Hipparchic cycle, an astronomical cycle he created** Hipparchus , a lunar crater named in his honour...
- Shao OngShao YongShao Yong , courtesy name Yaofu , named Shào Kāngjié after death, was a Song Dynasty Chinese philosopher, cosmologist, poet and historian who greatly influenced the development of Neo-Confucianism in China....
- Dionysus ThraxDionysius ThraxDionysius Thrax was a Hellenistic grammarian and a pupil of Aristarchus of Samothrace. His place of origin was not Thrace as the epithet Thrax denotes, but probably Alexandria...
- Geminus of Rhodes
- PlatoPlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
- SripatiSripatiŚrīpati was an Indian astronomer and mathematician, the author of Dhikotidakarana , a work of twenty verses on solar and lunar eclipses; Dhruvamanasa , a work of 105 verses on calculating planetary longitudes, eclipses and planetary transits; Siddhantasekhara a major work on astronomy in 19...
(Bonus Level) - Marcus TironMarcus Tullius TiroMarcus Tullius Tiro was first a slave, then a freedman of Cicero.The date of Tiro's birth is uncertain. From Jerome it can be dated to 103 BC, which would make him only a little younger than Cicero...
- Pliny the ElderPliny the ElderGaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
- VitruviusVitruviusMarcus Vitruvius Pollio was a Roman writer, architect and engineer, active in the 1st century BC. He is best known as the author of the multi-volume work De Architectura ....
- Ts'ai Lun
- Apollonius DyskolosApollonius DyscolusApollonius Dyscolus is considered one of the greatest of the Greek grammarians. He was born at Alexandria, son of Mnesitheus. The dates for his life are not known...
- BelisariusBelisariusFlavius Belisarius was a general of the Byzantine Empire. He was instrumental to Emperor Justinian's ambitious project of reconquering much of the Mediterranean territory of the former Western Roman Empire, which had been lost less than a century previously....
- ApolloniusApollonius CronusApollonius Cronus from Cyrene was a philosopher of the Megarian school.Very little is known about him. He was the pupil of Eubulides, and was the teacher of Diodorus Cronus, as Strabo relates:Apollonius Cronus, was from Cyrene, .....
(Bonus Level) - Isidore of SevilleIsidore of SevilleSaint Isidore of Seville served as Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and is considered, as the historian Montalembert put it in an oft-quoted phrase, "le dernier savant du monde ancien"...
- Chang Hsu-hsunZhang Xu (calligrapher)Zhang Xu , courtesy name: Bogao , was a Chinese calligrapher of the Tang Dynasty.A native of Suzhou, he became an official during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang. Zhang was known as one of the Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup...
- Gerbert d'Aurillac
- Pi ChengBi ShengBì Shēng was the inventor of the first known movable type technology. Bi Sheng's system was made of Chinese porcelain and was invented between 1041 and 1048 in China.-Movable type printing:...
- Gui d'ArezzoGuido of ArezzoGuido of Arezzo or Guido Aretinus or Guido da Arezzo or Guido Monaco or Guido d'Arezzo was a music theorist of the Medieval era...
- Su Sung
- Guido di VigevanoGuido da VigevanoGuido da Vigevano was an Italian physician and inventor. He is notable for his sketchbook Texaurus regis Francie which depicts a number of technological items and ingenious devices, allowing modern scholarship an invaluable insight into the state of medieval technology...
- Salvino degliArmatiSalvino D'ArmateSalvino D'Armato degli Armati of Florence is one of the possible inventors of eyeglasses. It was previously thought that he invented eyeglasses around 1284, although the evidence now suggests that this was a hoax....
- Albertus MagnusAlbertus MagnusAlbertus Magnus, O.P. , also known as Albert the Great and Albert of Cologne, is a Catholic saint. He was a German Dominican friar and a bishop, who achieved fame for his comprehensive knowledge of and advocacy for the peaceful coexistence of science and religion. Those such as James A. Weisheipl...
(Bonus Level) - Leone Alberti
- Timdeharis
- GiovanniGiovanni Battista ZupiGiovanni Battista Zupi or Zupus was an Italian astronomer, mathematician, and Jesuit priest.He was born in Catanzaro. In 1639, Giovanni was the first person to discover that the planet Mercury had orbital phases, just like the Moon and Venus. His observations demonstrated that the planet orbited...
- Kiddinu
- Thabit Ibn QuarraThabit ibn Qurra' was a mathematician, physician, astronomer and translator of the Islamic Golden Age.Ibn Qurra made important discoveries in algebra, geometry and astronomy...
- Gutenberg
- Copernicus (This level is invisible)