Are You Ready?
The solving of puzzles is a task for the thinking person—strategy is involved. Think of your marbles as soldiers you dispatch to war, traversing the machine. Your marbles may survive and triumph, reflecting well upon you, or may die miserably, chopped to ignoble bits, also reflecting upon you, but not as well. And if these marbles do not die well, ‘twill be a black day for the king that led them to it.
But to the specifics: Upon launching MARBLE DROP, the Enter Player Name dialogue box will appear. If you are a new player, simply type your name and press enter. The puzzle that initially appears on your screen will be the last puzzle played by the last player. If you have never launched MARBLE DROP before, then the first puzzle in the series will load by default.
Loading a previously saved game is a simple task. Once MARBLE DROP is launched, select Load Game from the Game menu, then click on the saved game you wish to continue playing.
Once you have chosen a puzzle, begin playing by selecting a marble with your mouse. Be sure to hold down the button as you drag the marble to the funnel. Warning: It is crucial to select a marble whose color matches the left-most slot of the bin you are trying to fill.
Puzzle-solving can be a trial-and-error process. Relax, trust your faculties, and explore the workings of each puzzle-- a well-designed machine is like an organism; its motions and reaction to stimuli (like the addition of colored marbles) can be predicted if the machine is watched carefully.
Watch the machines. The forces at work are real: if a marble looks like it will fall somewhere that gravity requires, it will. Sometimes, however, something unusual has been added, merely to make the puzzle more reflective of the mysteries, such as cannons, which will change the course of the marble, and devices of teleportation, which can be hard to predict indeed. You may put as many marbles into the puzzle as you desire, but if too many are in the puzzle at the same time, the Warning Light is activated. When the light goes on, slow down and give a few marbles a chance to find their way out of the puzzle. If you refuse to heed the warning, all marbles within the machine will be destroyed.