Contraption Maker similar games & best alternatives

Contraption Maker - Trailer
Contraption Maker - contraption-maker_1.avif
Contraption Maker - contraption-maker_2.avif
Contraption Maker - contraption-maker_3.avif
Contraption Maker - contraption-maker_4.avif
Contraption Maker - contraption-maker_5.avif
Contraption Maker - contraption-maker_6.avif

Contraption Maker

PC (Microsoft Windows) • 2014

Should you play it?

The spiritual successor to The Incredible Machine from its original designer and programmer. Play 100s of puzzles. Build and share elaborate contraptions with an huge variety of parts and critters.

What works

  • Nostalgic remake of the incredible machine
  • Extensive official and community puzzle content
  • Robust creation tools with steam workshop integration
  • Challenging and creative physics-based puzzles
  • Family-friendly and educational

Things to keep in mind

  • Interface can be clunky at times
  • Music is repetitive and uninspired
  • Some puzzles may be too easy for veterans
  • Dlc content can split community
  • Lack of achievements and polish in early versions

What to play next

Top picks

Games that feels the closest overall

  • Fantastic Contraption

  • CATO: Buttered Cat

  • Cats Love Boxes

  • Picross Touch

  • Webbed

  • Crazy Machines 3

Less social

Games that feels like Contraption Maker but with less teamwork and cooperation

  • Paint it Back

  • Strange Jigsaws

  • Girls Like Robots

  • Toki Tori 2+

  • Khimera: Puzzle Island

  • Is This Seat Taken?

Choose your own criteria ->

Similarity map

How to compare these games

Compare nearby games

Each card is a nearby game on the similarity map, compared with Contraption Maker. Swipe sideways to move between games. Titles already listed in What to play next are left out.

  • Cover and title: open that game’s page.
  • What works / keep in mind: the same highlights as the desktop comparison panel.
  • Bars: the main motivational differences versus this game.
How to use the graph

Similarity map

Each dot is a game placed from its motivation profile relative to this page’s game. Direction shows which motivation differs most; distance along that axis shows how large the gap is.

  • Purple star: this page’s game at the centre — everything is relative to it.
  • Direction: each axis is a main motivational difference vs this game (e.g. more / less competitive).
  • Distance on an axis: how large that difference is (ring scales show +/− points).
  • Coloured chips: click to highlight games that mainly differ on that motivation; click again to reset.
  • Dotted line: link between this page’s game and the one selected for comparison.
  • Hover a dot to preview that game in the panel on the right; click to keep that comparison.
  • Scroll or double-click the chart to zoom.

How to read the map This is a polar difference map: direction = which motivation differs, and distance = how much (same units as the sidebar deltas).

Swipe to compare nearby games with Contraption Maker. These titles are not in What to play next.

Contraption Maker: Broadly representative of its motivational profile, with a few distinct shifts. Motivations that often define this kind of title include Violence, Fantasy, Thrill, Story. Here, the score leans higher than usual among comparable games on Cooperation, Fellowship, Fantasy.

Last update: 21/08/2026