Cogchime

A clockwork music box lies open in front of you. The pegs are bare, the gears are loose in the tray, and the chimes are waiting to be driven. Drag the gears into place and set every chime turning the way its arrow points — the movement closes, and the melody plays. Cogchime is a puzzle game whose rules come entirely from real mechanical transmission. No randomness, no countdown, no move limit, and no penalty for failing. The only pressure comes from the puzzle. ■ THE RULE IS THE PHYSICS Two meshed gears must turn opposite ways. So a chime's direction is decided by the parity of how many bites separate it from the mainspring — that is not a game convention, it is what gears have always done. One look and you know. ■ LESS IS MORE A surplus connection locks the whole mechanism: the moment a closed ring of meshes has odd length, the directions contradict and the whole connected group stalls with a dull thud. The best solution is usually several pieces leaner than your first instinct. ■ ONE FINGER Dragging is the only input: pull a gear from the tray onto a peg, slide it between pegs, drag it back to remove it. No buttons, no menu trees. ■ 158 LEVELS ACROSS 14 CHAPTERS Mesh through Belts and Aftertone are free — 92 levels. The finale and five expansion chapters open with the one-time Full Unlock; Annulus's first two are free to try. Mesh — meshing and reversal; two bites restore the direction. Reversal — an idler bends direction without touching speed. Jam — a gear train is a chain, not a web. Duet — one mainspring, several errands. Spacing — three gear sizes; the distance that meshes is calculated, not guessed. Ratio — an idler cannot change speed; compound gears can. Belts — a belt is a long edge with no flip, joining shafts that never touch. Annulus — an internal ring; wheels hugging its wall turn with it, a circular bus. One-Way — a ratchet permits one direction only; a crossed belt turns it back. Decks — between the plates, coaxial layers run their own routes. Orbit — sun, ring and carrier add and subtract; fix two and the third is fixed. Worm — a belt drives only under tension, and an idle shaft is a brake. Ensemble — the finale: large movements where every mechanic shares the board. Aftertone — the piece-limited challenge; finish with as few gears as possible. ■ DAILY CHALLENGE A new movement every day, the same board for everyone on earth, free. Build your streak. ■ MOVEMENT CODEX Every level you clear is drawn as a blueprint card from your winning board: drafting grid, pegs, mesh construction lines, belt runs, captioned like a museum plate. Meet par and it takes the brass Thrift seal. Open a blueprint and the gears turn; you can replay that level's melody — the codex is also a collection of chimes. Beat your record, or match it with a different solution, and the card is redrawn. ■ CRAFTSMAN'S NOTES Clear every level in a chapter and a page opens on where the principle you just verified by hand comes from in mechanical history: the Antikythera mechanism, the watchmaker's depthing tool, the motion work behind a dial, the crossed belts of the line-shaft era, the epicyclic train, the self-locking worm. Fourteen pieces, short and considered. ■ CLEAN No ads, no subscription, no consumables, no random rewards. No account, nothing to register or sign in to. Two one-time purchases and nothing else: Full Unlock opens the remaining 66 levels with their blueprints and notes, later chapters included at no extra charge and no second content purchase ever; Supporter's Chime adds the Gilt Lacquer theme and no levels. What you have unlocked plays offline; buying and restoring need a connection. Apart from feedback you choose to send, the game transmits nothing to any server, and payment goes through the App Store — never through us. ■ CONSIDERATE Three themes: Walnut, Drafting Paper, and the supporters' Gilt Lacquer. Sound can be turned off. Honours the system "reduce motion" setting. Interface and content text in 13 languages.