What is Machinations?
Learn how Machinations models connected systems. Explore a visual diagram, change its rules and use Play to inspect possible outcomes.
Machinations helps you draw an economy or other system, see how its parts affect one another, and compare possible outcomes. You can change the rules and Play the model to inspect what happens.
This lesson uses a visit to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory as one example: can you reach the factory with limited time and money? The same approach works for game economies, token systems, financial flows and other connected systems.
The example
Willy Wonka is inviting people to his chocolate factory. To go, you buy Wonka Bars and hope for Golden Tickets; with 10 you win the visit. The limits: each bar costs $1, you can buy up to five bars a day, the campaign ends in two months, and you can spend at most $100. Will you win the trip, and how could you estimate your chance before spending anything? That is the question the model in this lesson answers.
Explore the diagram
Open the diagram below to inspect the resources, rules and connections used in the example. Open the Willy Wonka diagram in Machinations if the embedded view does not load.