Gear Garage

Gear Garage is a free gears game. Students place gears on a pegboard to connect a motor to a machine (a winch, a turntable, a lift, a garage door) and make it turn at the right speed, in the right direction and with enough force. The gears behave like real ones: they mesh, jam, and stall when the load is too heavy for the motor.

How to play

Pick a gear size, then tap a hole on the pegboard to place it. Gears that touch mesh automatically. Each machine shows the speed and direction it needs, and on later levels the torque too. Press Check my gears to see if it works. Tick Show the numbers to see the speed and torque of every gear.

Each level earns up to three stars: one for a machine that works, two for staying within the budget, and three for matching the cheapest design we know.

The levels

#	Level	Years	Big idea
1	First Gear	8	Meshing gears turn each other, in opposite directions
2	Same Way Round	8	Idler gears change direction
3	Need for Speed	8–9	Gear ratio = driver teeth ÷ driven teeth
4	Heavy Lifting	9	Trading speed for torque
5	Round the Engine	9–10	Idlers don’t change the overall ratio
6	Compound Gears	10–11	Ratios multiply in a compound train
7	Garage Door	11–12	Rack and pinion, v = ωr
8	Every Mesh Counts	12–13	Efficiency multiplies, P = Tω

Tips for teachers

• Years 8–9: ask students to predict which way the last gear will turn before they place it. Counting the gears in a row is the whole trick.
• Years 9–10: in Heavy Lifting, students discover that a slower output is a stronger one. Link it to levers and moments.
• Years 11–13: Garage Door and Every Mesh Counts need a calculation first. Ask for the gear ratio, speed or efficiency on paper, then build it to check.

Every level ends with a short “What you learned” summary you can use as a plenary.