🏗 Free Games + Gecko Chaos

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Hello Fellow Engineers!

Another week, another glorious excuse to talk about engineering, dunk on architects, and give away free games—and this time, you can double your giveaway entries just by referring two friends! (Because engineers love efficiency and extra chances to win.)

We’ve also got:
🔹 A legendary engineering flex—the Empire State Building’s insane construction speed
🔹 A bridge that had to dodge international borders (because straight lines are for amateurs)
🔹 A gecko-selling empire (yes, really)
🔹 Paddy vs. The Mega Stick—the ultimate battle of dog vs. oversized log

Oh, and Saudi Arabia’s 100-mile skyscraper? Yeah, it’s going about as well as you’d expect.

Let’s dive into it 👇

🎮 FIVE Games Up for Grabs This Week! 🎉

That’s right—FIVE different games, FIVE lucky winners! Whether you love building, managing, blowing things up, or just causing chaos, there’s something for everyone this week (except architects… they get nothing).

And now, the moment you’ve been waiting for… 🥁

🏆 linuxchan – Planet TD 🏆
🏆 notthatbad42 – XEL 🏆
🏆 arieg2013 – Little Orpheus 🏆
🏆 dubois.cnm – Detatched 🏆
🏆 melleklerkx – Agent in Depth 🏆

Check your email to see which game you’ve won and get ready for peak efficiency and structural excellence (or, you know, just some good gaming fun).

Missed out? Don’t worry—next week’s giveaway is already loading! Want in? Vote for a bridge in the poll below and you’re entered! 🌉🔥

👷‍♂️ Truss Me, I’m an Engineer…

This Week in Engineering History: The Empire State Building Begins Construction!

Back in March 17, 1930, a group of absolute madlads (a.k.a. engineers) decided to flex on the entire world by kicking off construction on the Empire State Building—a project so ambitious that even today’s engineers look at it and go, “Wait, how did they do that so fast?”

Now, for those of you who don’t appreciate how insane this was, let’s put it in perspective:

• 410 days. That’s how long it took to build. Meanwhile, your city has had a road closed for “repairs” since the dawn of time.

• 102 stories. Built when the tallest thing most people had seen was their uncle standing on a chair to change a lightbulb.

• 3,400 workers. Who somehow didn’t have a single OSHA inspector breathing down their necks.

• A literal race to the sky. Because at the time, skyscraper construction was basically a game of “Who Can Overcompensate the Most?”

So the next time someone tells you architects are the real visionaries, just remind them: It wasn’t an architect who figured out how to build the Empire State Building in record time—it was engineers.

Happy 95th anniversary to one of history’s greatest engineering flexes! 🎉

⚡ Cool Links

☢️ Paperweight with a Piece of Graphite from the 1st Nuclear Reactor, CP-1
When your office desk needs just a little more radiation. This paperweight contains a piece of graphite from CP-1, the first-ever nuclear reactor. Because nothing says “organized workspace” like a souvenir from the dawn of the atomic age.

🔫 I became an ILLEGAL ARMS DEALER...
Turns out becoming an arms dealer is as easy as clicking a button… a LOT. In Military Incremental Complex, I built an entire weapons empire in a game that looks like Windows 98—but who needs fancy graphics when the numbers keep getting bigger?

😲 Saudi Arabia's 100-Mile Skyscraper Is Turning Into a Disaster
Saudi Arabia’s Neom megaproject is apparently spiralling out of control, with costs ballooning to 25 times the kingdom’s annual budget. Meanwhile, officials are busy hiking prices, and throwing lavish parties for celebrities—because nothing says "fiscal responsibility" like Will Smith at a $45 million launch party. Maybe they should’ve renamed it and hired beavers instead—because The Shaft in Timberborners is progressing infinitely better.

🐕‍🦺 Paddy’s Corner

The MEGA STICK!

Paddy vs. The Mega Stick: An Unstoppable Force Meets an Immovable Log. 🌲🐕 Watch as my determined doggo takes on his biggest challenge yet—because if it fits in his mouth (or even if it doesn’t), it’s coming home.

👾 Indie Game of the Week:

Ever dreamed of running a high-stakes, cutthroat business… selling rare geckos? 🦎💰

Well, GeckoShop lets you do just that! I built my gecko empire from the ground up, haggled with customers who apparently don’t understand exact change, and even dealt with actual shoplifters (who, ironically, were only stealing gecko food—maybe they had hungry lizards at home?).

I also may have overpriced a rare gecko with a top hat just to see if someone would pay for the distinguished gentleman of lizards. Spoiler: they did.

📺 Watch my gecko-fueled capitalism unfold here:

It’s time for a Bridge Review!

At first glance, the Kazungula Bridge might seem like your standard, no-nonsense river crossing. But look a little closer, and you’ll see it’s got a sneaky engineering trick up its sleeve—a curve that’s actually functional, not just an architect’s attempt to “make it art.”

You see, the Zambezi River is where four different countries awkwardly rub shoulders. If the bridge took the shortest route, it’d accidentally trespass into Zimbabwe, and international incidents aren’t great for traffic flow. So instead of just plowing straight ahead like a normal bridge, Kazungula takes a smooth curve, keeping things strictly between Botswana and Zambia—a diplomatic flex in the form of civil engineering.

Engineering Feats:

✅ 923 metres of well-planned, multi-national infrastructure
✅ Replaces a painfully slow ferry service (because no one wants to wait in line for hours just to cross a river)
✅ Functional curve—not an architect’s “artistic vision,” but an actual necessity

Architectural Offenses:

❌ None detected. This bridge is pure engineering, zero nonsense.

Final Score: 9.3/10

A solid, efficient piece of engineering that solves a real problem with zero unnecessary flair. If only all bridges could be this sensible.

🏗 r/realcivilengineer Spotlight