Author here. Yeah, the first level is special and perhaps half-baked. It felt like cheating to start with the NAND-gate as the atomic component since transistors are not NAND-gates. So I start with electric relays (since they logically correspond to transistors but are easier to visualize). But I didn't want to get into realistic simulation of electronic circuits with all the complexity this entails.
May I ask how you would have preferred to solve the first level if the game didn't have limitations?
May I ask how you would have preferred to solve the first level if the game didn't have limitations?