# 30: Mouse Trap
45 Points (On 5 of 14 lists)
Highest Vote: (#13 by Pak-Man)
Publication Date: 1963
Number of Players: 2-4
Designed by: Gordon Barlow, Marvin Glass, Harvey Kramer, Burt Meyer, Sid Jackson
Publisher: Milton Bradley/ Ideal
Description:Mouse Trap pits 2-4 players against each other as mice trying to navigate through a complex mousetrap. They build the Rube Goldberg inspired mousetrap as they move their mice across the board. They also try to collect cheese cards, which allow them to move other mice to cheese wheel which is the bait for the trap. Once the mousetrap has been completely constructed, players can attempt to capture each others' mice in it by turning the crank, which activates the mousetrap. If the mousetrap doesn't malfunction, the mouse is captured and out of the game.
Hey, How Do I Win ThisThe winner is the last mouse who avoids being trapped.
Fun Gaming Facts:In a proper operation, the player turns the crank, which rotates a vertical gear, connected to a horizontal gear. As that gear turns, it pushes an elastic-loaded lever until it snaps back in place, hitting a swinging boot. This causes the boot to kick over a bucket, sending a marble down a zig-zagging incline (the "rickety stairs") which feeds into a chute. This leads the marble to hit a vertical pole, at the top of which is an open hand, palm-up, which is supporting a larger ball (changed later on to a marble just like the starter one). The movement of the pole knocks the ball free to fall through a hole in its platform into a bathtub, and then through a hole in the tub onto one end of a seesaw. This launches a diver on the other end into a tub which is on the same base as the barbed pole supporting the mouse cage. The movement of the tub shakes the cage free from the top of the pole and allows it to fall.
In 2006, the game was re-released in the United Kingdom with a completely new design in which there are three mousetraps, and in which the board and plastic components are completely different. The most obvious change is the addition of a model toilet at the top of the tallest part of the game which also serves as an activation method for any of the mousetraps. Another key difference is that all of the mousetrap is set up in advance of the game. It has been criticized for flimsy parts and non working sections of the traps. The UK also had a game show version of the game where children participated in a life sized version of the game.
The intersection of I-25 and I-70 in Denver was referred to as "The Mouse Trap" for many years, but it generally had fewer bowling balls than the game.
Oh, yeah. The
aforementioned video.
Dice:Yes. Generally one six sided die is used.
Purple and Orange?:No, generally the standard four colors are used, with an occasional nod towards real mouse colors like grey or brown.
Awards & Stuff:None.
Related Games that Received Votes: Related Games that Didn't Receive Votes: Hey! It's an Amazon link with the price!
$25.48 Next Turn:
#20-29! Trains, discs, gold mines, beads, crayons and sigh, even more cards. Next time!