Game: Mouse Trap

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herman_the_german — 2008-09-22T15:39:08+00:00

Old and oldest mouse pieces.

Thread: Re: roll and move and not a sheeple in sight

johnclark — 2008-09-17T00:18:47+00:00

mvettemagred wrote:
I think the best part of this session report is, the person who would play if forced, didn't play, while the person who refused to play ended up winning the game and celebrating wildly.

Yes, there was a certain irony to it all ...

Thread: Re: roll and move and not a sheeple in sight

mvettemagred — 2008-09-16T17:20:05+00:00

I think the best part of this session report is, the person who would play if forced, didn't play, while the person who refused to play ended up winning the game and celebrating wildly.

Thread: Re: roll and move and not a sheeple in sight

Karlsen — 2008-09-16T07:31:30+00:00

johnclark wrote:
Jeanette wisely stayed in the kitchen so we had her turns for her.

Sheer bloody brilliance on Jeanette's part. I must remember this ploy

Thread: roll and move and not a sheeple in sight

johnclark — 2008-09-16T03:17:01+00:00

Ben (15) had an essay to write on To Kill A Mockingbird ("Discuss the role of the town as a 'character' in the book" - seems kind of lame to me but whatever). Josh (13) is very good at interrupting, distracting, annoying Ben, so we decided to play a game with Josh in order to keep everyone constructively engaged.

Jeanette, Dan (17), Josh and I had to work out what to play. Usually Josh will happily play a bunch of games like Settlers, O Zoo Le Mio, Hey That's My Fish etc etc. Not today.

Me: "how about Settlers 3D?"
Josh: "no"
Me: "how about Return Of The Heroes?"
Josh: "no"
Me: "how about Stone Age?"
Josh: "no - let's play Bionicle Adventure Game"

[for those of you who are not aware of this majestically bad game, it is ranked 4674 on BGG (out of 4732), with an average rating of 3.74]

I did not have to speak ...

Dan: "that is the stupidest game ever - I don't think that the designers even played it before it was made".

Me: "Ticket To Ride?"
Josh: "Bionicle"
Me: "Top Trumps?" (getting desperate)
Josh: "Bionicle"
Me: "Hmmmm ...."

I think at this point Josh opened the OTHER games cupboard (where all the games-not-fit-for-public-display are kept).

Josh: "Mouse Trap!"

[Mouse Trap is a classic childrens game with an average BGG rating of 4.10, which makes it Puerto Rico compared to Bionicle]

Dan was not impressed.

Dan: "I will not play that dumb game and will actively stop anyone else from playing it!"

Jeanette was a little more 'positive'.

Jeanette: "I guess I will play it if forced".

I decided to cut my losses and got out Mouse Trap. Dan stomped off to the computer and started Soldat or N-game or Spider Solitaire or some other thing.

Josh and I set up the board and began. I was the yellow mouse, Josh green and Jeanette blue. Jeanette wisely stayed in the kitchen so we had her turns for her.

My mouse took an early 'lead' (in a game where you want to be coming last), but got stuck when I kept rolling sixes which sent me to the space "go back six spaces".

Josh got chased by a cat a few times and went back to the start. 'Jeanette' also found the cat, but then made good progress around the board. By the time she made it to the final Loop Of Death (LOD), the mousetrap was built.

I followed along behind, got chased by a dog but eventually joined her in the LOD.

At this point we had collected a bit of cheese. I landed on Turn Crank and tried to put Josh into the trap with cheese but the dice were against me ... oh wretched luck!

Then, Jeanette's mouse landed on Turn Crank and Josh decided to use her cheese to move me into the trap, and it worked.

Now, controversy. Rules query: if the trap does not work (for example, if the diver does not land in the pool and trigger the cage, then does the mouse survive? We played it did survive and I survived! the tension was incredible.

Meanwhile, Josh's little green mouse was finally starting to progress around the board. He was almost at the LOD when Dan walked over, tired of his computer game. We said he could take Jeanette's mouse as Jeanette seemed unlikely (and/or unwilling) to take it herself.

The game went on. We changed direction of the turns several times as no one could remember if we had been going clockwise or anticlockwise.

Suddenly I was in the trap and the blue mouse formerly known as Jeanette landed on Turn Crank. Dan used the cheese on Josh and he went into the trap too!

The Crank was turned and the trap worked perfectly, trapping a little yellow mouse and a little green mouse.

Dan went crazy with triumph, running around, leaping in the air, scissor kicking and letting out a huge wooooooo-hoooooo! This lasted several minutes. He congratulated Jeanette, his 'team-mate' (who had never taken a single turn) and looked very pleased with himself.

We then moved onto (up to?) the gamer classic "Man Bites Dog" (4.65 average rating) ...

Thread: 2-1/2yo Wins Again... 3yo Secretly moves Mouse to Avoid Capture

StevenE — 2008-08-06T04:07:04+00:00

A better start to this game than our earlier session of Candy Land.

My 3yo son (1 month shy of 4yo) came flying out of the chute rolling very well, building and gaining cheese... My 2-1/2yo daughter not to be out done came up with some big rolls and eventually made it to the cheese wheel first before the last two trap pieces had been placed. My son did really well catching up to her. I on the other hand got sent back to start several times and got chased back to the bone square. Eventually I cheated my way to the cheese wheel (yes I wanted this misery over as the whole trap had been built). We moved around the cheese wheel positioning ourselves. I landed in the trap area first and was promptly joined by the other two. My daughter made it out first and landed on the Turn Crank with my son and I still in the danger area. It took a while of fiddling with the crank and the red lever to hit the boot that I ended up swinging the boot to kick the bucket. Meanwhile my daughter is still working the handle like a crazed kid of 2-1/2. I guess she couldn't believe daddy was letting her touch one of the mechanical pieces... With the steel bearing is working its way down the blue steps to the red trough... hitting the blue glove pole dislodging the second ball into the red tub and dropping out the drain onto the see-saw vaulting the green man into the air like the acrobat he is into the empty yellow tub rattling the yellow pole thus activating the red cage... ch ch ch ch ch ch... as it comes down onto my yellow piece (huh?)... My son starts laughing as he shows me his blue mouse in his hand... I look at him as he says "safe". LOL... Well both kids were happy as was I to... It is moments like these that I hope they remember in their later years.

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LankyEngineer — 2008-06-07T19:34:12+00:00

US patent number US3298692

Thread: Helping Hand with and without a spring

KneeGrinder — 2008-01-10T19:14:33+00:00

Looks to me like there are at least two verisons of the original Mouse Trap. The original had no cheese slices and used a spring to load tension into the helping hand that would bump the big bowling ball.
Since I don't have my original copy from the 70s, I was wondering if anyone had older versions that they could post the printing or copyright info from. My current version is dated 1986, and has no spring, and has cheeses.

Thread: Re: Mousetrap

chockle — 2008-01-10T07:32:54+00:00

Frightening, but yes, I've played Mousetrap a few times, and if you rush through the roll & move, it at least, keeps interest.

After it's over, we like to play a game where one player closes his eyes and we try to sabotage it. Then the one player may look (not touch) over the whole thing and fix what was changed. When he's ready, he starts it and if it doesn't work, then the Saboteurs win!

Obviously, Mousetrap pieces are readily available, since it's at thriftstores everywhere. But, if you're interested in the device, you may want to check out Crazy Clock Game and Fish Bait.

Thread: Re: Mousetrap

boltongeordie — 2008-01-08T22:19:36+00:00

Countless times - old version and new version. Surprisingly, the new version is actually quite good. My kids especially like the toilet (you flush it to release the ball).

Thread: Re: Mousetrap

skrebs — 2008-01-08T21:50:09+00:00

I never thought to play it as a game with my then three, now four year old daughter. We always just built it and set it off over and over and over! Great times! And our success rate is probably closer to 80% if we took care in the building.

If you're missing pieces, I've seen countless copies at thrift stores, so it's not too difficult to find replacement parts cheap.

Thread: Re: Mousetrap

allismom3 — 2008-01-08T19:47:24+00:00

wmshub wrote:
I've played about a dozen times with my daughter. We have all the pieces still.

As a toy, it's great. As a game, it sucks; the endgame just drags on painfully long, where nothing really happens and you keep hoping to roll the number that lets you set off the damn trap and end it already.

This is exactly how we feel about it in our house. Even the kids( aged 5 & 7) are bored by the end of the game. They just want set the trap off on Dad. They also like to set the trap off these small animal doll things* they have a million of. Definately a better toy than a game.

*I've just been informed that "small animal dolls things" are called Littlest Pet Shop, and even with both kids collections together they do not have anywhere near 1 million.

Thread: Re: Mousetrap

wmshub — 2008-01-08T19:06:45+00:00

I've played about a dozen times with my daughter. We have all the pieces still.

As a toy, it's great. As a game, it sucks; the endgame just drags on painfully long, where nothing really happens and you keep hoping to roll the number that lets you set off the damn trap and end it already.

Thread: Re: Mousetrap

russ — 2008-01-08T19:03:35+00:00

I loved Mousetrap as a kid, and yes, played the game (lame as it is, hey, we were kids and didn't know better) and the clever amusing contraption worked reasonably often. Sometimes we just set it up to watch the machine and didn't play the game.

Thread: Re: Mousetrap

Sagrilarus — 2008-01-08T18:34:32+00:00

lindsayt wrote:
My sister loved this game when we were children.

She loved it so much that she bought her children a copy, which we play whenever I visit them.

I bought them "Carcassone: Hunters and Gatherers" 2 years ago to try to wean them onto better games, but they still haven't even punched the tiles.

"You can lead a horse to water..."

    Better than Mousetrap? I have two four-year-olds at home that would take you to task for that rash statement!

    It's a kids game. Someday when they're older CarcH&G will hit the table and they'll realize that, in its own way, it can be considered by some to be better than the timeless classic Mousetrap.

             Sag.

Thread: Re: Mousetrap

locusshifter — 2008-01-08T18:29:19+00:00

Played it? Maybe for 5 minutes then built the rest of the trap to set it off. Then we broke it out a few more times just to build it and set it off.

Thread: Re: Mousetrap

lindsayt — 2008-01-08T18:28:10+00:00

My sister loved this game when we were children.

She loved it so much that she bought her children a copy, which we play whenever I visit them.

I bought them "Carcassone: Hunters and Gatherers" 2 years ago to try to wean them onto better games, but they still haven't even punched the tiles.

"You can lead a horse to water..."

Thread: Re: Mousetrap

Sagrilarus — 2008-01-08T18:18:32+00:00

    My family has a copy that until just a few weeks ago was complete. I had the opportunity to play a few games prior to the missing piece.

    A good game, but a GREAT toy. It's no wonder the pieces all get lost.

             Sag.

Thread: Re: Mousetrap

thatmarkguy — 2008-01-08T18:00:10+00:00

I know as a kid I played it with all pieces intact.

I also remember it having a less than 50% likelihood of success when triggered, though. Having all pieces was no guarantee of having the whole contraption work as advertised.

Thread: Mousetrap

carlsbad — 2008-01-08T17:36:04+00:00

I was just going through to do some ratings and happened upon Mousetrap... that kiddy game from so many years ago.

I then began to realize that although I always attempted to play this one, I was always thwarted by missing pieces. Our set had missing pieces, it appears, from the day we bought it. Our friends managed to lose their pieces.

The neighbors? Dog ate/mangled/inhaled the pieces.

The copy at primary school? Was missing MOST of the pieces.

So my question is... has anyone out there actually, honestly played Mousetrap?

I suppose one day someone will find a huge cache containing all of the Mousetrap pieces, along with all the ballpoint pens and chapsticks.

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Kayvon — 2007-10-12T17:28:47+00:00

One of the components from a life-sized Mouse Trap machine recreation

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Kayvon — 2007-10-12T17:14:44+00:00

One of the components from a life-sized Mouse Trap machine recreation

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Kayvon — 2007-10-12T17:13:56+00:00

Someone created a life-sized version of the Mouse Trap machine

Thread: 1st Milton Bradley version of Mouse Trap

MBFan1981 — 2007-04-03T05:23:32+00:00

Hi,

What was the first year Milton Bradley published its version of "Mouse Trap"?

Regards,

Ben (MBFan1981)

Thread: Roll The Dice, Move Your Mice? No! Beginner's Diplomacy!

Geosphere — 2007-02-15T16:38:46+00:00

OK, the commercial was imbedded in the psyche of millions of children. "Roll The Dice And Move Your Mice" it droned on and on.

First, it's kind of misleading. You roll ONE die and move your mouse, but even my Pre-K daughter can tell you that "Roll the die and move your mouse" does not rhyme. If it were referring to ALL of the players as collective mice, then it seems to imply some simultaneous movement mechanism, which indeed does not exist.

The Trap itself is a wonderous grammar school Rube Goldberg contraption that never fails to delight. My son's newly acquired copy from Christmas 06 has a few minor changes from my version 30 years ago, like getting rid of a spring and changing a big solid plastic ball into a smaller metal one. It seems a bit more efficient.

When played with two players, the game is completely random and no real choices made. You roll the die, move the mouse and at some point, the trap is sprung. If it works and lands on a hapless rodent, you win. No decisions are ever truly made by the player.

There is a built in scaling factor. Most spaces have numbers on them. If the number of players playing the game happen to be equal to on of the numbers on the space, you add a trap piece to the elaborate growing mechanism. It seems to have been worked out fairly solidly that the trap tends to be just about built as players are reaching the final 6 space ring that they will loop about continuously until all but one are trapped.

Being sent to start in this game is oddly not a bad thing - it prolongs your life by making you trek all the way to the trappable target spot.

The game is essentially two phases - build and then spring the trap. The build phase is almost a moot point. What it does do is allow everyone a chance to put together the monstrosity, rather than have dad wrestle with it himself while they watch Spongebob.

Of course, if the trap is sprung, and an all-too-common malfunction occurs... Oh well. Reset it. We have also seen a wonderous malfunction that DID spring the trap when the boot kicked the bucket, the ball LAUNCHED over the stairs and hit the base of the cage, bringing it rattling down while skipping 70% of the trap's workings.

One element, beyond the physical existance of the neato trap itself, sets this game several notches above pure luck games like CandyLand.

Cheese.

As is well documented, everything is better with cheese.

You collect little cheese bits periodically around the board and in the end trap section, which basically are "Backstabbing credits" with which you may try to get younger players to cry. Spending a cheese lets you roll and move THEIR mouse, hopefully landing them beneath the deceptively humane cage at the end.

That's where choices almost come into effect - you can decide which other player to try to eliminate from the game early. Of course, whether or not they land on the elimination space is still random. If they land on the Safe space, well, you can't force them around any longer. This feature does allow dad the chance to mete out justice and try to eliminate certain meaner players first, at which point it becomes clear that this game, when played properly, is an early primer to Diplomacy.

Yes, if you are a good sport... If you bring daddy snacks... If you do not whine... You may be spared. But... What if Sister gets there first? Oh no... Who do you favor, who should be coddled into submission?

Yes, early backstabbing and metagaming for young folk. Excellent.

Roll The Dice Move THEIR Mice would have been a more accurate and sinister slogan.

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Guantanamo — 2006-12-30T15:33:19+00:00

Finally a game my wife will play

Thread: Mouse Trap goes Euro: 4 Mice/Player, 1 Space/Cheese, & VPs

AMorgan — 2006-10-28T20:32:14+00:00

Instead of one mouse per player, give each player four playing pieces. Instead of rolling as many times as you have cheese tokens in order to move as many opponent pieces onto the trap as possible at the same time, pay up to 3 cheese tokens to move just 1 opponent that many spaces forward or backward. Play until at least half the mice have been trapped then score---mice still on the board counting 3 VPs each and cheese tokens counting 1 VP each.

Thread: Re: moving opponents mice

AMorgan — 2006-10-28T20:16:57+00:00

Pieces only to respond to spaces when they actively land on them as part of their turn. The rules imply by their silence that opponents moved as a result of spent cheese do nothing in response to the spaces to which they are moved, since the sole reason to move an opponent's mouse is to get it on the cheese space before you turn the crank, not to put it on a space that forces it to take some action.

Thread: User Review: Novelty Toy Only

AMorgan — 2006-10-28T19:58:35+00:00

In "Mouse Trap," players roll to advance their mouse tokens around the perimeter track, building a wacky 3D "mouse trap" as they go. The end of the track forms a six-space continual loop with one Turn Crank space and one Cheese space. When a mouse lands on the Turn Crank space, the player turns the trap's crank, which triggers a stop sign to swing a boot that kicks a bucket that dumps out a metal ball that rolls down two tracks that bumps a vertical arm that prods a plastic ball that falls through a bath tub to land on a see-saw that flips a diver into a bucket attached to a pole that suspends the actual trap over the Cheese space. The last untrapped mouse wins.

Originality = A: I know of no other game that involves constructing an elaborate and working "machine," giving "Mouse Trap" high marks for its uniqueness.

Parts = B: Decent quality plastic parts fit and work well together, though some of the pieces (such as the boot sign-post I had to super-glue or maybe the gear prongs) and the gameboard slots they fit into might not survive rough handling.

Challenge = D: No danger of analysis paralysis or brain burn here, even by kid-game standards, since the game plays the players without allowing any choices. Younger kids may find putting the trap pieces together challenging, but it not the fun kind of challenge.

Fun = C: Especially with two players, the end game can go on maddeningly long trying to get one player on the Turn Crank space at the same time the other player is on the Cheese space. This and the luck factor interfere with the real fun of setting the trap off.

Replay = C: Replay value is limited. Kids young enough to find the game itself fun will have trouble putting the pieces together. Kids old enough to construct the trap easily will quickly tire of it, cute as it is.

Overall = C: "Mouse Trap" is a better novelty toy than a game and is best enjoyed just building and setting off the trap. Get it used if possible and keep it set up for a while each time, because your kids will soon tire of it, especially if they have to set it up to play.

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simonh — 2006-08-27T22:08:00+00:00

Figuring out where to put the next piece...

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simonh — 2006-08-27T22:05:51+00:00

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simonh — 2006-08-27T22:01:46+00:00

The Stop Sign, The Old Shoe, and the Ball-in-a-Bucket at the top of the Rickety Staircase

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volnon — 2006-08-02T01:09:22+00:00

The best part was it only cost $1.00 at a yard sell...

Thread: Building a better mousetrap

theokester — 2006-07-24T19:35:31+00:00

My two boys (Jason-6 and Andrew-4), found our copy of Mouse Trap in their closet as we were doing our Saturday cleaning. We had played it together once before a year or so ago, but Andrew had been too young to play "nice" and Jason got a little unruly as well.

This time, they were both very excited on playing and very interested in actually playing the game rather than just throwing pieces around.

We rolled the die and started circling the board. Thanks to landing on the "go back" spaces far too many times combined with an amazing number of low rolls, we ended up with the trap completely built by the time the furthest mouse (Andrew) was barely halfway around the board with me still sitting only 10 or so squares along the track.

We continued marching onward, but they kept insisting on "trying out" the trap every minute or so and finally we just marched all of our mouse to the cheese wheel and quickly caught them all in a huddled bundle 'neath the cage. We laughed and cheered.

They said they wanted to play again, so I started dismantling the trap. They told me not to dismantle it, but instead they decided that they would just modify the trap to fit their needs. I laughed, remembering my childhood as I had done the same sort of thing. Within minutes, there were mice hanging by their tale from the waterworks, a mouse sitting precariously on the crank, another mouse poised to dive into the bucket while the diver was about to take a tumble down the stairs. The plan was ingenious and creative, even if it didn't result in the cage falling as they had hoped.

I left them alone for a few minutes, to go do some more Saturday cleaning. They pulled me back in a few times to show me some of their favorite new contraptions, each one more outrageous than the previous...some of them actually working.

After an hour or so of playing this way, we decided to put the game away. A few hours later, Aunt Karla came for a visit and they insisted that she play Mouse Trap with them. The game progressed much the same as the first official game of the day but this time, a mouse legitimately made its way to the cheese wheel at the end. It sat at the end circling around and around by itself for a while...occassionally triggering the trap to catch nobody.

Overall, I think the session was quite successful. Not only did it help the kids explore their inventive, creative side...but it proved to me that my kids have matured beyond the chaos that had taken over previously attempted gameplay sessions. They were able to successfully take turns, acknowledge a "go back" square without taking it personally, and even let someone win graciously. Finally, I see the glimmer of hope of successful family game days to come.

Thread: Re: Review: Catch that Mouse!

chuckimus — 2006-05-19T02:10:48+00:00

Yeah... I've gotta say, the drop off in "fun-factor" drops off considerably as an adult, but I remember how much fun I had as a kid tinkering with this. I picked this up for my kids (3 & 10) not to long ago in an, "I remember when" moment.

They still want to play it and I'll gladly play it with them because I see how much they enjoy it. In the end, isn't that what matters anyway?

In their eyes a ball that went down the slide that didn't trigger the tub means they get to play with dad longer. What's so bad with that?

Thread: Catch that Mouse!

Mykel B — 2006-03-21T07:04:14+00:00

Had this game when I was very young. Loved it!! Would have rated it 10 way back then.

Thread: Re: Review: Catch that Mouse!

Blackberry — 2006-03-03T16:07:02+00:00

My problem with the game is that the whole point of the game -- the mouse trap -- only happens when landing on a specific square at a specific time, randomly.

Thread: Re: Review: Catch that Mouse!

Philip Thomas — 2006-03-03T14:17:55+00:00

Think the point Dane is making is that the second game is really dull, cos you know what will happen. Plenty of great children's games out there, especially now.

Thread: Re: Review: Catch that Mouse!

matt71 — 2006-03-03T13:31:01+00:00

I can see the game being tedious for an adult but not for a child. Then again, I never had the game as a child so maybe I'm wrong there. (Though, I still consider myself a child even though I'm all grown up. Ok, well almost grown up. Ok, ok, I'm never going to grow up; I refuse to.)

Thread: Re: Review: Catch that Mouse!

matt71 — 2006-03-03T13:18:59+00:00

Hmmmm really? Perhaps you are right about the parts. Maybe I should have considered the fact that children are sometimes rough with their toys and may in fact break those parts if not supervised. I haven't had any problems with the parts personally though.

However, your point should be considered if a parent is going to consider buying the game for their children. I can see a child getting frustrated with a part and accidentally breaking it while trying to put it together so I would recommend that parents supervise their children while playing the game.

Thread: Re: Review: Catch that Mouse!

Tim Synge — 2006-03-02T16:19:51+00:00

Interesting child-oriented review.

matt71 wrote:
the parts are made well

Unfortunately, this is the part of the review that I disagree with most!

Thread: Re: Review: Catch that Mouse!

Sky Knight X — 2006-03-02T15:47:12+00:00

Watching a child play this game for the first time is one of the true joys in all of gaming. The wonder and anticipation of watching the trap being built, and then turning the crank and watching it in action is priceless.

Mouse Trap probably has one of the most extreme drop offs in fun of any game I have played. The wonder is quickly replaced with tedium.

Thread: Review: Catch that Mouse!

matt71 — 2006-03-02T11:42:26+00:00

Rank: 10

I am giving this a 10 for originality and fun because children will love this game! However, if I were to rank this using BGG ranking system then I would rank it a 4 for me personally.

A couple of years ago, I picked this game up just because I was curious to see how the game worked. It's a game I still play once in a blue moon just for laughs; it is fun setting up the mouse trap and then trying to trap your opponents.

I didn't have this as a child because a friend received the game as a gift and his mother returned it to the store because she said it was difficult to set up. So, being a kid, I figured if it was difficult for an adult to set up, then it was not going to be much fun to play. I was wrong.

This is a great family game and children will love it. The colors are vivid, enticing, and the parts are made well.

The added benefit to this game is that it helps children to learn how to follow instructions. They must refer to the booklet and the board as each mouse trap component is added to the board. They will also have to think about which way a part should be placed on the board. The board itself has drawings that help children figure that out. However, it forces them to look at three-dimensional pieces and match it with the two-dimensional drawings on the board; that will get them using their heads a bit. In addition, they will strengthen their finger dexterity skills, since some of the pieces are challenging to set up.

If you have children, they will love this game and you will get a kick out of it as well. Just keep in mind that you will have to play it with them so you can help them set up the mouse trap as the game progresses. Some of the pieces that have to be locked into the board will be difficult for some children so you may have to help them set up some of those parts.

Thread: Mouse Trap with the kids

Siddartha13 — 2006-01-18T06:01:55+00:00

After a day of perusing a few local thrift stores, I stumbled upon Mouse Trap for $1.49. I bought it, hoping that all the pieces were there, and what do you know, complete and in working order.

So, I sat down with the whole famn Damily and played a round of Mouse Trap. My 6 year old daughter had a great time setting up the pieces as we played and arranging her pieces of cheese in front of her. But, my 3 year old son is now a gamer for life. As the game was winding down, all of us were circling the trap, hoping for our chance to crank the wheel and send the trap plunging down onto our adversaries. My wife had already been trapped and eliminated, so it was down to the three of us. My daughter was already sitting on the trap space. My son rolled himself onto the crank space to set himself up for the win. Then, he pulled the veteran move and paid his piece of cheese and did a force move on my mouse to force me under the trap. After double checking all the trap mechanisms, down came the trap, thus sealing the victory for our young hero.

Needless to say, my son was ecstatic with his win. For the rest of the night he could be heard mumbling "I like mouse trap, I like mouse trap,...". We already have a grudge match set up for tomorrow night.

Thread: Re: The only reason you play this

Spielguy — 2005-12-27T15:30:56+00:00

HHHippos was a great game. Everyone plays in real time. In mouse trap you roll and move over and over again.

No comparison on the games.

Thread: moving opponents mice

edge6 — 2005-12-26T10:46:55+00:00

Please verify the rule for "Moving Opponents Mice" When you spend cheese to move the mice, and you move the opponents mouse onto the "safe" spot is the mouse then unable to be moved ?, and more to the point if the opponents mouse is moved to a "take cheese" do they take a cheese? and more importantly if the opponent mouse is moved to the "turn crank" space do they then get to spend cheese to move other opponents?
There seems to be too many loop hole in "the loop".

Thread: New version

Kitescreech — 2005-12-25T21:21:10+00:00

I got (from my 6 YO daughter) a new version of this today. Its got 3 mini traps, more of a game than the old one.

Thread: User Review

pusherman42 — 2005-01-15T17:11:00+00:00

Although this is a kids game that probably everybody already knows, i enjoy writing the first review. so here it is:

Quick Rundown
In this 2-4 player kids game (ages 6+), players move their mice around the board, building pieces to an elaborate "incredible-machine" type mouse trap, collecting cheese tokens, and trying to get to the end. At the end, players can pay their cheese tokens to move players into the trap, and turn the crank to capture the other players. The last one alive wins.

How it works
Every turn players roll the dice and move ahead. The space they land on dictates their play. Some spaces allow you to build a piece of the mouse trap, some allow you to take a cheese token, some make you give up cheese tokens, and the spaces at the end allow you to capture players. The end of the board is a loop. By the time the players reach the end, most of the mouse trap will be built. Players than move around the loop, collecting cheese and building the last few pieces of the trap. Once the trap is built, you're ready to capture mice. In order to do so, you must land the "Turn Crank" space and there must be a mouse under the trap. If no mice are there, you can pay one cheese token to roll the dice and move your opponents that number. You can do this as many times as you want, trying to move them into the trap unless they land on the safe space, in which case you'll have to wait until you land on the "Turn Crank" space again. Once you're on the crank space, and an opponent is under the trap, you can turn the handle to set the trap in motion. If it was built properly, and nothing messes up, the trap goes through to the end, captures the mice, and that opponents gives you all their cheese as is out of the game. If the trap malfuctions, rebuild it, and your turn is over.

Is It Fun?
It's Mouse Trap! It's a classic. i've never seen a kid that didn't enjoy playing this game. most, however, don't even play the game, they just set up the pieces put the trap in motion. and that can be a lot of fun.

Components
Cheese tokens are simple and made from thick card stock. they should stand up to repeated use, and kids bending them and trying to eat them. The pieces of the mouse trap are plastic (with a couple of marbles). These pieces aren't perfect, but that's part of the game. a lot of the enjoyment is turning that crank to capture the last mouse and watching in anticipation as the trap works, hoping something doesn't fall off or break down. Some of the pieces are set into the board, and sometimes this can require some bending and maneuvering that might be difficult for six year old hands. most kids will need some help figuring out how to put the trap together the first few times, depending on age. it's not to hard, though, and most kids are smarter than i am, so when i need help remembering what to put next, they usually know.

Overall
Quick simple game for kids. The game is just roll and move, but the mouse trap "toy" allows for some enjoyment.

Thread: Re:The only reason you play this

DarthMitchious — 2004-11-12T03:06:59+00:00

warbear2 (#51538),

I Agree Completely, it had the same kind of magic that say Hungry Hippos had. remember clickclickclickclickclickclickCLOMP! Oh man you got my mouse! set it up again!

Thread: The only reason you play this

warbear2 — 2004-08-29T05:18:31+00:00

I remember playing this as a child. seriously, the only reason that we ever played it was to acutally spring the trap. Everything else was just fluff.

Thread: Session Report

tpd2100 — 2004-08-09T04:25:03+00:00

Unlike some of my German-gaming buddies, I don't loathe playing such games as this. On the contrary, I believe that when your playing partner constantly indulges you by playing the games you want to play, it's only fair to play something they want to play for a change. So during a day of gaming with my nephew that included Samurai, 10 Days in Africa, Carcassonne, and Ivanhoe (my choices), I agreed to play Mouse Trap. Oy vey! I didn't think this game would ever end, and by the time it did, I was ready to rip out what few hairs I have left.

We started out wrong from the beginning. Without bothering to read the rules (I thought he already knew how to play and would teach me), we set the mouse trap up first. When I read the rules and found we were supposed to build it as we went along, he didn't want to take it apart again. So, we just took our cheese wedges when we landed on our appropriate places on the board. I always managed to land on the spaces that said, "GO BACK TO START" or "GO BACK 4 SPACES," so after my third trip half-way around the board, I had amassed enough cheese to constipate every geek on this board.

Finally we both made it to the cheese wheel at the end of the board under the cage...and we circled it, and circled it, and circled it. We spent more time circling the cheese wheel than we spent actually getting to it. I finally landed on the cheese wheel, and my nephew landed on the spot allowing him to turn the crank and activate the trap...and it malfunctioned, so here we went again, circling the wheel. Time-wise, this was starting to feel like Monopoly. I play to win, but I didn't care who won this, I just wanted it to be over. FINALLY, I landed on the wheel again, my nephew activated the trap, and caught my mouse. HALLELUJAH!!!

He told me that next time we played it we would do it right and build the trap as we went along. Next time? It'll be a LONG time before I play Mouse Trap again.

Thread: General Comment

BoardGameGeek — 2002-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

It had to be done. How can a gaming database be considered complete without Mouse Trap?