History Main / MouseTrap

* One of the games on Series/DrewCareysImprovAGanza involved two blindfolded and barefoot players and a stage covered with primed mousetraps. For added fun and [[ComedicSociopathy Sociopathy]], one of the other comics (usually Ryan) might start deliberately placing mousetraps or even throwing them at the participants.

* One section of ''{{Geist}}'' requires you to possess a mouse and traverse a veritable minefield of mouse traps. They may be in plain sight, but [[SchmuckBait that cheese]] is [[TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody surprisingly tempting]].

* In ''FinalFantasyTacticsA2'', before Adell joins your team, she will try to underhandedly trick your party into giving up/missing/not getting to the spoils of missions. The protagonist and Cid decide to make it seem like they forgot a rare piece of a treasure to lure Adell into walking right on a "mousetrap".

* In ''AnAmericanTail: Fievel Goes West'', a mouse trap is disguised as a stage for the mice to sit on, which would be used to kill them all.

* In the {{Discworld}} novel ''Discworld/MovingPictures'', there's an interlude involving a man who's devoted himself to building a better mouse trap.

** The "Designs on Jerry" episode involved Tom building a room-filling RubeGoldbergDevice which he intended to market as the "better mousetrap".

* A ''LooneyTunes'' short featured a tank being tested to withstand various traps. It gets caught in a gigantic mousetrap.

* In the ''WileECoyoteAndTheRoadrunner'' cartoon "Chariots of Fur", Wile E. tries to catch the Roadrunner with a giant mousetrap. He catches a giant mouse instead, who then clobbers him.

* An EyeCatch for ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'' shows Monterey Jack getting some cheese from a trap, leaving behind the wire [[EfficientDisplacement bent in the shape of his head]].

For the AgathaChristie play please go to ''TheMousetrap''.

* Oh so many ''TomAndJerry'' shorts.

[[floatright:282:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mousetrap_4091.jpg]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mousetrap_4091.jpg

->''Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.''
-->--'''Ralph Waldo Emerson''' ([[BeamMeUpScotty attributed]])

A classic staple of cartoons, the mouse trap is intended for catching mice, which usually doesn't work, but alternatively for keeping wandering hands from getting into unwanted places.

Mouse traps do show up a lot, especially when mice are involved. Not just in cartoons, but also in live action. Whenever they are used, they will seldom catch what they intend to be catching, but will nearly always catch the one [[HoistByHisOwnPetard who set it]]. In real life, they are much more dangerous than [[TelevisionIsTryingToKillUs the TV shows make it appear]].

Compare BearTrap for something more horrific and comedic.

* The short film ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPUdgQFh7H0 The Contraption]]'', made by and starring Richard [[RockyHorrorPictureShow "Riff Raff"]] O'Brien.

-->--'''Ralph Waldo Emerson'''

* An EyeCatch for ''ChipNDaleRescueRangers'' shows Monterey Jack getting some cheese from a trap, leaving behind the wire [[EfficientDisplacement bent in the shape of his head]].

* In the ComicBookAdaptation of ''[[{{Ptitlekuh9rfi2}} It's About Time]]'', the astronauts build a giant-sized mousetrap to trap a giant-sized mouselike creature. How they managed to get the steel to make the spring goes unmentioned.

* In metal gear solid 3, you can use a mousetrap to catch animals alive. This is important as it allows you to catch the most rare creature in the game that will end up giving you some face paint that grants you unlimited ammo if you keep it to the end of the game.
* In final fantasy tactics A2, before adell joins your team, she will try to underhandedly trick your party into giving up/missing/not getting to the spoils of missions. The protagonist and Cid decide to make it seem like they forgot a rare piece of a treasure to lure adell into walking right on a "mousetrap".

** The "Designs on Jerry" episode involved Tom building a room-filling RobinsonGoldbergContraption which he intended to market as the "better mousetrap".

* In the ComicBookAdaptation of ''ItsAboutTime'' the astronauts build a giant-sized mousetrap to trap a giant-sized mouselike creature. How they managed to get the steel to make the spring goes unmentioned.

[[AC:Comic Books]]

** In ''TheAmazingMauriceAndHisEducatedRodents'', the Trap Disposal Squad's byword is "Be like the second mouse". The first mouse, in this parable, is the one that gets the trap rather than the cheese.