History TabletopGame / MouseTrap1963

''Mouse Trap'' (originally ''Mouse Trap Game'') is a 3D board game for two to four players. Each player is a "mouse" that follows a set path around the perimeter of the board, advancing according to the throw of a single die. Landing on a particular space allows each player to install one particular component of a RubeGoldbergDevice that will occupy most of the playfield when completed. There is no finish line or home space; the end of the path is a loop of six spaces. Once the entire device has been assembled, it becomes a matter of elimination by chance. One player's mouse must be on the Cheese Wheel space, and another player must immediately land on the Turn Crank space (although a player can force an opponent onto the Cheese Wheel; see PracticalCurrency below). The contraption is started, and usually (though not always) runs its ridiculous course until it drops a cage over the Cheese Wheel, thereupon removing any mouse from play who occupies that spot.

** An opponent lands on the Cheese Wheel, thereby allowing the player to set the crank in motion.

* FatCat: One of the hazards early in the game. A player who lands on its space must go back to Start.

* In ''TabletopGame/OxfordDilemma'', you roll two dice to determine how you'll move on the board. The colour on the space you land on determines the category of the word you'll have to spell.

''Mouse Trap'' (originally ''Mouse Trap Game'') is a 3D board game for two to four players. Each player is a "mouse" that follows a set path around the perimeter of the board, advancing according to the throw of a single die. Landing on a particular space allows each player to install one particular component of a RubeGoldbergDevice that will occupy most of the playfield when completed. There is no finish line or home space; the end of the path is a loop of six spaces. Once the entire device has been assembled, it becomes a matter of elimination by chance. One player's mouse must be on the Cheese Wheel space, and another player must immediately land on the Turn Crank space (although a player can force an opponent onto the Cheese Wheel; see PracticalCurrency below). The contraption is started, and usually (though not always) runs its ridiculous course until it drops a cage over the Cheese mouse, thereupon removing that mouse from play.

* BlessedWithSuck: Rolling small numbers and advancing slowly is advantageous, as it keeps that player away from the dreaded Cheese space. The players that roll big numbers and arrive at the end loop thereafter run a 1-in-6 chance of landing on the Cheese space, where they can only pray no other mouse lands on the Turn Crank space once the trap is completed.

* StockAnimalDiet: Cheese for mice. Players, controlling mouse tokens, collect CartoonCheese wedges as part of gameplay. The space over which the cage trap is set is called the Cheese space or the Cheesy Danger Zone, meaning someone has baited a mouse trap with cheese.

* BewareOfViciousDog: Implied with the "Mad Dog" space at the midpoint of the game. A player who lands there must retreat to a space marked with a bone (or an "X" in earlier versions).

* BonusSpace: The "Safe" space in the six-space loop. Any player on "Safe" is spared if an opponent lands on "Turn Crank".

* PracticalCurrency: The cheese wedges turn into this if a player lands on "Turn Crank" with nobody on the Cheese Wheel. That player can forfeit one piece of cheese and send an opponent to the Cheese Wheel with a roll of the die. This continues until one of the following happens:
** An opponent lands on the Cheese Wheel, thereby setting the crank in motion.
** No opponents can be moved because each one is on the "Safe" space.
** The player who landed on "Turn Crank" either decides not to spend any more cheese wedges or runs out of them.

* BewareOfViciousDog: Implied with the "Mad Dog" at the midpoint of the game. A player who lands that space must retreat to a space marked with a bone (or an "X" in earlier versions).

''Mouse Trap'' (originally ''Mouse Trap Game'') is a 3D board game for two to four players. Each player is a "mouse" that follows a set path around the perimeter of the board, advancing according to the throw of a single die. Landing on a particular space allows each player to install one particular component of a RubeGoldbergDevice that will occupy most of the playfield when completed. There is no finish line or home space; the end of the path is a loop of six spaces. Once the entire device has been assembled, it becomes a matter of elimination by chance. One player's mouse must be on the Cheese space, and another player must immediately land on the Turn Crank space. The contraption is started, and usually (though not always) runs its ridiculous course until it drops a cage over the Cheese mouse, thereupon removing that mouse from play.

** No opponents can be moved because each one is on the "Safe Space".

* LuckBasedMission: The outcome is always determined by die rolls. Even assembling the "trap" is determined by die rolls. Versions of the game from the 70s onward introduced cheese pieces that give the player a chance to maneuver other players' pieces, but obtaining them and moving other pieces are still determined by rolling a die.

[[caption-width-right:The fun is [[{{Pun}} catching]].]]

-->"I wanted to play ''Mouse Trap''. You roll the dice, you move your mice. Nobody gets hurt."
-->--[[WesternAnimation/VeggieTales Bob the Tomato]], "The Toy That Saved Christmas"

!!Mouse Trap includes these tropes:

* WhiteGloves: At least one version of the box art depicts all four bipedal cartoon mice wearing white gloves, giving them an old-timey cartoon appearance.