M is for Mouse Trap

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M is for Mouse Trap

Mouse Trap is a board game first published by Ideal Toy Company in 1963 for two to four players. The game was one of the first mass-produced, three-dimensional board games. The object of the game is for players to trap opponents' mouse-shaped game pieces with the Rube Goldberg–inspired contraption.

The game designer Marvin Glass (and his company, Marvin Glass and Associates) refused to pay licensing fees or royalties to Rube Goldberg, despite Marvin acknowledging being inspired by Goldberg as well as the clear similarities between the game and a Goldberg drawing. Poor Rube.

In 1975, the board game surrounding the Mouse Trap was redesigned by Sid Sackson, adding the cheese pieces and allowing the player to maneuver opponents onto the trap space. In 2006, the game (now made by Hasbro) was redesigned and looks quite different from the Mouse Trap of earlier eras. Not only do the board and plastic components look completely different, including a toilet that now sits atop the structure, but there are now, not one, but three mousetraps that await their victims. As a result, vintage games tend to fetch a higher price online – assuming you can find one that contains all of the pieces.

via Wikipedia and Retroland