Mouse Trap - Board James (Episode 1)
Did you ever play Mouse Trap? I can't say I really did. I've played with it but I don't think I ever really sat down and played the actual game. How could you? Look at all this stuff. All you want to do is set up the trap and watch it go. Giving a kid a game like this was like giving a madman a loaded gun and a pile of crack. Look at this shit. Who's this guy? (Zoom on a green human figured used as part of the trap) Whuuuuuuu!
We all know the trap steals the show but let me take a moment to explain how to play. Each player is a colored mouse. You roll the die and move around the board hoping to get as much cheese as possible. Watch out for the fat cat - you'll go back. Essentially, it's just a mindless race to the end with the luck of the die controlling the whole outcome. Along the way, you slowly build pieces of the trap. You land on a number and you add another piece until the trap's complete but no kid wanted to go through that effort, you just want to see some action. It's like (Imitating the voice of the kids on the cover of the box) "Hey, you wanna play Mouse Trap?" "Yeeeah, lemme set up that trap!" So let's put this together, I haven't done this in years. How does this thing go? Let's look at the instructions. (Sees how complicated the instructions look.) Uh...damn... what a project.
It's all about turning this crank to make a stop sign hit a shoe that kicks a bucket (The shoe misses the bucket) Damn it, kick the bucket. (The shoe piece falls off completely) Oh...shit. Here I am as an adult trying to figure out a toy that's intended for a six-year-old. When you get to the end, you just keep going around a loop until someone lands on the cheese wheel but at the same time, someone has to land on the crank space. The chance of that happening is like waiting for a solar eclipse but once it happens, it's time for the trap. Here we go. (The crank is turned, setting off the trap which ultimately captures a green mouse piece.) Oh yeah, it's just as cool as it ever was. Every time you see that, you just want to see it again. I'm a grown man and that's fascinating. Who wants to play the game? Just crank that shit.
None of it's necessary. Why is there a guy standing on a seesaw waiting for a ball to drop? Why is there a red bathtub in the air sitting on a tower of pipes? What kind of situation is this? It would be simpler to just drop the trap or just land on the space and win. That's what most games were like and that's why Mouse Trap is so rad.