Talk about a blast from the past! TV Cream is running an article listing the Top 100 Toys from the ’70s and ’80s. Looking through the list has been a blast. I didn’t have a lot of the toys growing up, but it’s been quite fun seeing the ones that I did have. My favorite of the bunch, Mouse Trap, is ranked criminally low at #54:
The inspiration for the device came – we’re pretty sure – from the old Chuck Jones Warner Brothers cartoons, in particular a recurring motif where a character (usually Sylvester) rigs up a ridiculously complicated mousetrap consisting of ropes, pulleys, safes, fridges, irons, electric fans blowing model boats, roller skates with pool cues tied to them, upended tubs of water, etc. etc. all setting one another off in a long line. Which made great viewing, but Jones and co. were always careful to leave out the doubtless long, tedious hours spent hammering, sawing and constructing the trap in the first place. MB attempted, bravely, to incorporate this into the game itself, with pieces (the diver, the barrel, the drawbridge, the boot, the marble, et al) going up one by one as mousey counters moved round the board.
