queenofallevil's Full Review: MOUSE TRAP FOR 2-4 PLAYERS AGES 6 AND UP
So, Hasbro decided to give Mouse Trap a facelift. And by facelift, I mean they hacked at it with a chainsaw and patted themselves on the back.
The image shown above is actually the "good" Mouse Trap. My dear readers, THAT Mouse Trap is the one to purchase if you get the chance - you don't want the new "improved" version in your home.
To better acquaint you with the monstrosity Hasbro calls "Mouse Trap" these days - below is a link to the image so you can avoid it. TIP: If the game comes with a toilet prominantly placed on the top, this is the one you DON'T WANT:
These kids in the picture have no idea what they've just unleashed upon themselves - just look at that mecca of madness - it's huge! And worthless, but we'll get to that in a minute:
(Sorry to have resorted to using images in this review, but I want to make darn sure no parent or child has to deal with the huge dissapointment this new game comes bundled with.)
Unlike the older version, Hasbro (in this case resorting back to it's Milton Bradly namebrand - probably because they knew at release it wasn't worth putting their logo on!) has updated the game by including a huge tower with a toilet on it. The toilet's "new twist" is relatively simple, you place one of the metal balls in the toilet, and then you can "flush" the toilet, and the ball will randomly go in one of three different directions, setting off new traps in designated areas, each provided with a small-scale Rube Goldberg machine that has the possibility of knocking one of the players off the board.
The first side: The ball is intended to drop into a area that looks like a sink, run down a zig-zagged "slide" path until it hits a frying pan that causes a boot to "kick" off a player from the board.
The second side: The ball is intended to go through a ramp leading to a single loop, make a jump over a "broken" piece of track until it hits a large square box, causing the lid to fly open and eject into the air any unfortunate player that may be perched on the game square located on the box top.
The third side: The ball falls straight down and repeats down a ramp left to right several times, triggering a wheel to bring down the classic-themed "trap cage" to ensnare a player if they happen to be on that one location on the board.
Sounds like fun, doesn't it? Unlike the old game where the entire Rube-Goldberg method went off in one shot (well, was *intended* to do so anyway) this one claims to have an easier set-up (ha!) and give the game a little more playability than the original.
Sounds good, right?
But, there is one problem..........
THE PIECES USED FOR THE GAME ARE POORLY DESIGNED AND BADLY MANUFACTURED AND WILL NOT WORK!
Sadly, that's the brunt of it. I don't know where Hasbro is manufacturing these but obviously they don't understand there has to be a quality standard in order to make a game based on properties of physics to work. The pieces are shoddy, and measurements vary from box to box - in other words there doesn't seem to be a standard of quality control in the plastic molding process. Even the variations of millimeters will cause this game not to work. I've been through three of them this past week.
GAME ONE: Took an hour to put together - reading instructions carefully. Remember that loop I told you about, where afterwards the ball has to jump a broken track? Didn't work. AT ALL. The ball would clear the loops about 75% of the time (the other 25% it would drop like a lead weight halfway through the loop) and 100% of the time the ball could not clear the intended gap in the track. After several hours of assembly, testing, and trying to get it to work, all through the tears of my son (who just HAD TO HAVE IT) asking me "can we play now?" enough times to make any sane person snap and climb a clock tower, I finally assumed this was just a "bad box" and promptly exchanged it at the store for a new one.
GAME TWO: Unwrapped the new game. Assembly was easier this time since I had studied the previous manual harder than I did my own textbooks for my last mid-term exams. I put together section two first this time, to be sure the loop worked. HOORAY! IT WORKED! Feeling like I was getting somewhere, I put the rest of the game together and we began playing, only to find out the zig-zag slide from section one was manufactured so poorly, it was too narrow in two sections for the ball to fit though, and I looked on in angish. My son freaks out yet again, and thanks to his tears I return a second time to the toy store, and am handed another replacement.
GAME THREE: This time I am so adept at putting together the new mousetrap game I get it all assembled within 5 minutes - a far cry it took from the hour I spent on the first game. This time, the "sink" section refuses to work, the error being the drop zone where the ball is supposed to fall into the zig-zag slide is just a millimeter too short, so the ball instead falls into an empty hidden space and I am forced to remove the decorative cardboard around the sink area time and time again to retrieve it.
This time, I go back to the toy store; where the employees now refer to me as "The Mouse Trap Lady" and demand my money back, tearful kid in tow. The game wasn't cheap over here either - at 345:- SEK that translates into 42 U.S. dollars. Seriously.
So, I hand my son the money and the tears stop flowing. I allow him to spend it on his own in the shop on anything but MOUSE TRAP. So as of last night he is now the proud owner of an electrical experiment playset, a human torso model from National Geographic, a wilderness compass, and a new pack of Pokémon cards. Which is fine by me, as long as Mouse Trap says OUT of this house.
Now, don't get me all wrong, I'm a fond lover of the original game, and at the moment I'm trying to hunt down an older version (they have none in the stores here) and as soon as I do I hope to get to play with my son and show him Mouse Trap was actually a great game after all, until they messed with it.
So, do yourself a favor - if you're in the market for Mouse Trap, take precautions and know which version you are getting. Remember: TOILET=BAD. No toilet=GOOD.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 42 Type of Toy: Board Game
Age Range of Child: 6 to 8 Years
MOUSE TRAP FOR 2-4 PLAYERS AGES 6 AND UP CSI Cannon Sports Model #21240 sold by EA Mouse Trap game. 2 to 4 players. Ages 6 up.It's fun to build this c...More at eBay
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