Playboy! Murder! Mayhem! The Story of Mouse Trap & The Men Who Made It
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ธ.ค. 2021
- Check out www.kiwico.com/ToyGalaxy and get 50% off your first month of any crate!
This might be our wildest video yet, from looking for old issues of Playboy magazine to trying to find newspaper articles on a mass murder this video has it all!
Mouse Trap is a board game invented by Marvin Glass and Associates and first published by Ideal Toys in 1963 for two to four players. From its creation by game designer John Spinello to the mysterious murder that shrouded its success, this video delves into the secrets and intrigue behind the making of Mouse Trap.
Along the way, we'll also explore the lives of the men who brought this classic game to life, including the playboy entrepreneur who turned it into a household name. With twists and turns at every corner, this is one story you won't want to miss!
Sources:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouse_T...)
www.nytimes.com/1976/07/28/ar...
cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DS1976072...
www.denverpost.com/2005/05/26...
www.ukgameshows.com/ukgs/Motor...
lifesizemousetrap.org/
boardgamegeek.com/boardgamede...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Go...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideal_T...
web.archive.org/web/201511190...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_...
marvinglassbook.com/
Help the channel continue to grow by checking out our Patreon: / toygalaxy
►►►Social Media and Merchandise links◄◄◄
linktr.ee/secretgalaxy
Follow Dan on Instagram:
/ toygalaxy
Toy Galaxy
P.O. box 3976
Manchester, NH 03105-3976
Business Inquiries:
toygalaxytv@gmail.com - บันเทิง
I think I played the game twice. The rest of the time I just built the trap. It was frequently used by Cobra to capture Joes and by The Empire to capture Han & Luke.
😂
I played it twice then lost just enough pieces to render it unplayable.
I like where your head was
I had the exact same experience with Mouse Trap. My sister and I never owned it. We had friends who had it. We would always forget they had it until the last 10 minutes of our visit and then we’d beg them to let us put it together and set it off. We never actually played the game come to think of it.
The force is strong with this one 🤘😎🍻
I am 53 years old and still pissed at my "friend" who returned my game missing the stop sign thing *and didn't even care* . This is when I first learned there were monsters among us that looked just like us.
th-cam.com/video/0G-ONZ2LHMY/w-d-xo.html
Monsters among us that look like us.
Maybe you should let it go, sounds like a big waste of life.
@@nikolas_schreck6196 what? Screw that kid!
🤣🤣💀 the vengeance vibe in this post is not only dedicated, but absolutely warranted and necessary
That's why I don't loan anything anymore.
Asking if anyone actually played Mousetrap as intended is like asking if anyone ever finished a game of Monopoly without a tantrum.
Yes to both.
My sister and brothers played mousetrap constantly.
I never finished.
I owned the 80's version as a kid, but I don't think I ever played the game. I just had more fun building and setting off the contraption, lol.
NOBODY HAS EVER PLAYED THE GAME
@@kevinalford I tried, but I was a kid and couldn't figure it out.
I played it once. I don't remember it being very fun.
Same here
Same here!
"Mousetrap. I wanted to play Mousetrap. You roll your dice, you move your mice. Nobody gets hurt."
I always wondered why my mom groaned everytime wanted her to pull out the Mousetrap game so I can play with my friends. Now as a dad assembling the game, I know why.
Your mom and you are too kind. My sister and I had to build it ourselves! And our parents were very strict on cleaning up our games and toys when we were done with them
So you hate having kids? 🤔 Don't blame ya, ahhh regrets hey
When I was a kid I always enjoyed assembling it. Then again I guess I like building stuff.
Ah the old “now you know how they feel”
I didn't even know there *were* rules until my cousins insisted on playing with them once. Turns out playing the game is WAY less fun than playing with the game.
Wow, I actually had no idea that Mousetrap has been around since the 1960’s. I mostly remember Mousetrap from a commercial I watched back in the 1990’s as a kid (and probably even had the game back in the day). 😆
The fun is catching, it's mousetrap
The more I watch this channel, the more I realize how incredibly seedy and sordid the toys & games industry is
Not just the toy industry, every corporation and government is seedy and corrupt.
Humans + money
Pick any item in any store at random. It's likely there's some sordid tale behind how it came to be on that shelf, filled with greed, corruption and possibly some violence.
I discovered the same thing years ago watching videos about Saturday morning cartoons to find out that my entire childhood of Saturday mornings between the hours of 6 a.m. and 12 p.m. were nothing more than an advertising block for toys and sugar
Most industries are...😑
Honestly, growing up, it didnt even occur to me that this was a board game. I just wanted to set it up and set it off. That was the only reason i ever wanted this game. And when i got it, and found out how hard it was to set up... HUGE disappointment. I say all this before I even watch the video. Now time to learn about Mouse Trap.
I bought the "new" version of Mousetrap in 2010 for my then- 2 year old and was incredibly disappointed by how simple and easy it had become. If it isnt an afternoon pickup job it isn't worth the effort
Mine was the early 2000s version they simplified the trap and the quality control was bad so the trap only worked half the time at best the fit was terrible.
@@petman515 the one we had was 3 base pieces that clicked together and all the stuff clicked in
@@greenkoopa sounds veagly familiar rolling around in the back of my head. Then again I haven't played it since I was maybe 7 or 9 so I'm over 20 years out.
@@mr.pavone9719 not exactly he only touches on rule changes late in the video but one rule from the version I had as a kid specifically stated that if the trap was full assembled you got caught if the trap fired even if the trap failed to physically catch the mouse.
Then again that was one of the cheese wheel versions.
Wasn't expecting such a grim turn of events in relation to this game. 😬
Same here.
Then again, I never imagined another beloved childhood franchise had a designer that went on to become a sort of low-rent Hugh Hefner in his personal life. (I.E., the man who modified the doll that would become Barbie.)
This would make a bizarrely awesome mini series.
I definitely think that introducing Lupin (a great name for an adorable kitty) was both a brilliant move and should become a more regular segment for these episodes. Having said that, always great to relieve my youth, and I definitely was more interested in putting the trap together and setting it off than I was with the game. A lot of that had to do with the box art, board design, and instruction manual.
Aw yes. The game I only played once because even though everyone I knew owned it. They all were missing key pieces
Did they pool resources?
Only Toy Galaxy can stretch the history of the game of Mouse Trap to over 19 minutes lol. That is talent right there.
“If you build a better mousetrap, they will come…” I came. Thanks Dan!
@@RandoLePerson yeah at least they have the decency to put it at the beginning and have no ads. that alone deserves the utmost respect.
@@RandoLePerson You do understand that most TV media aside from cable subscription services are ad-driven in order to keep it “free” (lol, what’s free?) to you as the consumer & put a little money into the pockets of creators like Dan & Greg who put in hours of quality work per week to produce high quality programming on TH-cam like Toy Galaxy? I’d be lying if I didn’t say I don’t always like commercials or product plugs, especially the ones TH-cam offer as interruptions to the flow of the story (there’s a lot of helpful plugs though also); but it’s also the way small time companies can get the word out about their products. Ad marketing in bigger markets is expensive. Very expensive. Services like TH-cam can be helpful to both small companies & creators who plug their products. So I’ll defend that particularly paradigm. Kudos!
@@laughitupfuzzball 100% agree. TH-cam seems to be consumed by people who don't understand quite how all this content is created and costs. The actual number of people who make a genuine living of TH-cam via Google Ads alone is tiny. Everyone else who provides quality is utterly dependant on ads and patreon etc. I'll put up with a 2 min advert for this kind of quality and production.
@@laughitupfuzzball I rather take that ad from toy galaxy over those stupid makeup and beauty products TH-cam pushes on me simply because I’m a woman well not all women like those things
Until I subbed to Toy Galaxy, I never realized just how much went into creating games and toys. This is definitely one of my favorite channels.
We played this over and over when I was a kid (yes, with the rules). I was shocked to learn that the trap had changed in the new version- the removal of the crank to start the trap reduces the fun immensely. But the broom that catches the ball bearing and ‘sweeps’ it up to the bathtub is an immense improvement over the original springy hand thing that dislodges a second ball bearing.
Brilliant topic! Who knew?!
I had the game, but to this day I too have no idea how to play it. For some reasons my parents never showed us, and I never read the instructions - i just built it over and over.
A couple years back I used Rube Goldberg to illustrate cause and effect to a bunch of grade school kids to explain how electricity is made. They then made their own real life Rube Goldberg device.
I have a cool career 😛
Oh yeah you literally just roll some dice and do what the dice say
Nice video! All the Mousetrap stuff was great of course, but what really tickled my nostalgia was the mention of the Busy Biddy Chicken! I had a version of it that you filled with Cadburys Mini Eggs, and I'd forgotten all about it until now.
We would always just assemble the device,only to set it off,and never actually play the game!🤣
looking at that logo, Marvin Glass also had a side hustle as a ransom note writer.
I got this as a kid in the early 70s. I'm sure we played it at least once but it was just more fun to set up and let loose.
Holy crap this took quite the turn. What a shocking history to a beloved game.
we had this game as kids but somehow the pipe construction got broken so we had to bypass it. I remember loving how the ball bearing would go down the steps to the gutter. I also grew up hearing stories of my older sister getting Mr. Machine for christmas and that she immediately to it apart to my father's dismay since it had taken him forever to put it together.
WHOA!!!
My grandmother got me a Rocks & Bugs & Things rock monster when I was little. I'm pretty sure she got it second hand because there wasn't any packaging. Never heard of the line till now.
Thank you for telling me where that came from. That's been a lifelong mystery!
I had Mouse Trap as a kid. And yes, my friends, siblings and I played (actually really played) the game. It was lots of fun.
Wow, that mass murder really came out of left field, huh? Never know where history research is going to take you. Great work. Also, is Lupin the cat named after impish anime rogue Lupin III? If so, kudos for the awesome deep cut reference.
Wait til you learn about sea monkeys.
When I was a kid I bought one of these at a yard sale. It had all the parts, but lacked any instructions. I, honestly, thought that the "game" aspect of this involved figuring out how it worked.
Played this in kindergarten, we legit thought all you did was set off the trap. We didn't know there was anything more to it than setting it up and watching it all come down 😂
I feel like "Mouse Trap" is not all that terribly different from "Domino Rally", in that if there are actual rules to the game, they are long forgotten because the kids playing with them are more interested in activating all the Rube Goldberg-esque devices that come with the games, that the things you are supposed to do in the lead up to activating the devices become absolutely immaterial.
Also, I'm fairly new to the channel, has an episode been done on Domino Rally yet?
My favorite board game as a kid was Don't Break the Ice. Do you think you could cover that in a future video? It was made by the same people who made Cooties! Also I loved your black and white segments!
9:07 Love the little snippet of Deadly Premonition, thanks for that!
I still remember the Christmas morning back in the late 70's when I got one, playing with my Dad.
What happened to it after that escapes me.
That was my dream game when I was a kid.
Now there's this odd Mouse Trap/Hungry, Hungry Hippos hybrid out there.
Dan, totally loved this video. Learned so much about the history of this simple game. Keep up the great work.
Also....love the subliminal messages. Haha! 😏😁👍🏾
I wanted mouse trap for a LONG time when I was younger. Then when I finally got it, the first time putting it together that tall thin piece (the blue pipes) one of the ends broke on it real easily and I was devastated since basically the whole thing wouldn't work after that. I finally got it only for it being so cheaply made it broke just putting it together that I never got to play it. I still have the box somewhere with all the parts but haven't touched it since because that whole experience soured me on it.
I just want to confirm, I did enjoy Dan's cat more than the deadline article. (He's a beauty!)
I played the game a few times back in the 80's. The part that stands out in my memory is the fact that sometimes, the machine would get jammed partway through, and there was a rule that the player doesn't actually count as being eliminated unless the cage properly falls on the mouse, so each time you got to the point of setting the trap in motion, it was a tense, nail-biting moment of wondering if it would work this time, and I remember one time someone came very close to winning and was prevented from it at the last second by the cage failing to fall all the way down.
1. The Deadly Premonition reference was gold
2. Thst ending fuxking nailed what the cooking experience really is!… hahahah!! Great job guys!
Very clever with the subliminal messages, and we didn't even need sunglasses! 🤭 Obey - Consume - Submit - No Thought - QR Code - Make Hot Pockets 😂🤣. Had to slow the video down to make sure I wasn't seeing things.
The Hasbro changes might actually be for the better. I remember spending an hour trying to build the game, then the actual game was over in 10 minutes. Making the trap a hindrance instead of a game over is probably for the best.
AAAAAHHHH “LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL” FROM DEADLY PREMONITION SO RARELY DOES ANYONE REFERENCE THIS GAME OR EVEN REMEMBER SUCH AN ICONIC SONG OMG MY FAVORITE CHANNEL REFERENCING ONE OF MY FAVORITE GAMES IM FREAKING OUT MMMAAANNN
Okay, we're gonna need more Lupin content. Lots more.
I own a Mr. Machine. After you wind him up, once he starts to roll, he whistles the tune "this old man came 'rolling' home." So cool you can see his inner mechanisms.
Bob "Mouse Trap"
Larry "Huh?"
Bob "Mouse Trap, I wanted to play Mouse Trap, you roll your dice you move your mice nobody gets hurt"
6:25 I love that Goldberg didn't just inspire Mouse Trap, he also inspired the character of Doc Brown from Back to the Future.
I just like to congrat you on soon to be 300k subs! I've been here since about 30k and it's been one of my fav channels. Great job guys and thanks for all the great content over past couple years and here's to 300k and beyond!
Has there ever been a Mouse Trap video game? I feel like there could be one with multiple game board sizes, unique mouse traps, themes (movies, shows, games, etc.), and the ability to create your own boards and mouse traps. I think lots of people would get a kick over it.
This game brings back so many awesome memories of me and my brothers putting the trap together and watching the magic happen as we played..and if we really wanted to up the Ante we would merge mouse trap with our monopoly game board thus creating mouse-trapoloy, a game not for the faint of heart...strange, I now have the urge to wanna watch Death Wish 4 for some unknown reason...
I've never been able to see the actual mechanism perform. My only friend that had this game consented to pulling it out once, but insisted we actually play the game, assembling the trap as we went. But alas, I had to leave for a dentist appointment before the trap could be completed, and was never able to convince my friend to open the game again, and no one else I've ever known has owned the game. :(
All the buildup to the Parker Bros. thing only to have him nonchalantly say "pass" and the credits roll made me laugh very hard! lol
I had mousetrap as a kid. And I'm old now. It never worked right as anyone who's played it knows. But when I became a father, nostalgia made me have fuzzy feelings for it while I was Christmas shopping years ago. I even wondered if they'd made the game better over the years to a point where it might work correctly. Nope!. I played it with my son, and it did all the same things it did when I was a kid. BUT NOW I WAS A MAN! So, I've learned to work on cars and tractors so I figured I could "fix" it. I did, but oh my golly. I had to keep modifying most of the parts to get it to work smoothly. Even then, you had to make sure that every part was in the exact position I'd adjusted to get it right. If you had one of the obstacles slightly askew, it would throw off the path of the ball, etc. But I made it work and I know think I can do anything, I am superman, I am The Brain from Pinky And the Brain, I am a genius, and I will take over the world Wait, isn't there a hypothesis that Pinky is the genius and The Brain is the insane one,.
Mousetrap made many a kid insane when they played this game. I bet most kids played with it once or twice and then gave up.
I never give up....
"Life Is Beautiful" playing in the background is the icing on this wonderful deep-dive.
Man, what a production, that Parker Brothers reenactment! Oscar Isaac? Cate Blanchett as Marvin Glass? Chef’s kiss 😘 🤌 ❗️
My wife just picked up a used copy of this so we could play with our 3 year old a couple of weeks before this video came out. It was a really solid $2.50 spent. My daughter has played with it everyday since the purchase. I loved this game as a kid and may have to get a new copy because the one my wife picked up has a pretty warped board. Thanks for this!
Thank you for posting this Dan never saw this as always your documentaries are very researched and thorough.
Love the subliminals guys. Hilarious and topical. Moar hot puppies!
CONSUME... SUBMIT...
Make hot poopies. That one had me cracking up.
Have they done that before?
always love your content Awesome job!!
Very insightful video! Thanks TG!
Unreal presentation man. Like the 4th video I've watched today of yours, never seen this channel before.
Whoa. You NAILED the Parker Brothers voice. Uncanny. 😳💯
I've built the trap and played with it several times with my younger siblings back in the day; but I think we actually played the game properly maybe once. It was one that then never went fully back in the box until they lost total interest in it.
I have an Ideal copy with no cheese tokens from the '70s. I remember playing it once with a babysitter who couldn't stop laughing about the "mouse tipsy" space. I believe this was once of the toys from the box of toys my brother won in a Haag Drug Store promotion, but I think it's probably in my storage unit now. As far as I know, though, it's always been missing two parts--the lamppost and the pole for the helping hand, although the spring is still present, which further suggests the part was never there to begin with.
I got the original issued Mouse Trap game for Christmas in 1964. I was 9 years old. I'm 66 now and still remember my excitement!
Awesome video. Love what you do. please keep it up!
This is excellent! Love the cat, love the dialog, love the research!
Omg! What a wild story! Geez. Thank ToyGalaxy and crew!
Had this in the 90s, we played it all the time.
I love this channel. Entertaining and funny and professional at the same time.
Another wonderful video from you guys. Thanks for the history behind mouse trap. Love Dan's cat too.
Cats are so cute
Mentioning Eddy Goldfarb, he was a great toy designer, and created one of my favorite 80s toys, Stomper 4x4 trucks
I remember playing the game once or twice. I recall playing with the marble builder set more though. Did have a Tic-Tac-Throw too, the dogs and the cat would constantly play with the red square bean bag while it was being played with.
Excellent episode!
A Heath Robinson contraption as they're known over here, seems like him and Goldberg had the same style of art
I happen to be a huge fan of this game. I once had a copy of it when I was a child. And later on, I found a copy near identical to my childhood copy, at a local Charity Shop here in Australia. I was thinking about getting a copy for $6AU at that same Charity Shop a couple of weeks earlier. But when I came back to it later on, they already sold it. But they did get an older, better copy there for $2AU, so I got it then and there. It might have had a couple of the cheese tokens and the instruction manual missing, but those were easily replaceable.
I dont want to think. I must only obey, consume, and submit.
I do remember trying to play the game the proper way once. We somehow managed to get to the final loop without having fully assembled the trap, making for a really anti-climactic finish.
what a neat story! props for the comedic bits, haha I can imagine the meetings going exactly that way. :P
I got mousetrap for Xmas in the 90s. I played it two or three times, but didn't have much fun with the board game rules. I built and enjoyed the mechanism for years though.
AKA the one board game I want but have never been able to get. Countless birthday and Christmas gift requests ignored.
W O W! The deep dive into Mouse Trap I didn't know I needed. Thank you, Toy Galaxy. 😗
Great Stuff, as always,
This tabletop "family" board game should become A GAMESHOW. IMO. The board could be giant and laid out on the floor and Hologram projectors could be used to set up the pieces. Ten when you get to the end of the game, It could just be animated through the hologram projections. I remember having this board game (The blue pieces and more colorful 1990s ver.) and we played it once. It NEVER worked correctly. It went into storage and NEVER EVER saw it again.
I always wanted to play Mousetrap but any friend I had who had the game always told me the same thing, there were pieces missing. I'm 61 and never had the chance, and it really fries me.
The most common quote of my childhood:
Me: "Oh wow, you have Mousetrap! Can we play it?"
Friend: "No, because some of the parts are missing"
I have never in my life been able to play Mousetrap. 😢
Oh its my fav board game
Thanks for the cat cameo.
A friend had this game, never played it, he said it took top much time to set up.
Greg went above and beyond with this one.
Yay, another exciting episode!
You turn the crank, snap the plank...
(Waits for other to fill in the rest of the jingle...)
I don't remember how much I played this game as a kid, only that it was enough for the rule stating when the trap fails to complete then the mouse gets away came into effect more than a handful of times.
I love this series and the music is so smooth
Ok, I had to pause to like and comment just at the intro - well done already, looking forward now to the rest of the episode!
Just finished - WELL DONE! Hilarious writing, excellent production, and one of the best episodes yet! "I don't cook" lolol
Man, this was such a good video!
Great video as usual Dan Larson!
I honestly don't remember if I ever played the game; I might have watched my older sister and my parents play it when I was really little. What I DO remember is hours of playing with its components, building and unbuilding, trying to see if the different components could be put in a different order, incorporating loose bits of other toys with it, even once trying to add it to a Lego build with gears. But actually play a game? nope.
Love the content! Toy galaxy need a episode about the Men In Black Animated Series next!
I remember waiting this game during my Rube Goldberg phase.
I love that you mentioned Mark Perez and the life-size mousetrap
Got this for Christmas in the 90s. Favorite board game ever.