OBJECT OF THE GAME The object of MOUSE TRAP is to build a wacky contraption following the Building Plan and then to use it to trap the mice of the other player(s).

CONTENTS 1 Gameboard, 4 Mice, 30 Cheese Cards, 1 Die, Instructions, 28 Mouse Trap Building Parts and Accessories

Player turns crank (A) which rotates gears (B) causing lever (C) to move and push stop sign against shoe (D). Shoe tips bucket holding metal ball (E) Ball rolls down rickety stairs (F) and into rainpipe (G) which leads it to hit helping hand rod (H). This causes bowling ball (1) to fall from top of helping hand rod through thing-a-ma-jig (J) and bathtub (K), to land on diving board (L). Weight of bowling ball catapults diver (M) through the air and right into wash tub (N), causing cage (O) to fall from top of post (P) and trap unsuspecting mouse.

GAME SET UP
1. Remove all game parts from box. Place gameboard on a flat surface. Remove all Mouse Trap parts and playing pieces from bags and place around gameboard. Throw the plastic bags away Punch out the diecut slots on the gameboard.
2. Separate the Cheese Cards and place them in a pile next to the gameboard.
3. Each player chooses a mouse and places it on the gameboard in the space marked START. Youngest player goes first. Play proceeds to the left.

GAME PLAY
On your turn, toss the die and move your mouse the number of spaces indicated. Then carry out any instructions printed in the space landed upon. Two or more mice can be on one space at the same time.

BUILD SPACES: Build Spaces are the ones with only numbers in them (2, 2-3 or 2-3-4). If you land on a Build Space and the number of players in the game matches one of the numbers in the space, then you may build one piece of the Mouse Trap. For example:
- In a 4-player game you can build if you land on Building Space 2-3-4.
- In a 3-player game you can build if you land on Building Space 2-3 or 2-3-4.
- in a 2-player game you can build if you land on Building Space 2, 2-3 or 2-3-4.
Parts must be taken and built in numerical order! Build the Mouse Trap by placing the numbered part in its proper position following the Building Plan printed on pages 6, 7 and a in this booklet. For example: if you're the first player to land on a legal Build Space, you would place part #1 (Base A) on the board. The next player to land on a legal Build Space would position part #2 (Gear Support) into place and so on until the Mouse Trap is completed.
When you finish positioning a part of the Mouse Trap on the gameboard, take one Cheese Card from the pile.
When you land on the Build Space around the Cheese Wheel section of the board, you'll build two parts of the Mouse Trap and take two Cheese Cards. Once the Mouse Trap is completed, nothing occurs when you land on a Build Space.
GO BACK, MOVE AHEAD AND GO TO CHEESE: When you land on one of these spaces, you must go to the space indicated, but do not follow any message printed in that space!
TAKE CHEESE AND LOSE CHEESE: When you land on one of these spaces, take or return the indicated number of Cheese Cards from or to the Cheese Card Pile. If such a space requires you to return more Cheese' Cards than you currently have, return as many as you hold.

Every time you land on the Cheese Wheel Space, you automatically take two Cheese Cards.
If you're entitled to Cheese Cards and the Cheese Card Pile is empty, you may take them from the opponent who has the most Cheese Cards. In case of a tie, you may take them all from either opponent or divide the amount between them.
If you land on the space marked TAKE THREE PIECES OF CHEESE FROM RIVAL WITH MOST, you do so even if there are Cheese Cards left in the pile.

THE LOOP: These are the 6 spaces at the end of the path beginning with Safe and ending with the Cheese Wheel.
See Figure 1. You and your opponents will circle around the Loop as many times as necessary until the Mouse Trap is complete and only one mouse remains on the board and the game is over.

TRAPPING MICE: Once the Mouse Trap is completed, use it to try to cap. ture opposing mice. When you end your turn by landing on the TURN CRANK space and there is an opposing mouse on the Cheese Wheel, turn the crank to set the Mouse Trap in motion. If the trap operates correctly, the opposing mouse will be captured and the player owning it will be out of the game. Any Cheese Cards held by the captured player must be turned over to you. If the trap fails, the opposing player immediately moves his mouse to the SAFE space.
You may only turn the crank when the Mouse Trap is completed!
If more than one mouse is on the Cheese Wheel, they may all be captured or missed all together.

MOVING OPPONENTS' MICE: When you end your turn by landing on the TURN CRANK space and there is no opposing mouse on the Cheese Wheel, you can try to move an opponent's mouse onto the Cheese Wheel to try to trap it. To do so, you must return a Cheese Card to the pile, select the opponent you wish to move, throw the die and then move that opponent's mouse the indicated number of spaces. You may continue doing this as many times and to as many opponents as you like as long as you have Cheese Cards to "pay" if you manage to move an opponent's mouse (or opponents' mice) onto the Cheese Wheel, only then may you turn the crank.
Cheese Cards may be used this way only when you are on the TURN CRANK space. If one opponent's mouse is on the Cheese Wheel when you land on the TURN CRANK space, you can still use your Cheese Cards to try and get other opponents' mice onto the Cheese Wheel before set ting the Mouse Trap in motion.
SAFE: When your mouse is on the SAFE space your opponents cannot move you to the Cheese Wheel or take any of your Cheese Cards.

WINNING THE GAME
If your mouse is the last one on the board, you win!

SPECIAL RULES AND GUIDELINES
1. The player who has just operated the Mouse Trap must reset the Mouse Trap should it fail to capture the opposing mice.
2. When placing bowling ball (17 ) on thing-a-ma-jig (16), make sure helping hand rod is loaded. See note on page 7, #15. :
3. Before operating the Mouse Trap, check to see that it will work properlyÄ that is, check to see if: metal ball (11) is in bucket (10); helping hand (15) is loaded; bowling ball (17) is in position on thing-a-ma-jig (16); man (20) is positioned correctly; cage (24) is balanced on top of cage post (23); all: parts are positioned properly on the gameboard. :
4. When turning the crank, always turn slowly in a clockwise direction.
S. To re-load cage, remove cage post (23) from cage base (21); lift up cage, reinsert cage post and place cage in position on top.

FIGURE 1 THE GAMEBOARD

The numbers 1-24 on the gameboard refer to the Building Plan on pages 6, 7 and 8. The numbers identify the Mouse Trap part that is to be built in that location (each plastic piece has a molded number on it) and the order in which the part is assembled.

I do not hold the copyright on this information. It is posted for those who might have purchased a game at a yard sale or had the game given to them and it didn't have the instructions included in the package and all the people could think of to turn to is the internet. Well for those people who think like me, here you go.