Mouse Trap
Encyclopedia
Mouse Trap is a 1981 arcade game
released by Exidy
, similar to Pac-Man
. It was ported to three home systems by Coleco
; Coleco's ColecoVision
, Mattel
's Intellivision
, and the Atari 2600
.
and Mouse Trap are aesthetic: the dots become cheese
, the player is a mouse
, the ghosts are cat
s, and power pills are bones that turn the player into a dog
.
There are other functional differences as well:
ported Mouse Trap to its own ColecoVision
console, with fewer prizes, an option to leave the hawk out, and different sound effects. Coleco's Intellivision
port adds an audio warning when a cat is about to enter the maze, but suffers from blocky graphics.
Coleco also ported Mouse Trap to the Atari 2600
, simplifying graphics and gameplay. The maze is more squat with brighter walls, and doors form a single colored set that flickers. Gameplay basics are the same, but the hawk, the "IN" area, and the bonus prizes are missing, there are three cats instead of six, and all doors move at once. Scoring is also reduced significantly: cheese is worth 1 point instead of 10 points, cats are worth 10 points and do not increase in value, and clearing a maze awards only 100 points.
recorded the song "Mousetrap" using sound effects from the game, and released it on the album Pac-Man Fever
. When they rerecorded the album in 1999, they were unable to find a machine and used sounds from nature, instead.
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
released by Exidy
Exidy
Exidy was one of the largest creators of arcade video games during the early period of video games, from 1974 until at least 1986 . The company was founded by H.R."Pete" Kauffman...
, similar to Pac-Man
Pac-Man
is an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution in the United States by Midway, first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. Immensely popular from its original release to the present day, Pac-Man is considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games,...
. It was ported to three home systems by Coleco
Coleco
Coleco is an American company founded in 1932 by Maurice Greenberg as "Connecticut Leather Company". It became a highly successful toy company in the 1980s, known for its mass-produced version of Cabbage Patch Kids dolls and its video game consoles, the Coleco Telstar and...
; Coleco's ColecoVision
ColecoVision
The ColecoVision is Coleco Industries' second generation home video game console which was released in August 1982. The ColecoVision offered arcade-quality graphics and gaming style, and the means to expand the system's basic hardware...
, Mattel
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
's Intellivision
Intellivision
The Intellivision is a video game console released by Mattel in 1979. Development of the console began in 1978, less than a year after the introduction of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. The word intellivision is a portmanteau of "intelligent television"...
, and the Atari 2600
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...
.
Comparison to Pac-Man
Many differences between Pac-ManPac-Man
is an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution in the United States by Midway, first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. Immensely popular from its original release to the present day, Pac-Man is considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games,...
and Mouse Trap are aesthetic: the dots become cheese
Cheese
Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....
, the player is a mouse
Mouse
A mouse is a small mammal belonging to the order of rodents. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse . It is also a popular pet. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are also common. This rodent is eaten by large birds such as hawks and eagles...
, the ghosts are cat
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
s, and power pills are bones that turn the player into a dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
.
There are other functional differences as well:
- The player can open and close the yellow, red, and blue sets of doors at the press of a matching colored button.
- The player can store dog bones for later use at his or her discretion by pressing a fourth button — a large round "Doggie Button" with a picture of the dog's head on it.
- The four ghosts are replaced by six cats, worth 100 points for the first cat eaten, 300 for the second, 500 for the third, 700 for the fourth, and 900 for the fifth and subsequent cats. Point values reset when another bone is used. Each cat eaten spawns a slightly faster replacement.
- A seventh monster, a hawkHawkThe term hawk can be used in several ways:* In strict usage in Australia and Africa, to mean any of the species in the subfamily Accipitrinae, which comprises the genera Accipiter, Micronisus, Melierax, Urotriorchis and Megatriorchis. The large and widespread Accipiter genus includes goshawks,...
, will eat both mouse and dog. Only the mid-screen "IN" field stops the hawk, by causing it to move randomly instead of chasing the player, but this will beam the mouse into one of the four corners. - Bonus point prizes do not appear at intervals, but are constantly available. Eating one triggers the next in the series to appear. Point values start at 1000 for the first prize and increase by 200 for each subsequent prize, with the last prize being worth 7200 points. When the last prize is eaten, the sequence restarts. There are thirty-two in all: a wedge of Swiss cheese, a paperclip, a safety pin, a key, an apple, a trophy, a candlestick, a pair of scissors, a pair of pliers, a pair of eyeglasses, a clock, a bottle, a gem, a bugle, a screw, a hammer, a diamond ring, a light bulb, a sewing needle, a fork, a thimble, a knife, a cocktail glass, a fishbone, a pear, a peanut, a die, a telephone handset, a die with "C A F" on the faces, a spool of thread, a teacup, and a pistol.
- There is a 10,000 point bonus for clearing the board of all cheese. A player who ends a stage as a dog will begin the next stage in that form.
Ports
ColecoColeco
Coleco is an American company founded in 1932 by Maurice Greenberg as "Connecticut Leather Company". It became a highly successful toy company in the 1980s, known for its mass-produced version of Cabbage Patch Kids dolls and its video game consoles, the Coleco Telstar and...
ported Mouse Trap to its own ColecoVision
ColecoVision
The ColecoVision is Coleco Industries' second generation home video game console which was released in August 1982. The ColecoVision offered arcade-quality graphics and gaming style, and the means to expand the system's basic hardware...
console, with fewer prizes, an option to leave the hawk out, and different sound effects. Coleco's Intellivision
Intellivision
The Intellivision is a video game console released by Mattel in 1979. Development of the console began in 1978, less than a year after the introduction of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. The word intellivision is a portmanteau of "intelligent television"...
port adds an audio warning when a cat is about to enter the maze, but suffers from blocky graphics.
Coleco also ported Mouse Trap to the Atari 2600
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...
, simplifying graphics and gameplay. The maze is more squat with brighter walls, and doors form a single colored set that flickers. Gameplay basics are the same, but the hawk, the "IN" area, and the bonus prizes are missing, there are three cats instead of six, and all doors move at once. Scoring is also reduced significantly: cheese is worth 1 point instead of 10 points, cats are worth 10 points and do not increase in value, and clearing a maze awards only 100 points.
In popular culture
In 1982, Buckner & GarciaBuckner & Garcia
Buckner & Garcia was a duo consisting of Jerry Buckner and Gary Garcia from Akron, Ohio. Their first collaboration was in 1980, when they wrote a novelty Christmas song, "Merry Christmas in the NFL", imagining Howard Cosell as Santa Claus...
recorded the song "Mousetrap" using sound effects from the game, and released it on the album Pac-Man Fever
Pac-Man Fever (album)
Pac-Man Fever is a 1982 concept album recorded by Buckner & Garcia. It is also the name of the first song on that album. Each song on the album is about a different classic arcade game, and uses sound effects from that game. The album was released as an LP, a cassette, an 8-track tape, and later...
. When they rerecorded the album in 1999, they were unable to find a machine and used sounds from nature, instead.