[1][2] Players at first cooperate to build a working mouse trap in the style of a Rube Goldberg machine.

[3] The original published version of the game in 1963 was then designed by Hank Kramer of Ideal Toy Company, filling in the details Glass had left open, and allows the players almost no decision-making, in keeping with other games for very young children such as Candyland or Chutes and Ladders (Snakes and Ladders).

Players take turns rolling a die to advance their mouse piece along a path around the game board, from the start space to a continuous loop at the end.

The Rube Goldberg-like mouse trap is assembled in the center of the board, with players adding one or more of its pieces when they land on specified "build" spaces.

The lever whacks a stop sign into a shoe, which kicks a small bucket holding a large ball bearing.

This catapults a diver on an arc up and into a washtub, knocking loose a cage suspended from the top of a bumpy rod.

[4] A modified version was released in the United Kingdom in 2004, featuring three mousetraps (with a specialized trigger working at random) and a completely different board and plastic components.

[8][9] Among the changes in this version, the trap is built before the start of the game, a spin wheel is used instead of dice, and the cheese pizza pieces and their relevant rules are not included.

Elderly and near retirement, Goldberg declined to take legal action against Glass, primarily because inspiration and ideas are not intellectual property that can be protected with a copyright, trademark, or patent.

After fully assembling, they take turns trying to operate the machine, starting with the player who installed the last component; the winner is the one who first succeeds.

interactive kinetic sculpture set atop a 6,500-square-foot game board ... complete with a Vaudevillian style show, original musical score by the one woman band Esmerelda Strange, Sexy Mice can-can dancers, clown workers, acrobatic hijinks, and other spectacular scenes dedicated to the pursuit of spectacle-laden fun!