A Classic Board Game Comes to Life

Do you remember the game Mousetrap? I do. Simply put: I loved that game. If you don't remember it, the goal was to trap your opponents mouse by setting off a Rube Goldberg "mouse trap," then spending the next 3 hours setting it all back up for another round.

Well, if you liked the game, this is great - they are building a lifesize Mousetrap at the New York Hall of Science set to open this fall. I assume this is mainly for kids to learn about the properties of science, however, I plan on pushing those wide-eyed learners out of the way to check it out for myself.

The creators made a strong choice, because there are some games that should absolutely not come to life. Here are a few:

• Clue - "Hey, this is fun checking out this house. What's this? Is this a libra . . . OH MY GOD A DEAD BODY!" A good starting point for bringing a board game to life, is to choose one where someone doesn't get murdered, cause it's all fun and games til someone is impaled by a candlestick (worst weapon ever).
• Life - Let's take all the fun stuff out of life and make the rest into a game. You get a job - hopefully doctor - and try to manage your finances and the fact that you married a pink stick.
• Candy Land - It's called diabetes people.
• Operation - First you'd have to find someone willing to let random people perform surgery on him - tough sell. If you're fingers slip they won't buzz, they will die. Not only are you going to have to perform surgery, you'll be performing surgery that's never been attempted before: It doesn't look good, sir, we are going to have to remove those butterflies in your stomach and the pencil in your forearm.