The first trap is used to pull the crank which gets the board game going when the mouse steps on the pad (a piece of wood with padding prevents the bar from actually hitting the animal).

The old adage that you’ll make a fortune by developing a better mouse trap is not super realistic, as the engineers behind Sony’s Betamax video tape standard could tell you. However ...

How to make a mousetrap simple electric and effective mouse/rat trap at home ...