In Memory Of Burt Meyer, 1926-2025

The New York Times has reported that Burt Meyer – collaborative developer of Mouse Trap, Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots, and Lite-Brite (among many other games and toys) – passed away on October 30, at the age of 99.

Mr. Meyer was a designer at Marvin Glass and Associates, where he helped develop and hone various game and toy designs. His favorite design was Lite-Brite, which I always found diverting when I got to fiddle with them. (We didn't own one, but I was always jealous of friends who had sets.)

For me, getting to ponder the passing of someone who had a hand in the creation of Mouse Trap gives me a moment to reflect on that game.

Although being released a solid decade before I was born, Mouse Trap was one of my earliest memories of a game that could feel . . . intricate. Wooly. Chaotic. Other early childhood gaming affairs were primarily "roll the die, move the pieces." Sure, that described Mouse Trap, too, but there was this strange three-dimensional element of its plastic Rube Goldberg-esque "mouse trap" that made it seem so much more whimsical and limitless. Like, this was an era when – as a single-digit tyke – the second-most-innovative game I had exposure to was another "roll the die and move the pieces" affair, only the die was in a popping plastic dome.

I know modern gamers have an abundance of just about every concept of game imaginable, but as someone who grew up amid a paucity of possibilities, it's difficult to say how magical that bit of childhood entertainment was for me. It was an early eye-opener about how games weren't just plastic pawns pushed around on printed cardboard.

"Games" could mean a marble rolling down a rickety ramp.

A bathtub.

A back-flipping diver.

Games could be anything.

-- Steven Marsh