Children became consumers—and I was one of them—exposed to carefully targeted marketing and modern, “Western” advertising. Sometimes scenes from those commercials lingered in memory more vividly than the toys we actually owned. Perhaps because the toys from the commercials were the ones we never had—only dreamed about.

A lasting element of childhood in the 1990s was Dobranocka, the evening cartoon block aired at a fixed hour (in my time, it was 7:00 p.m.). Before the cartoons, there was also an advertising segment dedicated to children. I watched all of it while waiting for Dobranocka. Hot Wheels racetracks, dolls that looked like real babies, Lego City sets, Barbie dolls and their accessories.

What fascinated me most were board games that bore no resemblance to traditional ones—filled with plastic constructions, elaborate accessories, flashing lights. One in particular captivated me: Mouse Trap, where the entire board was like a moving miniature town, culminating in the dramatic fall of a basket meant to catch the titular mouse.

It took twenty years—and the internet, along with the recollections of American users—for me to discover that Mouse Trap was famous for being faulty. Many of its plastic mechanisms failed to work properly; the basket rarely fell as intended, leaving thousands of young players deeply disappointed. I never got to play Mouse Trap, which is why it will forever remain in my mind as “that amazing game I never got to play.”

Alicja, born 1989