Cork N' Beans Game (AKA Mousie Mousie)

As a kid we had a game called "Mousie Mousie" (Spear's Games). It had small playing pieces and like any game with small playing pieces they got lost or broken over time, and thus "Cork 'N Beans" was born out of necessity. Cork 'N Beans is easily assembled out of inexpensive household objects that can be replaced if lost or damaged. This is a great game to take on camp outs as the only thing special you would need to take along would be the die. Equally entertaining for kids and grownups.

Things you'll need:

1 Pot Lid (Lids with rounded edges are great so they don't damage skin, table tops or clothing.)
Several Wine Corks (If you're not a wine drinker you can get these at any restaurant that serves wine.)
Kite String - 24" lengths (I used parachute cord which has 7 strands of nylon string inside the main sheath)
1 Die
1 Round Trivet (Smaller than pot lid)
Bag of Dry Uncooked Beans (or elbow macaroni, or virtually anything that can be used as "currency" in the game. Poker chips are fine too)
1 Towel (Sound Dampener)

Tie the kite string around corks. There is no preferred knot. Just tie it so it does not come loose during game play.

Make as many of these as necessary. There is no limit to the amount of playing pieces. 

Note: Everyone has this tendency to wrap the end of the string around the crook of their finger. I'm here to tell you that this leads to rope burns. I devised a little loop with leftover paracord to keep the kid's fingers comfortable for the duration of the game.

Figure out who will be "The Clanger" (AKA the Cat). This person gets the pot lid, the Die and 10 pieces of currency.

All other players get a mouse (cork and string) and 10 pieces of currency (dry beans, elbow macaroni, poker chips, etc.).

Take the towel and fold it in thirds. Lay it on the table. The towel serves as a sound deadener, however when we go camping I sometimes forgo the towel since we're out in the open and there's no one to really bother with the clanging sound the pot lid makes.

Place the trivet in the middle of the towel.

Players put their corks on the trivet and stretch the strings out in a radial manner (like bicycle spokes radiating away from the hub).

The Clanger positions himself / herself and holds the lid just far enough above the trivet and mice that all the other players can see the the roll of the dice and the value on the dice face when it stops rolling.

The Clanger rolls the die. If the die lands on One(1) or Six(6) the Clanger clamps down on the table as fast as he can. All other players have to pull their corks off the trivet before they get trapped beneath the Clanger's lid.

Any players whose corks are caught pay the Clanger one bean each. The Clanger pays any escapee a bean each. This continues until the Clanger is broke, or decides he does not want to be a Clanger anymore. * The person with the  most beans takes his / her place as the new Clanger and surrenders his cork to the previous Clanger. The previous Clanger then takes his / her place as a regular player.

Any person who loses all their beans (including the Clanger) is out of the game and a new Clanger is instated ( See * above)

If a 2 through 5 is rolled players do nothing. If a player pulls his / her cork off the trivet they owe the Clanger a bean. The Clanger is permitted to fake out the other players during these rolls to try to elicit a "flight" reaction. Fake outs can be very lucrative for the Clanger