I found it too hard to fish out the mice from the tubes, so I solved that by boosting them up a notch with a half cotton ball in the bottom of each tube. Now they have a softer landing too!
We ignored your suggestion at the outset ~ it was easy enough to get the mice when the board was apart...
And then my daughter, while adjusting the tiles, yanked out an end tile so we could free up a stuck slide. Her mouse took a header, and it required the jaws of life (aka needlenose pliers) to extricate the rodent without demolishing the entire chateau.
The mice's union has applauded our decision to retrofit the entire dungeon with padded cells...
