Whack-a-Mole

About Whack-a-Mole

Whack-a-Mole is a reaction test wearing a fairground costume. Nine holes, thirty seconds, and a mole that appears in one of them for less than a second at a time. Hit it and you score; miss it and it drops back down. As the clock runs the moles appear faster and stay up for less time.

The twist is the bombs. Roughly one in six things that pop up should not be hit, and hitting one costs you points and time. That turns a pure speed test into a test of *inhibition* — the ability to stop a movement you have already started. It is much harder than it sounds, and it is why the last ten seconds are where most scores are lost.

How to play

1. Press Start. Moles begin appearing in the nine holes.
2. Click or tap a mole to score. Faster hits are worth more.
3. Do not hit the bombs. Hitting one costs you points and two seconds.
4. Moles appear more often and stay up for less time as the round goes on.
5. The round lasts thirty seconds. Your best score is saved in your browser.

Five tips that actually move your score

• Keep your cursor in the centre. The middle hole is one move from every other hole. Returning there between hits shortens every journey you have to make.
• Look at the whole grid, not one hole. Peripheral vision detects a change in brightness faster than focused vision does. Soft-focus the centre and let the movement come to you.
• Slow down deliberately in the last ten seconds. That is when the spawn rate peaks and when bomb mistakes cluster. A missed mole costs nothing; a hit bomb costs a mole and two seconds.
• Hit early, not accurately. The scoring rewards how quickly you react after a mole appears, and the hitboxes are generous. A fast approximate click beats a slow precise one.
• Use your whole arm on a large screen. Wrist-only movement runs out of range on the corner holes and forces you to reposition mid-round.

Frequently asked questions