Few games are as instantly recognizable as Whack-a-Mole, but its roots trace back to a Japanese arcade cabinet with a name that translates, quite literally, to "mole extermination."
How to Play Whack-a-Mole
Whack-a-Mole is simple to pick up and surprisingly hard to master. Moles pop up at random from a grid of holes, and your job is to tap or click each one before it ducks back down, racking up points for every successful hit. The longer you last, the faster and more unpredictable the moles get, mixing up their timing and popping from multiple holes at once to throw off your rhythm. On RivalPit, you can play solo to chase your best reaction-time score, or go head-to-head with a friend on matching boards to see who racks up more hits before time runs out.
The History of Whack-a-Mole
Whack-a-Mole began life in Japan as Mogura Taiji, meaning "mole buster" or "mole extermination," created by the Japanese amusement manufacturer TOGO in the mid-1970s. Historical accounts credit the game's design to a TOGO staffer, built from a series of pencil sketches sometime around 1974, with the finished cabinet released around 1975. It was a genuine commercial hit in Japan, reportedly ranking as one of the country's top-grossing electro-mechanical arcade games in both 1976 and 1977, trailing only Namco's popular racing game F-1 in overall earnings those years.
The game crossed over to North America in 1976, when a 22-year-old inventor named Aaron Fechter of Creative Engineering encountered a malfunctioning Japanese prototype of Mogura Taiji at an amusement industry trade show in Orlando, Florida. Fechter reworked the mechanism, adding pneumatic air cylinders to make the mole pop-ups more reliable, and coined the now-famous name "Whac-A-Mole" for his refined version. Bob's Space Racers began manufacturing the American cabinets in the late 1970s, and the game quickly spread through carnivals, boardwalks, and family arcades across the country. Decades later, Whack-a-Mole remains a fixture of arcades and amusement venues worldwide, and its pop-up-and-strike format has become such a recognizable idea that "whack-a-mole" is now common shorthand for any problem that keeps reappearing the moment you think you've dealt with it.
Why Play Whack-a-Mole on RivalPit
- Free and no download. Whack-a-Mole runs instantly in your browser.
- Real-time multiplayer. Challenge a friend with a link, or race the clock solo.
- Points, never money. Earned by playing, never purchased or wagered.
- One of 100+ free games on RivalPit, with new games added every week.
Whack-a-Mole is part of RivalPit's free arcade games lineup, alongside Snake, Space Invaders, and Brick Breaker. Want to challenge a friend to a reflex showdown? Check out our guide to playing games online with friends with no download.