Whack-a-Mole

How to play

You get 30 seconds. Moles pop up one at a time in one of nine holes — tap or click a mole while it's up to score a point, but miss (click an empty hole) and you lose a point, though your score never drops below zero. Moles get faster as you go: each one starts by staying up for roughly 900 ms, and that window shrinks by about 18 ms for every point you've scored, down to a floor of 380 ms, so the game accelerates noticeably once your score climbs past 20 or so. Once your score reaches 15, there's also a roughly one-in-three chance that two moles pop up at the same time instead of one, forcing you to choose which to whack first. The round ends the instant the 30-second clock hits zero, whatever your score is at that moment.

Frequently asked questions

What's a good score?

Beginners typically land somewhere around 15 to 20 points in a 30-second run, while sharp, fast players regularly clear 30 or more. Scores climb quickly at first because early moles stay up for close to 900 ms, but the game punishes complacency — once your score passes 15 you'll start seeing two moles at once, and by the time you're deep into a strong run, individual moles are only up for around 380 ms, just under half a second. Getting much past 35–40 generally requires reflexes tuned specifically to this kind of reaction-speed game rather than general mouse skill.

Does it work with touch?

Yes — the game responds to taps exactly the way it responds to mouse clicks, and on a touchscreen you can often out-pace a mouse since your finger lands directly on the target without moving a cursor there first. That said, once two moles appear at the same time (which starts happening once your score passes 15), a mouse gives you a slight edge for switching targets quickly, since a single finger can only tap one hole at a time. Either way, play on whatever device you have — a phone or tablet screen also just feels closer to a real arcade whack-a-mole cabinet.

Is my best score saved?

Yes — your highest score is saved to your browser's local storage the moment a run beats your previous best, and it will still be there the next time you open this page on the same device or browser. Only that single best-score number persists; the moment-to-moment details of any run — which holes lit up, how many double-mole moments you handled, your exact timing — aren't recorded anywhere and vanish once the round ends. Playing in a different browser, in private/incognito mode, or clearing your site data will not carry your best score over, since nothing is synced to an account.