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A woman playing Whac-A-Mole
Manufacturer(s) Creative Engineering Inc.
Years active 1976–present


In Japan, もぐら退治 (mogura taiji, "Mole Buster") is a popular arcade game invented in 1975 by Kazuo Yamada of TOGO, based on ten of the designer's pencil sketches from 1974, licensed to Bandai in 1977.[1] ) It can also be commonly found at Japanese festivals.










The Whac-A-Mole game trademark is owned by Bob's Space Racers.[2] Machines with similar gameplay are sold under other names. Whac-A-Mole has also been the basis for a number of internet games and mobile games that are similar in play and strategy.

Engineer Tim Hunkin built and installed a "Whack a Banker" machine at Southwold Pier in England[3] made from parts of a previous "Whack a Warden" machine.[4]


The moles are mounted on rods and raised by a lever and crank system. When the user strikes the mole, a microswitch is activated by a pin housed within the mole and the system lowers the mole.[5]

The timing of the moles was originally controlled by tones from an audio tape which then drive an air cylinder system;[6]however, this may have been updated more recently.

Colloquial usage[edit]

The term "Whac-a-mole" (or "Whack-a-mole") is used colloquially to denote a repetitious and futile task: each time an adversary is "whacked", it only pops up again somewhere else.[7][8] In a military context, the term is used to refer to ostensibly inferior opposing troops who keep re-appearing,[9] while in a computing and networking context, it refers to the process of fending off recurring spammers, vandals or miscreants.

See also[edit]


  1. ^ もぐら叩きを作った男(A man who made Whac-A-Mole), Written in Japanese
  2. ^ Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS), United States Patent and Trademark Office
  5. ^ US 4461475, "Game machine having pop-up target" 
  6. ^ "The Whac-A-Mole Story". The Rock-afire Explosion. 2008. 

External links[edit]