The midway classic, and the first game on our Carnival shelf. Sixty seconds at the booth: bonk the moles, chase the golden crown moles, build a streak — and keep your mallet off Grumpy Gus in his red helmet. Every round pays Sunset Shells, and the top tier wins the little bear 🧸.
Score 0Time 60Streak ×0Best 0Shells 🐚 0Rounds 0
How to play — the exact rules at this booth
The round: 60 seconds on a 3×3 board of holes. Moles pop up and drop back down; tap (or click) a mole to bonk it before it drops. A mole that drops unbonked just goes home — no penalty, ever. The three booth speeds are Gentle, Classic and Wild; on every speed the booth gets faster as the round runs — moles pop more often and stay up for less time in the last seconds than in the first.
Scoring: a plain mole is worth 10 points. A golden crown mole is worth 30. Every bonk also earns a streak bonus: your streak counts consecutive bonks with no miss and no Grumpy in between, and a bonk pays +2 for every streak step above the first, up to +10 — so the sixth bonk of a hot streak pays 10 + 10 = 20, and a golden mole on that same streak pays 30 + 10 = 40.
Grumpy Gus: one mole wears a red helmet and a serious frown. He is not a target. Bonking him costs −15 points (your score never drops below zero), −2 seconds off the clock, and your streak. Let him pop, let him sulk, let him drop.
Misses: tapping an empty hole costs nothing but your streak — it resets to zero. Accuracy still counts on the results card.
Sunset Shells — the prizes: every finished round pays shells by the score you reached against that booth's par (Gentle par 330 · Classic par 520 · Wild par 700). Under 35% of par pays 1 shell; 35% pays 3; 60% pays 6; 85% pays 10; and 110% of par or better pays 15 shells and the 🧸 Little Bear tier. Shells pile up in your HUD between visits. They are the arcade's just-for-fun prize currency: they never cash out, can't be bought or sold, and exist purely so the booth can hand you a prize.
The clock: the bar under the message drains as the round runs and turns red for the last five seconds. Pausing freezes the clock and every mole with it. 💡 Tap the hint button and the booth will ring the hole whose mole has been up the longest. Sound is off by default — tap 🔊 to enable.
Pick a booth speed below to start.
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Whack-a-Mole
Sixty seconds, nine holes, one padded mallet. Moles are 10, golden crown moles are 30, and a hot streak adds up to +10 a bonk. Grumpy Gus in the red helmet costs you 15 points and 2 seconds — let him sulk. Finish high enough and the booth pays out Sunset Shells… top tier takes home the little bear 🧸.
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About Whack-a-Mole
Every carnival midway has one booth everybody walks past twice: nine holes, a padded mallet, a barkeeper's grin, and a shelf of prizes with one little bear sitting at the very top. This is that booth, rebuilt for the arcade — and it opens VRMatch's Carnival shelf, the midway games where the fantasy is never the money (there is none) but the prize you carry home past the string lights.
The rules here are the honest midway rules, written down in full on the page: 60 seconds, moles worth 10, golden crown moles worth 30, a streak bonus that rewards a hot hand up to +10 a bonk, and one citizen of the board who is not a target — Grumpy Gus, the mole in the red helmet, whose bonk costs 15 points and two seconds of your clock. Nothing here is scary and nobody gets hurt; the worst outcome at this booth is a frown and a shorter round. Rounds pay out in Sunset Shells, the arcade's prize shells — and at 110% of the booth's par, the top tier hands over the little bear.
Quick tips
Guard the streak, not the score. An empty-hole tap costs no points but zeroes your streak bonus — a half-second of patience is worth more than a wild swing once your streak is paying +8 or +10 a bonk.
Golden moles are worth three plain ones, and the streak bonus stacks on top — a golden mole at streak six pays 40. When a crown pops, it is worth crossing the board for.
Learn Grumpy Gus's silhouette — helmet first, frown second. He pops on every table, and late in the round, when the board is busy and the clock is red, he is exactly the mistake the booth is hoping for.
Play the tempo, not the panic. The last fifteen seconds are the fastest and the richest — more moles up at once, each worth full price. Save your calm for then.
Frequently asked questions
Is online Whack-a-Mole free here?
Yes — free in your browser, no download, no signup, and no account needed.
What are Sunset Shells? Do they cash out?
Sunset Shells are the arcade's just-for-fun prize currency — the booth pays them out at the end of every round, by score band. They never cash out: they can't be bought, sold, traded or exchanged for money or prizes of value. They exist so the booth can hand you a prize, the way a midway hands you the little bear.
Who is Grumpy Gus?
The mole in the red helmet, with the frown and the angled eyebrows. He is a penalty, not a target: bonking him costs 15 points (your score never drops below zero), takes 2 seconds off the clock, and ends your streak. Let him pop, sulk and drop on his own — a mole that drops unbonked never costs you anything.
How does the streak bonus work?
Every bonk builds your streak; a miss (tapping an empty hole) or a Grumpy bonk resets it to zero. A bonk pays its base points — 10 for a plain mole, 30 for a golden crown mole — plus +2 for every streak step above the first, capped at +10.
How do I win the little bear?
Score at least 110% of the booth's par — 363 on Gentle, 572 on Classic, 770 on Wild — and the round pays the 🧸 Little Bear tier: 15 Sunset Shells and top billing on the results card.
Does the game get faster?
Yes, on every table. As the round runs, moles pop more often, stay up for less time, and more of them are up at once — the last five seconds are the fastest of the round, and the clock bar turns red to warn you.