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A woman playing Whac-A-Mole
Manufacturer(s) Bob's Space Racers, Inc.
Years active 1976–present


(In Japan: もぐら退治(MOGURA TAIJI, means Mole Buster) is a popular arcade game invented in 1975 by Kazuo Yamada of TOGO, based one designer's 10 pencil sketches from 1974, licenced to BANDAI in 1977 .[1] )










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]

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.[5][6] In a military context, the term is used to refer to ostensibly inferior opposing troops who keep re-appearing,[7] 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

External links[edit]