How to start
- Open bigboard.games on one phone or tablet and tap Start a table.
- Pick the game; the players at this device are set before the match.
- Lay the device flat between you and play.
One minute, four moles at most
Start a table on one phone or tablet with just you on it and pick Whack-a-Mole: a lone player gets the score attack. The whole screen is your field, a felt of pockets, tall when you hold it upright and wide when you turn it sideways. Add a bot and it's a duel instead: see whack a mole vs the computer.
It starts gently, one mole at a time. A second joins after 10 seconds, a third at 25 and a fourth at 45, and the time each one stays above ground shrinks from 1.3 seconds to 0.6 by the end. Bop one and the next rises somewhere else a quarter of a second later, so the last 15 seconds are the busiest of the minute.
How the points add up
A bop is worth between 50 and 100 points, by how quickly it lands: 100 for a mole hit the instant it shows, 50 for one caught just before it hides. Every bop floats its reaction time in milliseconds, green when you're quick and red when you're slow, so you can see where the points went.
Misses cost 50 points each, and the score can drop below zero. Four or more fingers at once count as a single miss that bops nothing, so slapping the screen only loses points. A touch just beside a mole, or a hand on the rail steadying the device, isn't held against you.
Your best, and the waves alone
When the minute is up, the end card shows your best and your fastest reaction. The best stays on that device, so the next run has something to beat, and One more run starts it straight away. The classic snake game keeps your best the same way.
Prefer something longer? Pick Cooperative in the lobby and you play the waves alone: rounds of moles with a rush now and then, golden, bomb and armoured moles, and five lives instead of a clock. When friends turn up, add their devices to the table and the same game becomes a duel on two phones.
Solo: questions and answers
Does a miss cost points?
Yes, 50 points each, and the score can go below zero.
Is my best score kept?
Yes, on the device you played on, and the end card shows it after every run.
Can I play the co-op waves alone?
Yes, pick Cooperative: you get the waves of moles and five lives instead of the one-minute clock.
Does a faster bop score more?
Yes, an instant bop scores 100 and one just before the mole hides scores 50.