One mole at a time, nine burrows, sixty seconds. Tap it before it ducks. The window starts at just under a second and tightens with every mole you catch, down to a floor of just over four tenths of a second. Missing one costs you nothing but the time it took. The same burrow never fires twice in a row.
- Score 0
- Time 1:00
- Best —
How to play Mole Tap
Quick start
- Press Start. You have sixty seconds.
- A mole rises from one of the nine burrows.
- Tap it, click it, or press the number key matching its burrow — 1 to 9, reading left to right, top to bottom.
- Every mole you catch makes the next one duck a little sooner.
How it works
Controls
- Mouse or trackpad
- Click the mole. Clicking an empty burrow does nothing but tell you so.
- Touch
- Tap the mole. The burrows are sized as full-width touch targets.
- Keyboard
- Tab to the field, then press the number key for the burrow — 1 to 9, reading left to right and top to bottom. Each burrow is also a button, so Tab and Enter work.
Tips
- Rest your hand over the middle burrow. It is the only one adjacent to every other, so it is the shortest average travel from wherever you are.
- The mole window starts just under a second and drops by about two hundredths of a second per point, bottoming out at 0.43 seconds. Past roughly twenty-five hits it stops getting harder.
- There is no penalty for tapping an empty burrow, and none for missing a mole. The only thing that costs you is the clock.
- The same burrow never rises twice in a row, so the moment you have hit one you can rule it out and watch the other eight.
- On a keyboard the number keys are usually faster than the mouse, because the whole field is one keystroke away rather than one movement away.
Frequently asked questions
How long is a round?
Sixty seconds. The clock starts when you press Start and pauses if you press it again.
How long does a mole stay up?
Just under a second at the start. It shrinks by about two hundredths of a second for every mole you catch, down to a floor of 0.43 seconds — so past about twenty-five hits it stops getting harder.
Am I penalised for missing?
No. Neither a missed mole nor a tap on an empty burrow costs you anything except the time it took.
Can the same burrow fire twice in a row?
No, never. Once a mole has appeared in a burrow, the next one always comes from a different burrow.
Is more than one mole ever up at once?
No. There is exactly one mole at a time, so the game is about reaction rather than about dividing your attention.
Which keys map to which burrows?
The number keys 1 to 9, reading left to right and top to bottom, so 1 is the top-left burrow and 9 the bottom-right.
What is my Best score?
The most moles you have tapped in a single sixty-second round, saved on this device.
Is this gambling?
No. Nothing is wagered, nothing is won, and no score converts into money or a prize. It is a reaction game against a clock.
