Whac-A-Mole: Adults Love It
Written: May 19 '06
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Pros: no assembly, play alone or with a friend, well made
Cons: Annoying chatter from the moles, having to pick the game/mode is hard
The Bottom Line: Fun for kids, teens and adults, no assembly and lasts well.
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| susiee's Full Review: Toy Biz Electronic Interactive Whac-A-Mole Game |
My son desperately wanted Whac-A-Mole two years ago, and he was thrilled when his aunt gave it to him for his birthday.
The best thing about this game is NO ASSEMBLY REQUIRED. I am so tired of putting things together at Christmas (and don't even get me started on those nasty little clips that hold things in the box). You simply open the box and all you need to do is put in the batteries. You need a screwdriver to open the battery compartment, another thing that drives me crazy, although I realize it is for safety reasons. It requires 3 AA batteries.
Best of all, it easily fits back in the box. Many games once they are put together will never go back in the box, or require you to put at least part of them together before each play.
Within a minute, we were ready to play.
Naturally, everybody in the house had played Whac-A-Mole at the arcades so nobody looked at the instructions to realize that there were multiple types of games or how to play. My son and his aunt each grabbed a mallet, pushed buttons until the moles started popping up, and hammered away.
For the next 3 hours, my husband, 2 sisters-in-law, brother-in-law, three cousins, two aunts and both sets of my son's grandparents had a wonderful time hammering away at these little moles. They were a bit confused because, since they hadn't looked at the instructions, they didn't realize there were multiple settings, and people kept pushing buttons and changing the game. My son wandered off after about 10 minutes, leaving all the adults to play. My cousin had so much fun she ended up buying one for herself.
Once the grown ups quit hogging the game and left, we took a look at the instructions to figure out exactly how this worked.
Once you turn on the game, you need to select a mode.
It has three modes:
Solo is my favorite, because you play it alone. The moles pop up and you hit as many as possible in a short amount of time. I especially like this mode because it allows my son to play by himself. His older brother is 5 years older and won't often play with him, so I am always on the lookout for fun things he can play alone. Kids like to play this over and over to try to beat their previous score.
Head to Head is where two players play at the same time. Each uses a specific color mallet and is supposed to only hit the moles which pop up with the same color light as the mallet. This is what the adults enjoyed the most, trying to beat each other. Scores are displayed on a log on the board, so you know who won.
Follow the Leader is a mode where it shows a pattern and you try to repeat it. This is the kids' least favorite mode, but again, can be played alone.
The game also has several speed settings, so as kids get better, they can make it go faster.
While the moles are popping up and being hit, they make little comments like "ouch" and "slowpoke." This gets pretty annoying after a while, and there is no way to turn off the sound effects.
Two years later, this game is still going strong. It gets pulled out regularly, and the boys still have fun playing with it. My older son (age 11 now) will even join my younger son (now 7) and play with this. It works great and has had almost no wear.
The box recommends this for kids ages 4 to 8, but it is popular with older kids and adults, too. I don't think kids under 4 would be very good at starting the game or coordinated enough to use the hammer to hit the moles accurately.
This game was a big hit when he received it, and still gets plenty of play time by my sons and their friends. It's one of the few toys that has kept its play value this long.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 30
Type of Toy: Game
Age Range of Child: 3 to 5 Years
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Epinions.com ID:
susiee
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