BYO Whack a Mole

[NoBonus]

Okay, I might not do this, but I want to think out the complexities of building one's own whack a mole game.  I think using air powered pistons is the answer for popping them up and down with leaf switches in the mole assembly.  The one thing I have a question about now is gameplay.  What are points based on? simply how many moles you can whack when they pop up?  


NoBonus

[NoBonus]

And does anyone know where I can get ANY info on Whack a mole type games?

Thanks

[abrannan]

Try this:
http://thieumsweb.free.fr/english/mole/

[Floyd10]

Try this:
http://thieumsweb.free.fr/english/mole/

*vampire voice* Interesting...

[GamingGreg]

Bob's Space Racers were and are the manufacturers of this game.  See here for more info.

You could find a new one from them or check places like eBay or a local arcade aution to find a used one.  Or of course BYO.

[Sephroth57]

they have those whack a mole games at great adventure, except theyre a "boardwalk" type stand where you play vs other people and win a big stuffed animal. i kick so much ass on that game i won 3 giant animals and they made me stop playing, it takes 2 wins to get 1 giant one, so i won 6 games in a row lol

[Floyd10]

Grrr, I hate those games

[NoBonus]

From the BYO example, it looks like they used some little motors and rotors,  does anyone know what a real Whack-A-Mole game uses?  Little motors? Air pressure? hydraulics?

[crashwg]

they sure sound like they use air...

[NoBonus]

they sure sound like they use air...

Air power seems like it would make the most sense... but the BYO guy made one with little motors... seems like the motors would have a hard time with the shock from the hammers.

[crashwg]

I've been thinkin' lately about putting together a "whack-a-mole panel" which would consist of 9 "cheap-o wal*mart smiley tap lights"  and I thought this topic would be the perfect place to discuss it!

So, what I'm thinking originally is: Pop them babies open, remove the little metal clip that causes the button to click into the on position, paint em, pop em back togther, mount em to some wood.  Within seconds of opening the tester that I bought today, I ran into a problem... the microswitches in these things are just that, micro, so needless to say it was hell trying to get the thing open and what I ended up doing was dremelling the clips that hold it closed off and super gluing it back closed.

So I'm thinking I want to try and avoid doing the whole bit with the microswitches that come with them and either installing other, more easily worked with micros or maybe even putting leafies in there.  It's going to take a little more figuring out but I think I'm on the right track.

Oh, and BTW if you're wondering what I plan on playing with it...  I can't remember the name of the game, but there's an arcade game which is on mame (not currently install which is why I don't know the name) that is basically whack-a-mole but there's more than just moles if I remember correctly.

And who knows, if this goes well enough I might think of doing a Pop 'n Music one next.  At 97

[NoBonus]

Do you have a picture of the lights from Wal-Mart you are talking about?

[crashwg]

[NoBonus]

Why even paint them? They look fun to hit as is.  I guess the real trick is to either get a foamy mallet or make sure they can handle a beating otherwise.

[NiN^_^NiN]

if u were smart and know how to program a pic u could use that to turn the lights on and off and u tap the light to turn it off

u can buy a pic pretty cheap which comes with small tuts on how to program it

be cool 2 sell the pic and then all u do is hook up the switches better than running a PC altho u could use a old 486 or pentium laptop with 95 on it and have VB program running least it be slim then