Game: Mole in the Hole, the

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Frankysan — 2008-06-22T13:50:29+00:00

A game session in progress.

Thread: Re: Movement

willythesnitch — 2008-04-18T01:52:38+00:00

You have to use the entire move, even if it means having to move your mole out of a hole.

Thread: Movement

frogmind — 2008-04-17T22:38:02+00:00

This is probably a silly question, one that i have most likely over looked in the rules but I am unsure whether or not players are allowed to use up to, or are required to use their entire movement number on a turn. For example if i draw a three tile, can i move a mole 1, 2, or 3 spaces or does that mole have to move the entire three?

Thanks for your help.

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patchwerq — 2007-09-24T02:28:59+00:00

Ahhh!! The golden shovel.

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KSensei — 2007-07-10T23:47:06+00:00

...and wins the golden shovel.

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KSensei — 2007-07-10T23:46:03+00:00

Red gets into the hole....

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KSensei — 2007-07-10T23:44:57+00:00

4th Level - There can be only one.

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KSensei — 2007-07-10T23:43:28+00:00

Start of the 3rd level.

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KSensei — 2007-07-10T23:42:32+00:00

The beginning of the second level.

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KSensei — 2007-07-10T23:41:53+00:00

Blue gets there first.

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KSensei — 2007-07-10T23:40:59+00:00

Done with set up, ready to start.

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Werbaer — 2007-05-05T18:20:46+00:00

game in play

Thread: An overview

ColMustard — 2007-01-30T03:12:36+00:00

This game may be out of print. But for that matter...who reads reviews for children's games anyway? In case anyone does, here is an opportunity to be introduced to this simple Ravensburger game.

Who is this game for?
Mole in the hole is listed as a children’s game. My personal opinion is that it is one of the more intelligent children’s games out there. At least I mean, when you compare this to the likes of “Hungry, Hungry, Hippos”...this game is smart. (That is not to suggest you cannot have fun with HHH, but it just doesn’t take a lot of thinking to play.) Mole in the Hole is listed as “a family game for ages 8 and up”. Younger children may struggle to play well.

How do you play?
The unique game board is made up of four large hexagons, each one slightly larger/smaller than the next. These are stacked on top of each other into the plastic sleeve inside the box, with the smallest one on the bottom. These represent different layers of soil that your moles must ‘dig’ through. Scattered throughout the hexagons are holes...just the size for your plastic mole to fit in. The object of the game is to move your moles into these holes. Once all the holes on a level are filled, that layer is removed and the game continues. Players ‘dig’ down through each layer of soil until a mole reaches the “golden shovel” at the bottom. This is the winner.

Is there any strategy?
The game does not use dice. Instead each player receives a set of “Turn Disks” (values are: 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4). These disks are shuffled and placed facedown on the table. On his turn, a player chooses a disk, turns it up and moves a mole (hopefully into a hole) the number indicated. These disks must all be used before a player shuffles and begins using them again. Knowing which disks have been used and which are to come offer the only measure of strategic thinking. For example, positioning a mole so that it is four moves from a hole will ensure that at when the “4 disk” is (finally) flipped, a mole is ready to jump into a digging hole. This shard of strategy may have to be pointed to younger children. But once it is understood, it can be helpful.

What is the replay-ability like?
The game boasts that “each digging layer can be turned in six different positions. Thus there are always new ways to dig downward.” This is a bit of a misnomer. Turning the hexes and changing the hole positions only nominally shift the game play. I would venture to say that one would not even notice that the set-up was any different from another. The bottom line: this game can only be re-played until you grow tired of it...or your children grow up; whichever comes first.

A word of caution...
Players can be eliminated from this game. Once all digging holes of a layer are filled with moles and removed, any moles still standing on that layer (that did not find a hole) are eliminated. Thus, on the next level one player may now have four moles remaining, another five, and another just one. But the fourth player (for example) may not have managed to find a hole for any of his moles. His game is therefore over. This adds a bit of fun tension for some children. Others may not be so impressed.

Final comments...
Mole in the Hole is straight forward and easy to learn. It is well made and it looks great. And as a children’s game, it is okay. (At least, there are a lot worse games out there.) Personally, it has never been one of my favourites, but I know of children who think it is pure fun. If you can look past the fact that potentially one might not even finish the game, there is some family fun to be had. It is not stellar, but it is not a disaster either. I give it a 6 out of 10.

Thread: Re:Inner Circle?

Chris Sjoholm — 2005-01-25T17:22:53+00:00

Fledermaushaus (#79865),

Inner Circle has dots (1 to 4) preprinted on each space. When a pawn is on a space, one cannot see how many dots are on the space. You cannot lift a pawn until you commit to moving it; once you lift the pawn, you find out how many spaces it must be moved. So it has a memory element.

-- Chris

Thread: Re:Inner Circle?

Fledermaushaus — 2005-01-25T16:15:29+00:00

mlanza (#78329), Mole in the Hole, Die Maulwurf Company, is a themed development of Inner Circle. I believe Inner Circle (invented by Viginia Charves) used dice for the movement, whereas the moles move by using and re-using 6 cards. It was also released previously in Germany, by Spears, as 'Top Star'. The devlopment of the moles was done by Bertram Kaes.

Thread: Inner Circle?

mlanza — 2005-01-18T16:21:53+00:00

Isn't this a more intricate version of Inner Circle?
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/2962

Thread: Session Report

Dan Bosley — 2003-02-27T14:33:01+00:00

Then we had a 4-player game of Mole In the Hole. All the previous games I had played before of this game had only been the 2-player variety. This was the 1st 4-player game of it I had played. And it was the 1st game ever for all the other players.

I’ve already described the game in detail (see my review on the ‘geek or at www.terminalcitygamers.com).

Suffice it to say that this was a VERY engaging and fun game, filled with tension.

Rick managed to get 5 moles down to the 2nd level, while the rest of us only had 1 or 2.

Tim got wiped out when we moved down to the 3rd level.

But Tracey and I fought hard, and we battled Rick right down to the very bottom - where it was anybody’s game. And as it turned out, it was Rick’s. He is the proud winner of the Golden Shovel.

Rick - (winner)
Dan, Tracey & Tim (sad moles)

Thread: Session Report

Deleted User 1 — 2003-01-09T19:17:47+00:00

by Jy Avery

Players: Jeremy P, Chester, Yahu

Last game for me. It looked funky and simple so we sat down to it, covered the rules in a couple minutes and off we went hopping moles into holes. It's a really neat kids game that provided a reasonably fun playing experience for us hardened gamers too. As you flip your discs, you what's left and can start planning a bit around what will be available. We really liked that part of the game. Some thought required in blocking other players and setting yourself up to get your mole in safe, but light enough to move pretty quickly. Great plastic mole pieces and a colorful board that get smaller and smaller as you lift each level off, I thought this was a great little game. Kind of like Musical Chairs with moles. :0

Though Chester and Joe always seemed to get more moles in safe, in the last round, my mole was closest to the last hole, and I made it in safe.

Thread: User Review

Dan Bosley — 2002-11-30T19:08:23+00:00

1995 is often regarded as a milestone year in gaming. That year saw the release of El Grande, Medici, and a little game known as Settlers of Catan, among others. And of course, Mole in the Hole (also known as die Maulwurf Company).

Now I wouldn’t quite say that Mole in the Hole falls into the same category as the other three games mentioned. Far from it. But it’s a darn cute family game. It’s a light tactical game that adults can enjoy playing against other adults without a kid in sight. The game would easily make a good opener. It plays with anywhere from 2 to 4 people.

Each player has a set of little plastic molded moles, about an inch high. And these moles are pretty cool. Each one is fashionably attired in a spiffy T-shirt, with a nicely monogrammed golden shovel-head logo on both the front and back. In addition, each mole wears a baseball cap backwards on its head (don’t all moles wear them like that?), and also has on a pair of what appear to be racing goggles. Well, some sort of eye protection, anyhow. All that digging in the dirt face-first has to be a bit of a drag, so I’m sure the goggles offer that extra bit of peace of mind to the moles - they can keep their eyes open and see where they are going. So to speak....

And why do you have these moles and what do you have to do with them? Quite simply, you and your opponents are in a quest for the Golden Shovel, which happens to be buried out in the backyard. Now I’m not quite sure why it’s even there, or who went and buried the shovel there, or why the moles are even looking for it. If I was a mole, I’d be looking for bugs and grubs and things, certainly not shovels. But - that’s me, I guess. In this game, the Golden Shovel is what you’re after. It’s what all the moles are after.

The boardgame box itself represents your backyard. It has a series of giant hexagonal spaces in it, with 4 levels. At the bottom level, goes a large hexagonal board with one hole in the centre. Resting about a quarter inch above that board goes the 2nd lowest board, which has 4 holes scattered about within it. On top of that is the 3rd board, which has 7 holes, and finally, on top of them all, the 4th board, which has 13 holes in it. Each board is slightly bigger as you go upwards to the surface. In addition, each board has a hexagonal grid imposed upon it, with 61 possible movement spaces (locations) on each board.

The top board is the grass level, with a bunch of brown dirt mole holes. And the “holes” are really actual holes in the board itself. When the game starts, each player places his team of moles one at a time on any “non-hole” space on the top level.

Then, during the game, each player takes a turn moving one mole. What you are trying to do is get as many of your moles into the holes as possible. (While your opponents are trying to do the same, of course.)

Because, as soon as one board has all of its holes occupied, then the current board on top is lifted away (like a National Geographic TV special where the camera swoops underground, leaving the upper levels behind).

Now, the unfortunate thing for any moles not in the holes and still sitting on top of the board, of course, is that they are whisked away too, along with the board. So only the moles that made it into the holes, and are thus actually sitting on the board below, are available for the next round on that next lower board level. The ones that get whisked away are just that. Whisked away, and out of the game.

This continues on down to the 4th board, with each successive board having fewer and fewer holes, and thus more and more moles getting whisked away, leaving only the best of the best of the moles. Sort of like Mole Survivor.

Now the bottom board only has one hole in it, dead center. And whichever player manages to get his mole to the hole first, gets to lift off the final board and reveal the “golden shovel”, thus winning it and the game.

Because the 4 boards are hexagonal, you can randomly rotate them, so thus each game’s orientation of the holes is different - and therefore you can’t memorize where the “best” holes to be in might be, because it is impossible to know exactly where the next board’s holes are.

Now what makes the game a bit of a challenge and not a total luck fest is how the moles are controlled. Movement is restricted. Each player has their own personal set of movement disks. There are six of them total: one 1, two 2’s, two 3’s, and one 4. These disks are mixed up face down, and each player in turn draws one from his own set. You must use all 6 of your disks up before reshuffling them and starting over again. So if the very first disk you turn over is the “1”, you know your remaining 5 disks are not 1’s; therefore you’ll try to set yourself up so that your moles are NOT just one space away from a hole - because it will be five disks minimum before you even have a chance of turning up a “1” again.

Of course - if YOU know your remaining 5 disks are not 1’s, so do your OPPONENTS. And that’s where some of the fun comes in. Each player knows which disks all the other players have used, and which ones they still have to play (although not the order they will come up in). So what knowledge you have can be used to your advantage. Even if you can’t make it into a hole yourself, you can often position your moles to block and prevent your opponents’ moles from getting into the holes. That’s thanks to a couple of other movement restrictions.

Moles can only travel in a straight line in a turn, and they can’t jump over another mole - if another mole is in the way, then they are blocked, and must go a different direction instead. And you MUST move a mole if it is possible to do so, even if it means making one of your moles jump OUT of a hole (which you don’t want to do) in order to comply with the move. The only exception is if ALL your moles are in holes - in that case you are exempt from having to move.

At the start of the game, it’s a race to get as many of your moles into the holes as possible. As the holes fill up, it gets tougher and tougher to get your remaining moles in just the right position - with fewer and fewer holes available, the competition to get into them becomes fiercer and fiercer. No one ever said mole-wars were pretty.....

The game plays fast - it only takes about 10 minutes or so with 2 players, and about 20 minutes with 4 players. It is fun, it is light, and it isn’t overly taxing. I think it is a great family game, and would make a good opener or closer, and recommend it.

And by the way, the colorful plastic moles are certainly cuter and have more personality than your average meeple.....

Thread: Session Report

Dan Bosley — 2002-11-07T13:47:50+00:00

Dan, taking over the reporting.... the same Dan who DIDN’T teach Rick the game of Showmanager, since I’ve only ever taught games that I’ve brought, and I’ve never brought Showmanager to a session. Rick taught himself Showmanager, thank you very much.

But I can certainly claim my fair share of missing a rule or getting one wrong in various games. There’s no doubt about that. It seems to be almost part and parcel of learning a new game.....

Before the main session got going, James dropped in at the end of my work day, and we played a couple of games.

First up was Mole in the Hole. This is a light family game with enough strategy to keep an adult enjoyably entertained. It would make a good opener. It plays with anywhere from 2 to 4 people.

Each player has a set of cute little plastic molded moles. The boardgame box itself has a series of giant hexagonal spaces in it, with 4 levels. At the bottom level, goes a giant hexagonal board with one hole in the centre. Resting about a quarter inch above that board is the 2nd lowest board, which has 4 holes scattered about. The 3rd board has 7 holes, and the 4th (the top) board has 13 holes in it. Each board has a hexagonal grid imposed on it (movement spots).

During the game each player will move their moles one at a time. The object is to get as many of your moles into the holes as possible. As soon as one board has all its holes occupied, then the current board on top is lifted away. Any moles not in holes are of course still sitting on top of that board, and are whisked away too. So only the moles that made it into the holes, and are thus sitting on the board below, are available for the next round on that next lower board level.

Eventually, of course, the players get to the bottom board, where there is only one hole. Whichever player manages to get his mole to the hole first, wins the “golden shovel” and thus the game.

Because the 4 boards are hexagonal, you can randomly rotate them, so thus each game’s orientation of the holes is different - and therefore you can’t memorize where the “best” holes to be in might be, because it is impossible to know where exactly the next board’s holes are.

Movement is restricted. Each player has their own personal set of movement disks. There are six of them total: one 1, two 2’s, two 3’s, and one 4. These disks are mixed up face down, and each player in turn draws one from his own set. You must use all 6 of your disks up before reshuffling them and starting over again. So if the very first disk you turn over is the “1”, you know your remaining 5 disks are not 1’s; therefore you’ll try to set yourself up so that your moles are NOT just one space away from a hole - because it will be five disks minimum before you even have a chance of turning up a “1” again.

Moles can only travel in a straight line in a turn, and they can’t jump over another mole - they are blocked. And you MUST move a mole if it is possible to do so, even if it means making one of your moles jump OUT of a hole (which you don’t want) in order to comply with the move. The only exception is if ALL your moles are in holes - in that case you are exempt from having to move.

So at the start of the game, it’s a race to get as many of your moles into the holes as possible. As the holes fill up, it gets tougher and tougher to get your remaining moles in just the right position - they can be blocked by your opponent’s moles!

Of course, if you pay attention, you can remember what movement disks your opponent has used, and thus you will have an idea of what movement disks he still has left - so you use that information to try and block him while setting up yourself.

The game plays fast - in 10 minutes or so with just 2 players, and is fun, without being overly taxing. As I said at the beginning, I think it’s a good family game that kids would like - but I liked it too. It’s not mindless. You do have some control. The game is also quite colourful - each board is bright, and the plastic moles themselves are hard to miss!

In our 2-player game, James proved victorious, seizing the golden shovel and winning the game.

Ratings:
James - 8 (for what it is, a good family game)
Dan - 7 (same scale)

Thread: Session Report

hinj — 2002-10-04T23:40:38+00:00

DIE MAULWURF COMPANY with Eric, Rob, and Dianne. In this game, you move your moles around, hopefully into a mole
hole. When all the mole holes are filled, the entire top layer is removed, revealing a new game board below. This is an elimination game, and cute. There are ultimately five layers, with the bottom layer having only one mole
hole. Inside the mole hole? The golden shovel.

Thread: General Comment

BoardGameGeek — 2002-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

A very funny and exiting game !

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Following some bouncing on the trampoline and heavy Nintendo action, Emma and J.P. brought out this entertaining Ravensburger title of scurrying moles. In spite of falling squarely in the 'children's game' category, I have always found this game quite amusing with enough strategy to make it reasonably playable for adults.

The object of the game is to maneuver your colored moles (or 'cool homeboy moles' as Mark Jackson likes to refer to them) into the various holes scattered about the board. Movement is dictated by turning over a movement disk, which are numbered from 1-4. The numerical mix is one '1', two '2's', two '3's' and one '4'. These are mixed and then placed face-down on the table. Each turn, the top disk is revealed and you must move one of your moles that distance, if possible. One must move in a straight line and cannot move through other moves. Thus, the key is maneuvering your moles into position so as to enhance the possibility of getting a mole into a hole. Tracking which disks you have remaining, as well as those of your opponents, is, of course, very helpful.

Once all holes are filled, the top board level is removed. Those moles who made it into holes slide through the holes and onto the second level. This multi-layered board is a very cool feature of the game. Play continues through the various levels until, ultimately, only one mole remains.

We're not talking Tikal here, but it is still light fun, easily accessible to children and adults alike.

Not surprisingly, J.P. and Emma did not record any notes, but dutifully reported that J.P. won.

Thread: Session Report

dougadamsau — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Doug writes:

Roger and Dey were keen to try this game, so I offered to take them through it. I like this game, as there are some tactics to it, and a little risk analysis. Roger was in the "I don't like it" camp early in the game, thinking it was too similar to chinese checkers, however he may well have been joking here.

I was in a poor position after round 1, only having two moles survive to the second board, however I managed to keep them both alive down to the last board, and was in an excellent position to achieve the magical "golden shovel". However, an unlucky '4' tile draw destroyed my chance and Roger moved in for the win.

Doug's rating: 6

Dey enjoyed the game, and I think Roger was coming around to it by the end. Dey writes: This was the first time Roger or I had played this game, but we'd heard positive reports from others in the group who had. The game components are quite cute and well produced, as we've come to expect from German games.

In a three player game we each had seven moles (for seven of Doug's brothers) to search for the golden spade. After the first round of play Doug was down four moles, while Roger and I lost two each. Things had evened up at the end of the second round. After a bit of posturing around the single hole on the final level, Roger finally got the right card and took the golden spade.

I liked the game a lot, and agreed with Roger that it was similar to Igel Agern (which I really must buy a copy of soon).

Thread: Session Report

dougadamsau — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

David Coutts writes:

This report is supplementary to Doug's report for the same day.

Bernie, Moray & David.

Bernie, Moray and I wanted something quick and light to start off the evening, and we decided on this little gem. We'd all played before, so it was down to the action. Initial placements on the first board were quite dispersed, with nobody cornering part of the board. I noticed more placements designed to limit other players moves this time, too.

I had a great first board, advancing 6 moles to board two, Moray had 3 and Bernie 4. I really thought I was onto a winner, but got cut down to size on board two. I advanced only 3 moles, the others 2 each. It was all to play for on board three, and Bernie proved to be the master advancing both his moles, whilst Moray and I only advanced 1 each.

There was one turn towards the end when my only move was to block Bernie's next winning move, whose next move was to stop Moray's next winning move... these delaying tactics didn't last long and Bernie came out the winner.

David: 6 3 1
Moray: 3 2 1
Bernie: 4 2 2 - winner

David's rating:- 7 (in the light category)

Thread: Session Report

dougadamsau — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

David writes:

Last week I watched others playing this fascinating & original-looking game, so I jumped at the chance to play a game with Bernie & Janet. Janet hadn't played before, either.

As Bernie said, it's a bit like musical chairs in that opportunities for the participants (in this case moles) disappear when the music stops (in this case, the holes!). In the early game Bernie was able to accurately predict what opportunities would be available to Janet or myself. This was because he carefully kept an eye on which of the 6 number discs (1,2,2,3,3,4) each of us had used, and he had an eye for the various maps and their reducing number of holes.

Despite this, Janet was always the front runner. I think she achieved this by dominating one corner of each map, whilst limiting Bernie's options at the same time. Bernie & I seemed to mix our placements more, and I've no idea which approach is the better.

I did level the score with Janet on map two, but she pulled ahead again on map three. Anyway, I won luckily by getting the exact combination (2, then 4) from my 6 face-down discs. The 2 put me on a "draw-again" space, the 4 put in the one and only hole on the last map.

Surviving moles after each map:
David: 4 / 3 / 1
Janet: 5 / 3 / 2
Bernie: 4 / 2 / 1

Bernie & Janet played for second place, with Bernie winning through.

David's rating: 7 (original & fun, possibly good with adult AND younger players?)

Thread: Session Report

dougadamsau — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Doug writes:

Bernie bought this along (he has what sounds like an interesting collection - he wants to build a giant Carabande track next week!). I hope I have the spelling correct here, which I think is the same game as "Mole in the Hole" which I have seen around the shops but not touched. The reason I hadn't touched it was I thought it was more of a children's game, but there is quite a bit going for this game! You must skillfully navigate a fleet of moles across a chinese checkers like board based on a number tile you randomly turn up each turn (from a pool of 6 tiles). You must move the full distance if at all possible with the aim being to land your moles in the limited number of holes punched in the game board.

Why? Well, when all the holes are filled with moles, the board is lifted up and any moles not in holes are removed, along with the board - revealing a second board complete with mole holes underneath. It all starts again, like a game of musical chairs as you jockey a decreasing number of moles into the decreasing number of holes. The winner is the player who gets their mole into the one single hole on the last board.

I found the game quite easy to learn with a certain amount of skill in blocking tactics and balancing the odds of what number tiles you still had to turn up. Oh, and I won too, so it had to be good ;-)

Bernie writes:

First of all, just to avoid confusion... "Company" is not a German word. But some German games designers seem to like to call their games by (partially) English names (other examples are "Nobody is perfect", which is the German version of Balderdash, and "Activity", which is a nice mix between Charade, Pictionary and Taboo. Oh, and of course my newest acquisition, "Visionary").

Doug has already written his impression of this game, so I won't go into details. However, explaining it to 4 new players in the course of the evening, it became clear that this is another of those "very simple rules, but lot of depth" kind of games. We played this twice, and although the lead changed a number of times, the outcome was the same both times --- Moray ended up on the golden shovel (which is the last piece, lcoated underneath the last hole). This was a bit surprising, as he did so after missing a couple of opportunities in earlier layers. This shows up one characteristic of this game: There is a fair amount of equalization going on, so that an early lead (or whatever the opposite of lead is called in English) will often diminish with time. The game supports up to 4 players, and I'd like to play a 4 player game sometime....

6 Nimmt (6 takes) I played this with Moray and Liz. Both had played before, but weren't really familiar with the game. Liz had a lot of bad luck, and also made some rather risky moves (like putting out a 25 to go on a 19, which was the 4th card of a pile), and ended up making an impressive 81 bullheads in just three hands. We played a minor variation of the usual rules --- we only used the cards 1 to 34; This means that in a 3 player game, _all_ the numbers are actually in the game. This takes away a lot of the luck factor of the usual way (where you might have Liz's 25, and don't dare to put it on, only to find out later that 20,21,22,23 and 24 weren't even in the game at all). Having played this game dozens of times by now, I slowly start seeing some ways to actually play with strategy, probably aided by that rule change. Moary and I both ended up with virtually no bullheads, with me having a tiny advantage (7 vs 9 at the end of the three hands).

Manhattan ame players as before. We had all played this one before, but none more than once. In my case, that once was at least 5 years ago, too (and was on New Year's morning, after a looooong party ;-). So we all had to go through the rules again. In the early rounds, I managed to gain a bit of a lead over Moray and Liz, who were head-to-head all the time. At the end of round 3 or 4, however, Liz suddenly established her own little skyscraper empire, left Moray in the dust and started gaining on me. In the end, it all came down to the last turn of the last round (a bit like a SL vs England one day match), and I was fortunate enough to be able to wrestle control of one neighbourhood from Liz (who had the unenviable task of going first). It then was up to Moray to place his last token, and (being the nice guy that he is --- at least for _that_ token) he decided to play for his own benefit rather than for that of Liz. This meant that I narrowly held on to my lead (by three points), with Liz coming second and Moray a (slightly distant) third. Moray could have created a tie between Liz and me, though, and if there had been one more round, Liz would certainly have won.