Mole In The Hole

The pitch

Gameplay Overview Dual Terrain Challenge: Navigate through layers of stone and sand, each requiring a specific tool for efficient digging. Stone Blocks: Use the pickaxe to break through solid stone barriers. Sand Blocks: Switch to the shovel to swiftly move through loose sand. Treasure Troves: Keep an eye out for special blocks embedded with gold. Breaking these not only clears your path but also boosts your score.

Controls & how it runs

Keyboard: Movement: Use the arrow keys (Left, Right, Down) or (W, A, S) to guide the mole's direction. Tool Switching: Press the Spacebar or 'Q' to toggle between the pickaxe and shovel. Enter Shop: Press 'E' or click on shop icon to choose from shop upgrades Roguelike gameplay Buy upgrades to increase the value of sand and stone tiles that will affect your final score. Choose from perks that affect gameplay and block value.

Getting a run going takes exactly one press: Press start, up top, and the game boots inside this page — nothing downloads in the background and no form wants your details before the first jump. The cabinet is drawn for a landscape (wide) screen and listens to mouse, keyboard or touch, whichever the game prefers. This cabinet runs wide: landscape screens flatter it, so tip a phone on its side or hand it a tablet or desktop and let it stretch out. Given a fullscreen button, use it — scores look better at full size, that's just science.

Pro tips for arcade cabinets

• Treat your first run as a scouting mission. Arcade cabinets hide their cruelty in the second minute, not the first — learn where the difficulty spikes before you start chasing numbers.
• Small scores compound. Grab the easy pickups on every pass instead of gambling the whole run on one heroic line; heroes respawn, banked points don't evaporate.
• Watch the edges of the screen. In classic arcade design the next problem almost always enters from somewhere you weren't looking — build the habit of scanning the borders.

Mole In The Hole — quick-fire questions

Does Mole In The Hole cost anything to play?

Not a token. The cabinet is free from the first run to the five-hundredth — no wallet, no sign-up, no toll booth hiding three levels in. The adverts around the page are what keep the floor's lights on.

What sort of game is Mole In The Hole?

It stands on our Arcade row — that's the family it plays most like. The pitch above is the publisher's own rundown of what it throws at you and what it hands back.

Can I play Mole In The Hole on my phone?

Happily, yes. It runs inside the browser on phones and tablets the same way it does on a computer. This cabinet runs wide: landscape screens flatter it, so tip a phone on its side or hand it a tablet or desktop and let it stretch out.

Do I need to install anything first?

Nothing whatsoever. Mole In The Hole is an HTML5 game: hit the start button and it boots on this page, and shutting the tab sweeps the cabinet clean behind you.

Before you wander off

Personal best banked, or still chasing it? Either way the full Arcade row is powered on and waiting — The main floor: 415 cabinets of pure arcade stock — the quick, the loud and the gloriously unfair. If it beeps, flashes and dares you to beat a number, it lives on this row.