whack-a-mole

What does whack-a-mole mean?

Whack-a-mole refers to a situation in which a problem keeps resurfacing after being dealt with (or new problems arise), making any lasting solution feel impossible. It is also a trademark (spelled Whac-A-Mole) for a game, played at amusement parks and arcades, in which players attempt to strike artificial moles, or cylinders, as soon at they pop up out of holes in a board. The word may be spelled whack-a-mole or whac-a-mole, and is found both capitalized and in lower case form.

Examples of whack-a-mole

But at what point does this become an arms race between AI users and AI detectors, a never-ending game of whack-a-mole where the tools are bound to sometimes get it wrong, as Anthropic and other AI-detection tools have warned. 
—Katie Notopoulos, Business Insider, 11 Aug. 2026

Stop playing whack-a-mole with your money. Working with a nonprofit credit counselor gives you the support and structure to finally end the cycle of trying to borrow your way out of debt.
—Michelle Singletary, The Washington Post, 5 Aug. 2026

These bots are so effective at disguising themselves that publishers simply can’t keep up, and are losing precious resources trying to play bot Whac-a-Mole.
—Danielle Coffey, USA Today, 13 Aug. 2206

Where does whack-a-mole come from?

Whac-a-Mole is the trademarked name given to an arcade game; the game was originally developed in Japan in the mid-1970s, under the name Mogura Taiji. The figurative, non-trademark, sense has been in use since the 1980s.

How is whack-a-mole used?

When used in its non-trademarked sense whack-a-mole refers to futile attempts of dealing with a problem that continually reappears. In such use it often is paired with play or game, a nod to its arcade game roots.