Whack Rush: Bop the Critters Reflex Game

What is Whack Rush?

Whack Rush is a free whack-the-critter reflex game you can play right here in your browser, on a phone, tablet or computer. Critters pop out of their burrows, and you bop them before they duck back down. It takes one tap to learn.

The fun is in the cast. Orange Pips are everywhere, golden Zips are quick and worth five times as much, and Bonk wears a bucket that takes two bops. Pink Lulu is a friend and grumpy Fuse is a bomb: leave both of them alone.

Bop cleanly and your combo climbs to ×5, the Rush bar fills, and for seven seconds every point counts double. Play a 60-second Classic run, climb 30 Campaign stages, survive endless waves, try the Daily burrow, or share one screen for a two-player Duel.

How to play Whack Rush

1. 

   1Pick a way to play

   Press Play Classic 60 for a 60-second run. Underneath are Survival, the 30-stage Campaign, the Daily burrow and a 2-player Duel.

2. 

   2Bop a critter the moment it pops up

   Click it, tap it, or press the key shown on its burrow. A plain Pip is 10 points and a golden Zip is 50, but Zip ducks fast.

3. 

   3Leave Lulu and Fuse alone

   Pink Lulu is a friend and Fuse is a bomb. Bopping either one hurts: you lose points and your combo, or time off the clock. Let them sink back down.

4. 

   4Keep a streak going to start a Rush

   Bops in a row raise the combo up to ×5 and fill the Rush bar. A full bar starts a Rush: 7 seconds where everything scores double.

5. 

   5Know your helpers

   Bonk needs two bops: bucket first. Chilly slows the burrow for a few seconds, and Tick adds 3 seconds to the clock or a life in Survival.

6. 

   6Send King Grumble packing

   The boss pops up in a different burrow each time. Bop him on every visit until the bar at the top is empty for a 150-point bonus.

7. 

   7Chase stars in the Campaign

   Each of the 30 stages gives up to 3 stars for score. Every sixth stage is a boss stage, and the boards grow and change shape as you go.

The rules in full

1. The goal: bop critters while they are out of their burrows. Each one scores, and the cleaner you play, the more every bop is worth.
2. To bop, click or tap a critter. On a keyboard the 3×3 board maps to Q W E, A S D and Z X C, or to the number pad. A press counts the instant it lands.
3. Pip, the orange one, is worth 10 points. Zip, the golden one, is gone in a blink and worth 50. Bonk needs two bops: the first knocks his bucket off, the second scores 30.
4. Never bop Lulu, the pink friend. It costs 30 points and your combo. Let her sink back down by herself and she leaves you 5 points as a thank-you.
5. Never bop Fuse, the bomb. He takes 5 seconds off the clock, or a life in Survival.
6. Every bop in a row without a miss builds the combo: ×2 at 5 bops, ×3 at 12, ×4 at 22 and ×5 at 35. A tap on an empty burrow or a wrong bop sends it back to ×1.
7. Good bops fill the Rush bar. When it is full a Rush begins: 7 seconds of double points, and in solo modes Lulu and Fuse stay home.
8. Chilly, the blue one, slows the whole burrow for a few seconds. Tick, the green one with the clock, adds 3 seconds, or a life in Survival.
9. When King Grumble shows up, bop him every time he pops up until his bar is empty. Sending him off pays a 150-point bonus.
10. Press P or the pause button to pause, and M to mute. Your best scores and Campaign stars are saved on your device.

Whack Rush tips and strategy

• Watch the whole board, not one burrow. Rest your eyes on the middle and let movement at the edges pull your hand.
• Accuracy beats speed. One wild tap drops a ×5 combo to ×1, which costs far more than letting a Pip go.
• A critter that escapes does not break your combo. Only a tap on an empty burrow or a bop on Lulu or Fuse does.
• A bop within about a third of a second of a critter appearing earns a small quick bonus, so do not wait for it to finish rising.
• Learn the colours first. Orange, gold, teal, blue and green are safe. Pink and black are not.
• Zip fills the Rush bar almost twice as fast as a Pip. If you see gold, go for it.
• In Survival, a Pip or Bonk that gets away costs a life, but a Zip, Chilly or Tick that escapes is free. Clear the orange and teal ones first.
• In boss fights, keep bopping the little critters between the King's visits. They keep your combo and your Rush bar alive.

A fresh take on a fairground favourite

Whack Rush is an original take on one of the oldest reflex games there is: something pops out of a hole, and you bop it before it hides again. Fairgrounds and arcades have run games like it for generations, usually with a padded mallet and a row of holes.

This version keeps that instant, anyone-can-play feel and adds a cast with personalities, combos, a Rush meter, boss fights and boards that change shape. It is free and runs in any modern browser.

Meet the critters

Pip is the orange regular with a leaf on his head: 10 points. Zip is golden, quick and worth 50. Bonk wears a bucket and needs two bops, 5 points for the bucket and 30 for Bonk.

Chilly is icy blue and slows every burrow for four and a half seconds. Tick carries a clock and adds 3 seconds, or a life in Survival. Both are worth 15 points.

Lulu, the pink bunny with a bow, is a friend. Fuse, the scowling black bomb, is trouble. Bopping either one is a mistake.

King Grumble is the boss: purple, crowned and cross. Each bop on him is worth 20, and emptying his bar pays a 150-point bonus.

Scoring, combos and the Rush

Every clean bop adds to your streak. At 5 in a row the combo goes to ×2, at 12 to ×3, at 22 to ×4 and at 35 to ×5. The multiplier applies to every critter you bop.

A tap on an empty burrow, or a bop on Lulu or Fuse, drops the combo to ×1 and drains a little of the Rush bar. A critter that simply gets away does not.

The Rush bar fills with each good bop: about sixteen Pips, or fewer if you catch Zips. A Rush lasts 7 seconds and doubles every point on top of your combo, so a ×5 streak in a Rush pays ten times the base score.

Five ways to play

Classic 60 is the pure score run: 60 seconds on the 3×3 board, with King Grumble dropping by at the halfway mark.

Campaign has 30 stages across five worlds, from Moon Meadow to Star Garden. Each stage has three star goals, and stages 6, 12, 18, 24 and 30 are boss stages you must win.

Survival is endless. You start with 3 lives, each wave asks for more bops than the last, and every fifth wave is a boss wave. The board grows as you climb.

The Daily burrow is one 50-second run that is the same for everyone that day, with a twist such as Golden hour or Snow day. Duel puts two players on one screen for 45 seconds.

Boards that grow, bend and move

You begin on a 3×3 grid, then meet 4×3, 4×4 and 5×3 boards. After that the shapes get odd: a seven-hole Honeycomb, a Diamond and a Ring.

Later on, the burrows themselves start to travel. Carousel turns six holes slowly around a seventh in the middle, and Sliders pushes its top and bottom rows from side to side.

The keyboard follows the board. The 4×4 runs from the number row down to Z X C V, the wide 5×3 runs from Q to T, and key labels appear on the burrows as soon as you press a key.

Two-player Duel on one screen

Duel splits the screen into two matching boards. Both players get exactly the same critters at exactly the same moments, so the only difference is who is faster and who is cleaner.

On a phone or tablet, each player taps their own board. On a computer, player one uses Q W E, A S D and Z X C, and player two uses the number pad or U I O, J K L and M , .

A round lasts 45 seconds. Bopping Fuse costs 40 points instead of time, so the clock stays fair for both sides. The highest score wins, and a tie is a tie.

Fair taps and generous timing

A reflex game lives or dies on how it reads your taps. Whack Rush counts a press the instant it lands rather than waiting for you to lift your finger, and the hit area around each burrow is generous.

It also forgives the unlucky moments. If a critter ducks a split second before your tap arrives, that tap is not counted as a miss.

And if Lulu or Fuse pops up right under a finger that was already on its way down, you are not punished for it.

Play on phone, tablet or computer

The board fits portrait and landscape screens, and the full screen button gives you the most room. Several fingers at once work fine, which is the fastest way to play on a tablet.

Sounds are made by the game itself and can be muted with M or the speaker button. If your device is set to reduce motion, the screen shake and extra sparkles are turned down.

Whack Rush FAQ