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Mechanical systems

Whack-a-Mole

SKU E2K-JIN-DP-TM-0472

A hand-cranked wooden box with three carved gophers standing in the lid. Turning the handle spins a single shaft carrying three wooden cams, and each cam lifts its own gopher and lets it drop back. Three cams, three shapes, three rhythms from one turn.

Grades 3–5 Beginner 45 min build

/kit

One turn of the handle, three different pop-up rhythms

Buy it now Request a school quote

Grades 3–5 · fits a single class period
Broken or missing part? We'll post a replacement

Specifications

One box, down to the last shaft sleeve

Finished size, materials and part counts for the build.

Finished size 100 × 75 × 65 mm

Weight 140 g

Materials Wood, plastic, metal

Pieces 4 plywood sheets · 10 build steps

Country of origin China

Safety & compliance

CHOKING HAZARD: Small Parts. Not for children under 3 years.

Certified with CE, CPC and EN71. Full printed warnings are supplied in the manual.

What they'll learn

Four ideas, one box

All of it comes out of the shape of three wooden discs.

Mechanical transmission

A shaped disc lifts a plate, and the plate lifts a gopher.

Input/output

A handle that turns becomes three things that rise and fall.

Mechanical systems

Three lobes, two or one. The shape sets the rhythm.

Repeatable observations

Turn the handle exactly once and count each gopher.

The Whack-a-Mole kit as supplied, with four laser-cut plywood sheets, shaft sleeves, screws, hubs, the rocker and three iron shafts

What's in the box

Three gophers, one crank and three cams

4× sheets of laser-cut plywood, every part still in place
3× wooden cams: one three-lobed, one two-lobed, one single-lobed
3× orange splined hubs, press-fitted into the cams
~9 soft orange shaft sleeves, to space and hold the shafts
1× white plastic rocker, the crank handle
Three iron shafts: one long for the cams, one short, one head shaft
3× screws, 7 mm, one size throughout the build
1× wooden hammer, which is decorative rather than for hitting
1× English manual, 10 steps, with a printed ruler along the edge

You'll need to supply: a small screwdriver, and nothing else at all. No batteries, no glue, no scissors, no ruler and no flame, which makes this one of the simplest kits in our range to sit down with. Two steps are fiddlier than the count suggests: pressing the three hubs into the cams in Step 5 takes real force, and Steps 4 and 6 need the boards spaced so the shaft turns freely.

How this build works

See mechanics in motion

Build the model, set it loose, and understand the science by watching it work.

Build

Ten steps, one screw size and one screwdriver. The only awkward moment is pressing the three hubs into the cams.

Play

Turn the crank and the three gophers rise and drop, each keeping its own time.

Experiment

Turn the handle through one slow revolution and count each gopher. Three, two, one. Then look at the cam shapes and see why.

Where to start

Master the basics first

Work your way up. Each completed kit unlocks the know-how for your next challenge.

Start here

Mortar Launcher

Grades 3–5

10 steps

Then this

Whack-a-Mole

Grades 3–5

10 steps

Finish here

Catapult

Grades 3–5

14 steps

Curriculum alignment

Educator & Procurement Resources

Essential information for classroom integration and school purchasing.

Every kit starts as a box of parts and turns into something kids can actually use. Making that happen means following directions and fixing mistakes along the way. They're tackling real engineering challenges, but to them, it just feels like play.

Product safety

Children's Product Certificate (CPC)

Certified to US children's product safety requirements

While the three wooden cams are still visible during the build, look at their shapes and predict how many times each gopher will pop up in one full turn of the handle. Once it's built, turn the handle slowly, exactly once, and count. Then turn it faster and check whether the pattern changes. What it shows: one handle, one shaft and one speed give three different rhythms, set entirely by the shape of each cam.

Whether you're exploring circuits in a science lab, tackling gears in a makerspace, or learning at home on the living room table, these kits fit right in. One quick tip if you're building a whole class set: build one kit yourself first, so you know where students are likely to need a hand.

PC University Distributors, Inc. is the exclusive distribution partner for E2K Robotics STEM kits to schools and educational institutions. From a single classroom to a district-wide rollout, message the team on WhatsApp at 516-596-1500 or email sales@pcuniversity.com, and they will send educational pricing and the full product list.

What educators & parents say

Reviews

Nothing here yet — and we'd rather say so

Verified reviews will appear on this page as soon as the first Whack-a-Moles are built at home and in classrooms. We don't carry ratings over from other kits in the range, and we don't publish anything that isn't from a verified buyer.

If you've built this one with your class, we'd like to hear how it went — what worked, what didn't, and what you'd change.

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Questions, answered

Before you build

No. The wooden hammer is a prop. The manual says so in its own final step, and we'd rather repeat it here than let anyone find out by breaking something. There is no scoring, no detection and no sprung return, and the gophers are thin plywood on wooden followers, so nothing in this model is built to take a knock. What it does instead is show you the mechanism that a real arcade cabinet hides: three cams on one shaft, lifting three figures in three different patterns, with the whole thing visible through the open lid. Think of it as a machine to watch and understand rather than a game to play.

Turning the crank spins one long shaft running the width of the box, and three wooden cams are fixed along it. As a cam turns, its raised lobe pushes up a small wooden plate underneath a gopher, and the gopher rises through its slot in the lid. Once the lobe passes, nothing holds it up and it drops back down under its own weight. The clever part is that the three cams are cut to different shapes: one has three lobes, one has two and one has just one. Same shaft, same speed, three different rhythms.

There is no paint, no pens and no transfers in the kit, and no coloring step in the manual. What you assemble is bare plywood with the artwork cut into the panels, which is what the third and fourth photographs on this page show. Some of the supplier photography shows a hand-decorated unit, and we're confirming with the manufacturer which version ships before we put a colored picture first. We'll state it plainly here once we know. If you want it colored in the meantime, the engraved outlines take pens or paint well.

100 × 75 × 65 mm, which is a shade under 4 inches on its longest side and smaller than a mug. Worth picturing before you order, because the name suggests something arcade-sized and this sits in one hand. It arrives flat in a 160 × 210 mm bag.

A small screwdriver. That's the whole list. There are three screws in the build, all the same size, and the manual tells you in red on its first page to bring your own. Nothing else is needed and nothing runs out: no batteries, no glue, no scissors, no measuring and no flame. Of everything we make, this is one of the kits you can start the moment the bag is open.

PC University Distributors, Inc. is the exclusive distribution partner for E2K Robotics STEM kits to schools and educational institutions. Message the team on WhatsApp at 516-596-1500 or email sales@pcuniversity.com for educational pricing, classroom quantities and the full product list.

10-step manual

In English, with a printed ruler along the bottom edge

Nothing to replace

No batteries, no glue and no consumables of any kind

Schools welcome

Educational pricing through PC University

Before you start

The wooden hammer is a prop, not for hitting