If you have played Saboteur, you already know the idea: Moles is inspired by it and adapted to play online, everyone on their own phone, with bots for missing players.

Saboteur is a trademark of its publisher. Apateon is not affiliated with or endorsed by it.

Moles on Apateon

Moles on Apateon — screenshot 3 of a game on a phone

How to play Moles

1
Everyone is secretly dealt a role: a mole digging for worms, or a weasel posing as one.
2
On your turn you dig a tunnel toward the pantries, or hurt and heal other players.
3
If the tunnel reaches the worms the moles win; if the cards run out first, the weasels do.

Full Moles rules

Mole or weasel?

•
Moles are the majority: they win a round by digging an unbroken tunnel from the entrance to the pantry that holds the worms.
•
Weasels (1 to 3) pose as moles. They win if the cards run out before anyone reaches the worms. Roles stay secret until the round ends.
•
After three rounds, whoever gathered the most worms wins.

On your turn

•
Play one card or discard one face down. Then draw from the deck while it lasts.
•
A tunnel must touch the mine, match every neighbouring edge and connect back to the entrance. You may rotate it before digging.
•
Hurt claws, a blocked snout or tangled whiskers stop you from digging until somebody heals you.

The cards

•
Tunnels: straight, curve, T tunnel and crossing open the way. A dead end fits like a tunnel but is plugged inside.
•
Cave-in removes any tunnel except the entrance and the pantries. Sniff lets only you smell one face-down pantry.
•
Hurt claws, Blocked snout and Whiskers wound another player. Heal removes a matching wound from anyone, yourself included.

Pantries & worms

•
Three face-down pantries: one holds worms, the other two only roots. A connected pantry is revealed to everyone.
•
When the moles reach the worms, they take turns picking a handful, starting with whoever dug the last tunnel.
•
If the weasels win, each one gets 4 worms when alone, 3 with two or three weasels, or 2 with four.

Tips to win at Moles

•
If you are a weasel, do not cut the tunnel right away: a dead end or a cave-in too early gives you away.
•
Use Sniff to learn which larder holds the worms and steer the tunnel there. Nobody else knows what you smelled… and a weasel can lie about it.
•
Watch who discards instead of digging: a mole with good tunnel cards rarely passes.
•
Keep a Heal card: a mole with injured claws cannot dig until someone heals them.

For groups

Social deduction

Card games