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Whack a Snowman arcade cabinet with snowman backboard graphics, digital scoreboard and foam mallets

Whack a Snowman / Smash a Snowman

Hire from £495.

Whack a Snowman / Smash a Snowman

Whack a Snowman - also called Smash a Snowman, or sometimes just the Christmas whack-a-mole - is the festive version of our two-player electronic Whack a Mole. It's the same cabinet underneath, made in the UK by Game Works Creative on their IPS (Interactive Play System) platform. The only difference is the graphics: the standard mole livery is swapped for a winter backboard with cartoon snowmen in scarves and top hats, snow-covered lettering across the front panel, and a blue LED strip round the rim to match the cold-weather theme.

Two players stand at the cabinet, take a foam hammer each, and hit the LED targets as they light up at random across the deck. A digital scoreboard tracks both scores and runs the countdown, so there's no arguing about who won and no one needs to stand there with a clipboard. Rounds are short - usually set around 30 seconds - which keeps the queue moving and gets a fair few people through in an hour. The foam hammers mean it's fine for children as well as for adults at an office Christmas do who've had a couple of glasses of mulled wine.

We've been hiring out interactive games from our warehouse in Rotherham since 1999, and we own and maintain the kit in-house rather than subbing it out. Every hire carries £5 million public liability insurance, with risk assessments and method statements emailed to you or your venue before the event.

Get a Quote
Whack a Snowman game with lit LED targets, foam mallet across the play surface and snowman backboard artwork
Players head-to-head
2
Standard round
~30s
Years hiring since 1999
25+
Public liability cover
£5M

Branding it for your event

Like the standard Whack a Mole, the cabinet panels lift off and take a full printed wrap from your artwork. If you'd rather have your own branding on it than the snowman graphics - for a corporate Christmas party, a shopping centre activation or a brand's winter campaign - we can print, fit and remove the panels in-house. We've done it for Specsavers' careers stands, for Collect+ in their orange livery on a campus tour, and for Perfectly Clear on a flavoured-water activation, all on the same cabinet with different seasonal artwork.

Send us your logo or brand guidelines and we'll come back with options and a price. There's more detail on our branding service.

The cabinet runs from a single 13A socket and draws about 500W, so it sits happily on a normal wall plug. If there's no mains near your spot on the floor, we can add a generator to the quote.

Front panel of the Whack a Snowman cabinet showing three cartoon snowmen in hats and scarves, with blue LED strip along the top edge

Where it works

  • Christmas parties and office socials

  • Exhibition stands and winter trade shows

  • Shopping centre and retail park promotions

  • School Christmas fairs

  • Corporate fun days and brand activations

  • Church and community winter events

  • University and freshers winter events

  • New Year's Eve parties

Size and power

The cabinet is a compact freestanding unit at around 1.22m wide by 0.69m deep - it goes through a standard doorway without any trouble and one person can set it up. Allow roughly 1.5m × 2m of floor space for the unit plus room for two players to stand at the front.

Power: one standard 13A mains socket. The unit draws about 500W and has a built-in battery that tops up while it's plugged in, so it isn't tied to the wall all day.

Best kept indoors or under cover if it's going outside - it's a mains-powered electronic unit, so it needs to stay dry. If you're setting up in a marquee or under a gazebo, that's fine as long as the cabinet itself is sheltered.

What's included

  • Delivery, setup and collection by our own team in our own vehicles
  • The cabinet with two foam hammers
  • A quick run-through for your staff on the day
  • 24hr telephone support throughout your event
  • £5 million public liability insurance as standard
  • Risk assessments and method statements emailed to you or your venue before the event

Optional: a trained event attendant to run the game hands-free, so your own team can stay on conversations rather than keeping score. Custom branding on the panels - contact us for either.

Delivery charges and minimum order values may apply depending on hire duration and location. Discounts are available when you book multiple items on the same delivery.

Suitability

  • Indoors on hard surface
  • Indoors on artificial grass
  • Outdoors under a gazebo, marquee or other cover
  • Children (supervised)
  • Adults

Not just for Christmas

The same cabinet runs year-round as the standard Whack a Mole and as Whack a Zombie for Halloween. If you're booking outside December, we'll send it out in the theme that matches your event. Mention it when you enquire and we'll make sure the right graphics are on it.

We own and maintain 95% of what we hire out in-house from our 25,000 sq ft warehouse in Rotherham, five minutes from the A1, M1 and M18, so when you book the snowman there's no third-party supplier between you and the equipment if something needs sorting on the day.

Common questions

Is this the same game as your Whack a Mole?

Yes - the same cabinet, the same IPS target system made by Game Works Creative, and the same foam-hammer-and-scoreboard format. The only difference is the seasonal graphics. Where the standard Whack a Mole has cartoon moles and a jungle-green colour scheme, the snowman version has a winter backboard with snowmen in scarves and hats, snow-covered lettering across the panels, and a blue LED rim instead of the standard colour-changing one. If you've played the mole version at one of our events, this plays exactly the same way - you're just hitting snowmen instead of moles.

Can we brand the cabinet for our Christmas campaign?

Yes. The panels lift off and take a full printed wrap from your artwork - front, sides and back - produced, fitted and removed by our in-house team. We've run the same cabinet in Specsavers livery for their careers stands, in Collect+ orange for a shopping centre activation, and as a Perfectly Clear flavoured-water unit. Send us your logo or brand guidelines and we'll come back with options and pricing.

Can it go outdoors?

Under cover, yes - a gazebo, marquee or porch is fine. It's a mains-powered electronic unit, so the cabinet itself needs to stay dry. If your event is outdoors with no shelter, we'd suggest one of our carnival games that don't need power instead - King of the Hill or Flap Attack are both built for uncovered outdoor use.

How long are the rounds, and how many people can play?

Two players at a time, head-to-head. Rounds are set around 30 seconds but the timer can be adjusted - shorter if you want the queue to turn over faster, a bit longer if you're running a tournament format. There's nothing to learn and nothing to read, so people jump straight in, which means you get a lot of goes through in a session.

What's the difference between this and Whack a Zombie?

Just the graphics. Whack a Zombie is the Halloween version - same cabinet, same game, with purple zombie artwork, cobwebs and a graveyard backboard instead of the snowman winter scene. If you're booking around a seasonal event, tell us the date and we'll send it out in the right theme. All three versions - mole, zombie and snowman - are the identical IPS cabinet underneath.

Gallery

  • Whack a Snowman cabinet with lit LED targets and foam mallet across the play surface

  • Front panel artwork - "Smash a Snowman" in snow-covered lettering with two cartoon snowmen

  • Digital scoreboard showing player scores, with "Light Hunter" game mode and countdown timer below

  • Angled view of play surface with glowing blue LED targets and foam mallets

  • Front panel with three snowmen in top hats and scarves - one holding a broom

  • Full cabinet with backboard, snowman artwork and both mallets ready at an indoor event

  • Complete cabinet with backboard, score display and both mallets ready to play

  • Game ready in a function room, all LED segments lit on the scoreboard

  • Close-up with the green start button lit and blue LED rim glowing

  • Cabinet front-on showing the full snowman artwork, score display and play surface

  • Outdoor setup under a red-and-white striped gazebo on paving stones

Venues we deliver to

From our 25,000 sq ft warehouse in Rotherham we're five minutes from the A1, M1 and M18, which puts the major exhibition venues within easy reach. We deliver regularly to NEC Birmingham, ExCeL London, Manchester Central, Leeds First Direct Arena, Harrogate Convention Centre and Olympia London, as well as to schools, shopping centres and function rooms across South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester. Europe-wide delivery is available for larger packages.

The snowman unit has been out to Amazon fulfilment centres, nightclub Christmas parties, shopping centre grottos and corporate office socials - anywhere you've got a standard wall socket and enough floor for two people to swing a foam hammer.

We own and maintain 95% of the kit we hire and have been supplying exhibition and interactive games since 1999, so the cabinet turns up tested and ready, with one delivery, one invoice and one contact for your whole booking.

Other names you'll see it listed as

People search for this game under a few different names - Smash a Snowman, Whack a Snowman, Snowman Smash, the Christmas whack-a-mole or the electronic snowman game - and they all describe the same unit on this page. If you've seen it called something else at another event, it's almost certainly the same Game Works Creative IPS cabinet with different graphics on it.

Whack a Snowman pairs well with the other quick-round reaction games for a tournament corner - Batak, Strike a Light and Beat the Buzzer all share the same short-round, high-throughput format - and a magnetic leaderboard keeps the scores up where players can see them. For a fuller Christmas setup, it works alongside a Santa's Grotto, snow machine, Rodeo Reindeer or festoon lighting on the same delivery.

Related Products

Whack a Snowman is the Christmas version of our Whack a Mole - same cabinet, seasonal graphics. The Whack a Zombie version does the same job for Halloween. The other Christmas hires below pair well with it for a fuller festive setup. Want help putting a package together? Get in touch and we'll suggest what works in your space.

Hire Whack a Snowman

Send us your dates, venue and rough audience size and we'll come back with a quote. If you want the cabinet branded for a campaign, a trained attendant to run it hands-free, or it alongside other Christmas games on one delivery, mention it in your message.

Is it on grass or hard standing?
Do you have electricity on site (within 25 metres)?
Do you require the items to be staffed by us?
For event bookings
Are you VAT registered?