Whack-a-Mole — Java Swing Game

A clean and responsive Whack-a-Mole game built using Java Swing, featuring a fully object-oriented design, thread-safe UI updates, and persistent leaderboard support.

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🎮 Features

• Multiple mole types:
  • RegularMole – normal points
  • GoldenMole – high bonus
  • TrapBomb – penalty
• Smooth gameplay using a dedicated engine thread
• UI rendering on the Swing Event Dispatch Thread (EDT)
• Clean separation between:
  • GameController (logic)
  • HoleGrid (UI)
• Custom exceptions for robust error handling
• UML class diagram included

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🧱 Project Structure

src/ ├── GameController.java ├── HoleGrid.java ├── GridOccupant.java ├── RegularMole.java ├── GoldenMole.java ├── TrapBomb.java ├── HoleSlot.java └── LeaderboardManager.java

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⚙️ How It Works

Object-Oriented Design

All board objects extend the abstract GridOccupant class and implement:

• whack()
• getIcon()

This makes adding new entity types extremely easy.

Concurrency Model

• Game Engine Thread handles game timing, spawning, ticking.
• EDT updates icons, labels, and board cells safely via
  SwingUtilities.invokeLater().

This ensures the UI never freezes.

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🏁 How to Run

1. Compile the project: javac *.java

markdown Copy code 2. Run the game: java Main

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Make sure you have Java 17+ installed.

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📊 UML Diagram

The full UML class diagram is included in the project files.

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💡 Future Improvements

• Sound effects
• Difficulty levels
• Animated mole sprites
• Mobile version (JavaFX / Kotlin)

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👤 Author

Mohit