The Whack Games Compared: Boss, Classic, Computer, Ex, Cheater and Serial Killer

Whack Your Boss started a small genre: one scene, one person or thing you are fed up with, and a room full of objects that each end the story in a different way. This site keeps six of those games, all running from their original Flash files on Ruffle. Here is what each one is and how they differ.

Whack Your Boss (20 ways)

The main game and the best known. Doodie.com's pencil-sketch cubicle, a bald boss with a clipboard, and twenty hidden items, with the score shown as "of 20". After every hit you press Cleaner to reset the room. Panic at the bottom right swaps the game for a fake list of office productivity tips. If you only play one, play this one.

Whack Your Boss Classic (7 ways)

The Classic cut is the same idea in a sparser office. The memo on its title card says "Find the 7 ways to whack your boss", and a 1234567 strip in the top right corner marks which ones you have found. The room has fewer props: a desk, a monitor, a mug, a stapler, a ruler and a bin. The bottom bar has just two buttons, PANIC and MORE. Playing it after the main game shows how much the 20-item version added.

Whack Your Computer (12 ways)

Whack Your Computer is also from Doodie.com, and the target is the machine instead of a person. The welcome letter tells you to roll over the items in the office to find the ways to destroy the computer. As in Whack Your Boss, the count on the letter is corrected by hand: eleven is crossed out and twelve written in. The office is a plusher one, with a big desk, an armchair, a laptop and a view of the city. Score is shown as "0 of 12". It is the gentlest game of the six, since the only victim is hardware.

Whack Your Ex

Whack Your Ex, another Doodie.com game, puts two stick figures on an empty perspective grid: an ex-boyfriend in a cap and an ex-girlfriend in a dress. Its tagline is "Cheaper and funner than therapy". Instead of a room to search, a row of weapons lines the bottom of the screen: a laptop, a gift box, a toy car, high heels, a paper plane and more. For each one the game asks who will use it, the ex-boyfriend or the ex-girlfriend, so the same item can play out two ways.

Whack the Cheater

Whack the Cheater is an Acool.com game (its logo sits in the top corner), a newer ActionScript 3 take on the formula. The scene is a street: a man out with another woman, and the woman he is cheating on, fists clenched. Twelve items are hidden around the pavement and shop fronts (the road sign is one of them), and the score reads "0/12". Press the play screen's PLAY, then click around the scene.

Whack the Serial Killer

Whack the Serial Killer is the heaviest one, in mood and in size: about 34 MB. It opens with a comic-style intro outside a house with a Keep Out sign, where a dog finds something it should not. Then you are in the killer's cellar with his captive. The game tells you to search for items to interact with, and each item you find is another way to deal with him. Give it time to load and let the intro run (there is a Skip button in the top right). It is the darkest of the six, so it is for older players only.

Which one first?

Start with Whack Your Boss, since it teaches the habits all the others use: click everything, reset, keep count. Then play Whack Your Computer for the same humour with a laptop as the victim, and Whack Your Ex for the two-sided weapons. Keep the Cheater and the Serial Killer for last. They are longer and newer, and much more graphic.

Stuck in the main game? The 20-item guide explains the Cleaner button and a method for the whole room.