A Mole Among Us

“She’s probably late because she’s the Mole.” “You know who would say that? The Mole.” “That’s some awfully Mole-like behavior!”

Participants of Quincy House’s very own adaptation of ABC’s “The Mole”—a popular reality game show that made suspicion second nature—uttered these accusations as part of the game’s second round this past Sunday.

In the Quincy House iteration, 11 innocent members of the House began the game, working together to solve group challenges and to defeat their 12th member—the Mole. The Mole must lay low, deflect suspicion, and work as a double agent to subvert the group’s success, while being careful not to reveal his or her identity.

Tri D. Chiem ’10, the creator and host of Quincy Mole, explained that when the players successfully complete a group challenge, they receive a clue about the Mole’s identity. If a player wins an individual challenge, then they awarded immunity from possible elimination.

After each challenge, a quiz is sent to each of the players to test their knowledge of the Mole. The player who scores lowest on the quiz is eliminated from the game.

“It gets pretty competitive,” notes Chiem. “Especially around quiz time.”

Competitive only begins to describe it. Players come to the weekly challenges armed with notebooks and keen observation skills. During those challenges they collect as many details as they can about their fellow players, especially those they suspect of being the Mole. Any and every detail is a potential question on the quiz, and a player can’t afford to be inattentive. To find the Mole, they look for the player who is actively trying to subvert the successful completion of the group challenges.

Despite the empty apologies and backstabbing, the contestants are clearly having fun with their fellow housemates—and the skillful Mole is definitely keeping things lively.

“The Mole’s doing a brilliant job,” said Chiem. “I would even say almost undetected.”

In this group of quick-witted competitors, we’ll see how long that lasts. With two rounds already completed, two players have been kicked out of the game. You can follow the game yourself here.