Hole Hunter is a whack-a-mole-style game for the Atari 2600, where the player controls a character with a hammer in a desert-like setting surrounded by holes. As the holes light up, rodents appear, and the player must hit them back into their burrows with the hammer. Successfully hitting a rodent awards the player 100 points, while failing to do so causes the rodent to run around the screen, potentially biting the player and causing them to lose points.
The player must also be cautious not to fall into any holes while moving around the screen, as doing so will result in losing one of their three lives. The game lasts for 20 minutes, during which the player must try to achieve the highest score possible. The game ends when the time runs out or when the player loses all three lives.