Hungry Hungry Hippo

Hungry Hungry Hippo -The marble chomping, hippo feeding game.

If you've never played a game of Hungry Hungry Hippo, where have you been? This is a game that was first released in 1978 by Hasbro and it's still popular today. I don't know if it's the bright colors, the fun hippos or the fact that you control the movement, but kids like it.  

The game itself is a little hard to describe, so let's take a look at it (below).

Everything is plastic. There is some simple assemble required initially to put the hippos together, then you snap them onto the base. The tray is a bit tilted so the marbles will roll to the middle. When you push down on the hippo's black tail, his head will tip up and lurch forward before falling back down. Any marbles that rolled under his head when he lifted it (any marbles that the hungry hippo ate) are now trapped under it and roll into a reservoir off to the right of the hippo. They're yours! It's not a matter of aiming, because you cannot control that, it's a matter timing - lift the head as marbles are rolling in your direction. The 20 marbles (19 orange, 1 yellow) are plastic and stored under a round cap in the base of the game when not in play. The contraption will be too big to fit into the box once it is assembled, but you can take the hippos off the board when you're done if you want and return the pieces to the box for storage.

So how do those marbles get into the middle of the game base to begin with? You either put them all there before the game starts or you release them one at a time. Do you see the black lever next to the base of the orange hippo (above)? Just ahead of that lever is a groove. Each person has one by their hippo and they hold five marbles. Load it with five marbles and the push on the black lever at the base of your hippo to release one marble at a time.

CAUTION: The marbles may look like candy to some. Always monitor for safety with pieces that some may be temped to put in their mouths.

Object:
Have the most marbles at the end of the game.

Set up:
Snap the game together according to the instructions. Either place all the marbles in the middle of the game base or each player places five marbles in the groove by his hippo (depending on which game you want to play).

Play:

• Game where the marbles are released all at once before the game starts.
• All players play at the same time, trying to gobble up as many marbles as possible. Keep pushing down on the hippo's tail to eat as many marbles as possible before they are all gobbled up and the game is over. 
• Game where the marbles are released one at a time from the grooves.
• Take turns releasing the marbles one at a time. After each marble is released, play until someone eats it. Then release another marble. Play this way until all marbles have been eaten.
• Game where the yellow marble means something.
• Release the marbles all at once. Players play simultaneously until someone eats the yellow marble and wins the game.

Try this:

• Let the individual build the game initially, using the 2D instructions to build the 3D game.
• Use different fingers to push down on the hippo's tail. It does take a bit of a push and I find myself using more than one finger.
• Pick a number, maybe 4 or 5, and then play until someone gets exactly that number of marbles in their reservoir. Be careful, eat too many and you lose. (Just the opposite of real life where if you eat too many you gain.)
• Ask the player to grab a few marbles in their hand and then bring them to the fingertips one at a time to place them into the groove before play. Fill all the groves this way.
• Take the hippos off the game for storage. Dump the marbles into the base one last time and then pick them up, one at a time, and squirrel them into your palm. How many can you hold? Return them to the cap for storage and go again until they are all put away.
• Try coordinating your hands so that you control two hippos that are side-by-side, playing them both at the same time.
• Play across from each other if only two people are playing. This way if you miss a marble it can shoot across to the other player and they go back and forth. If players sit side-by-side then marbles may end up pooling in the middle, out of reach to everyone since the hippo only reaches part way to the middle of the game base. 

If you are interested in purchasing this game or just want more information, click on the image below.