Hungry Hungry Hippos is a frantic dexterity game where players rapidly press their hippo levers to gobble up as many marbles as possible. The player whose hippo eats the most marbles wins. It is a fast, chaotic, and simple game suitable for young children.
Components
1 Game Base (pond)
4 Hippo Bodies with Heads
4 Marble Launchers and Guides
20 Plastic Marbles (including 1 golden marble)
Label Sheet
Setup
Remove hippos from packaging tabs by squeezing sides and pulling gently.
Attach each hippo by sliding front tabs into the pond and pressing down to lock.
Place 5 marbles into each marble release area.
Place the golden marble in any open space.
“Wake up” your hippo by holding down its tail and pulling its neck out and downward. Press and release the tail a few times to test.
Turn Structure
Standard Game
Each player selects a different hippo.
The youngest player goes first by pressing their marble launcher to release one marble into the pond.
All players immediately and rapidly press and release their hippo tails to try to capture the marble.
After a marble is caught, the next player clockwise launches a marble.
Continue until all marbles have been gobbled.
Advanced Game (Variant)
All players simultaneously launch all their marbles and race to catch as many as possible in a free-for-all frenzy.
Actions
Launch marble: Press the marble launcher to release one marble into the pond.
Gobble: Rapidly press and release your hippo’s tail to extend its mouth and grab marbles.
Scoring / Victory Conditions
After all marbles are collected, each player counts the marbles their hippo has eaten.
The player with the most marbles wins.
Bonus Game
Players specifically compete to capture the golden marble. The player who gets the golden marble wins this variant.
Special Rules & Edge Cases
Players should wait for a marble to be launched before pressing their hippos in the standard game.
In the advanced variant, all marbles are released simultaneously for maximum chaos.
The golden marble can serve as a tiebreaker or the object of its own mini-game.