Hungry Hungry Hippos (or Hungry Hippos in some UK editions) is a

tabletop game Tabletop games or tabletops are games that are normally played on a table or other flat surface, such as board games, card games, dice games, miniature wargames, or tile-based games. Classification according to equipment used Tabletop game ...

made for 2–4 players, produced by

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of ...

, under the brand of its subsidiary,

Milton Bradley Milton Bradley (November 8, 1836 – May 30, 1911) was an American business magnate, game pioneer and publisher, credited by many with launching the board game industry, with his eponymous enterprise, which was purchased by Hasbro in 1984, and ...

. The idea for the game was published in 1967 by toy inventor Fred Kroll and it was introduced in 1978. The objective of the game is for each player to collect as many marbles as possible with their "hippo" (a toy

hippopotamus The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two exta ...

model). The game is marketed under the "Eleven and Friends" banner, along with Elefun,

Mouse Trap A mousetrap is a specialized type of animal trap designed primarily to catch and, usually, kill mice. Mousetraps are usually set in an indoor location where there is a suspected infestation of rodents. Larger traps are designed to catch other ...

and Gator Golf.

Gameplay

The game board is surrounded by four mechanical, colorful, plastic hippopotamuses operated by levers on their backs. When the lever is pressed, the hippo opens its mouth and extends its head forwards on a telescopic neck. When the lever is released, the head comes down and retracts. Plastic marbles are dispensed into the board by each player, and the players repeatedly press the lever on their hippo in order to have it "eat" the marbles, which travel down from under the hippo into a small scoring area for each player. Once all marbles have been captured, the player who has collected the most is the winner.

Advertising

The original late-'70s and '80s television advertisements for the game featured a memorable jingle: : ''If you wanna win the game you've gotta take good aim'' : ''And get the most marbles with your hippo'' : ''Playin' Hungry Hungry Hippos'' : ''Hungry Hungry Hippos'' The 1990s-era advertisements featured a series of brightly colored cartoon hippos dancing in a

conga line The conga line is a novelty line dance that was derived from the Cuban carnival dance of the same name and became popular in the US in the 1930s and 1950s. In order to perform the dance, dancers form a long, processing line, which would usuall ...

and singing, "Hungry Hungry Hip-''pos''!" to the beat: : ''"It's a race, it's a chase, hurry up and feed their face!'' : ''Who will win? No one knows! Feed the hungry hip-ip-pos!'' : ''Hungry hungry hippos! (open up and there it goes!)"'' As of 2009, the song in the commercial is the "Elefun and Friends" theme song.

Characters

There were four hippopotamuses in the original version of the game: Lizzie Hippo (pink/purple), Henry Hippo (orange), Homer Hippo (green), and Harry Hippo (yellow). In some versions of Hungry Hungry Hippos, Henry is blue. In others, the purple hippo is Happy. The fall 2009 North American edition of the game has a lighter blue base with pastel-colored versions of the hippos: Sweetie Potamus (pink), Bottomless Potamus (yellow), Veggie Potamus (green), and Picky Potamus (orange). The 2012 re-release has a slightly darker blue base and has the following hippos: Sweetie Potamus (blue), Bottomless Potamus (yellow), Veggie Potamus (green), and Hungry Hippo (orange).

Video games

In 1991,

Innovative Concepts in Entertainment Innovative Concepts in Entertainment, abbreviated as ICE, is an American electronic game and redemption game manufacturing company based in Clarence, New York, United States. The company was founded in 1982 and has since become the leader of the ...

(ICE) created a redemption arcade version of the game, a supersized resemblance of the board game version. The amount of marbles consumed was displayed at the top of the dome for each player. The more marbles a hippo consumed, the more tickets that hippo's player received. The previous year,

Sinclair User ''Sinclair User'' was a magazine dedicated to the Sinclair Research range of home computers, most specifically the ZX Spectrum (while also occasionally covering arcade games). Initially published by ECC Publications, and later EMAP, it was pub ...

published a game called "Piggy Punks", written by Hellenic Software for the

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colo ...

, which was inspired by the board game. The game showed an overhead view of a board with four pigs, each controlled by a separate player, in place of the four hippos.

Film adaptation

In 2012, film studio

Emmett/Furla Films Emmett/Furla Oasis Films (EFO Films), previously known as Emmett/Furla Films and Oasis Ventures Entertainment separately, is an American film and television production and financing company founded by Randall Emmett and George Furla in 1998. It is ...

announced that they were working on an animated film adaptation of ''Hungry Hungry Hippos'', along with

Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

and

Action Man Action Man is an action figure launched in Britain in 1966 by Palitoy as a licensed copy of Hasbro's American "movable fighting man", G.I. Joe. Action Man was originally produced and sold in the United Kingdom and Australia by Palitoy Ltd of Co ...

. The movie's plot and other details were being kept secret. Production was originally scheduled to start in early 2016.

In popular culture

The game has been referenced in ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, L ...

'' (1992), ''

Mystery Science Theater 3000 ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (abbreviated as ''MST3K'') is an American science fiction comedy film review television series created by Joel Hodgson. The show premiered on KTMA-TV (now WUCW) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 24, 19 ...

'', ''

Donnie Darko ''Donnie Darko'' is a 2001 American science fiction psychological thriller film written and directed by Richard Kelly and produced by Flower Films. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Mary McDonnell, K ...

'' (2001), ''

Toy Story 3 ''Toy Story 3'' is a 2010 American computer-animated comedy-drama film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the third installment in the ''Toy Story'' series and the sequel to ''Toy Story 2'' (1999). It was di ...

'' (2010), '' My Little Pony: The Movie'' (2017), '' The Last Man on Earth'' (2017), '' Safe Havens'' (2018), ''

Space Force A space force is a military branch of a nation's armed forces that conducts military operations in outer space and space warfare. The world's first space force was the Russian Space Forces, established in 1992 as an independent military service ...

'' (2020), and in ''The Afterparty'' (2022). There is also a battle level based on the game in the 2016 '' Micro Machines'' game.

Tournaments

Rogue Judges, a volunteer judging group at

Gen Con Gen Con is the largest tabletop game convention in North America by both attendance and number of events. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, live action role-playing ...

ran a "1st Annual Hungry Hungry Hippos World Championship" in August of 2015 and have continued to hold one every year since at the Indiana Convention Center. A Hungry Hungry Hippos Tournament was also hosted at Smash the Record 2017.Smash the Record 2017 Hungry Hungry Hippos Bracket
/ref>

References

External links

The Frantic Marble Munching Game!
a detailed set of game-playing instructions from

. *
Arcade version
of Hungry Hungry Hippos {{Hasbro Board games introduced in 1978 Children's board games Fictional hippopotamuses Milton Bradley Company games