Hungry Hungry Hippos > Reviews (18)

I own the MB games edition of Hungry Hippos, it was bought for me on my 18th birthday but I also owned it as a child. It is a classic game that everyone has heard of and that most people have played.

The general objective seems to be to lose as many balls as you can, while making as much noise as you can! The official objective of course is to hoard as many balls as you can by pushing a lever which will make your Hippo lurch forwards and gobble up anything in its path.

The game is up to four players, and according to my version, suitable for children aged 4 and older. This is appopriate as the balls are very small and you would not want your children choking on them. It is a very basic game so children aged four and over can understand it. I would also say that it could be educational as to see who has won, you must count up who has the most balls. You may also want to point out to your child that hippos eat children and therefore they should not climb into the hippo enclosure at the zoo when you are not looking!

The contents are quite simple, a packet of white balls and the playing surface. The game comes already built and set up so once you open the packet of balls there is no going back!

Now I realise that for youngsters this is a very entertaining game but I would have to warn any unsuspecting parents that it could become their worst nightmare. Children being children, will never quite stick to the rules of the game and it wont be long before they discover just how far they can shoot the balls, hence losing them everywhere and completly destroying your hoover at a later date when it discovers them. Also once the balls are gone, they are gone. There are no refills as far as I am aware.

The other disadvantage to this game, again is towards the parents, much to their children's delight. The game is very very noisy so i would suggest keeping it out of reach if you have a headache.

Having said this, on my 18th Birthday, me and my friends played this game, and did lose all the balls, and did make a lot of noise and it was a great laugh. For older people this game is really just a novelty which as with most novelties, wears off pretty fast!

I conclusion, I would reccomend this as a good christmas or birthday present, It is a game that no child should go without playing, however I would certainly warn parents to keep an eye on the younger children in case they mistake the balls for food. I would also be very careful when hoovering after any game of hungry hippos has been played, and finally I would keep it well out of reach when you want a quiet night in (as if they exist when you have kids!).