Hungry Hungry Hippos
Overall Rating: 6/10
Age: 4+
GLAM Age Range: 2-7
Number of Players: 2-4
Playing Time: 5 min
Publisher: Hasbro
Complexity: Low
Available At: Amazon.com
Quick Take: Great for small children, good for mixed ages of children, an instant classic that requires no explanation of how to play. However, it also results in instant fights for many small children. We often have one child play at a time or we coach all the children a lot prior to the game regarding appropriate game behavior.
How to Play: Pick a hippo color (or two) and release all the marbles into the middle where you try to gobble them up with your hippos. The official rules say you win if you get the yellow marble but everyone knows you win if you get the most marbles.
Variations: Take out the yellow marble. Seriously, why would you have this be even part of the game? Why? My children, who play a fair amount of games, are ready to murder each other over this single marble that is obviously the special marble. When we take it out of game play and don’t worry too much about counting marbles at the end this is actually a pleasant game. Older kids love this game, it ages surprisingly well, and there seems to be much less angst.
Similar Games To Check Out: Let's go Fishin', Connect 4, Pancake Pile-Up, Yeti in my Spaghetti, Feed the Woozle