Hungry Hungry Hippos

Hungry Hungry Hippos is a board game made for young children by Hasbro of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, under the brand of its subsidiary, Milton Bradley. It was introduced in 1978.

Gameplay

The game is playable by two to four players and is recommended by the manufacturer for children ages 3–6. The object of the game is to use the lever on the back of a player's hippopotamus to consume as many of the twenty white plastic marbles on the playing field as possible. Play ends when all of the marbles have been "eaten" by the hippos. The player who has "eaten" the most marbles wins.

The shaking of the lightweight playing field during play, particularly when children are pounding on the levers to make their hippos capture marbles, introduces a strong random element in the game. Winning is often a matter of pure luck and not of skill. In a 1990 short story published in The New Yorker (and sarcastically named after the game), Edward Allen wrote, "The object of the game [is essentially] to press your handle down again and again as fast as you can, with no rhythm, no timing, just slam-slam-slam as your hippo surges out to grab marble after marble from the game surface...."

Television ads for the game memorably featured a series of brightly-colored cartoon hippos dancing in a conga line and singing, "Hungry Hungry Hip-pos!" to the beat. The older theme offered a mini song:

"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!)"

Similar children's games popular in the U.S. include Don't Break the Ice, Don't Spill the Beans, and Ants in the Pants.

Tactics

The game is more known as a game of luck, however the serious players see it as a game of wit and tactical knowledge. There are two main techniques:

• Mashing - The most common tactic consists of hammering repeatedly on the lever so the board shakes wildly and, if you are lucky, marbles are consumed.
• Sniping - This consists of sitting still and only hitting the lever at the opportune moment (when a ball is near)
• Cheating - This consists of being a dick and punching the other opponents or blinding them so as to distract them from the board while you scoop up the balls with your hand and place them in your winnings tray.

Characters

There are four hippos available to play. There is Happy Hippo (pink), Henry Hippo (orange), Homer (green), and Harry (yellow). In some versions of the game, the orange hippo is replaced by a blue hippo, also named Henry. Also, in earlier versions of the commercial, there were five hippos in the conga line, the blue one being the fifth one singing "HUNGRY HUNGRY HIPPOS!"

Pop culture

Hungry Hungry Hippos has become a part of American pop culture:

• In the animated television series The Simpsons, Homer Simpson has mentioned this game in the episode Mr. Plow while he waits for a phone call after his Mr. Plow ad has run he says "Now we play the waiting game... aw, the waiting game sucks. Let's play Hungry Hungry Hippos". It is referenced in another episode that features an apparently similar game (owned by Bart) called Ravenous Ravenous Rhinos. An episode of the series alludes to the game in its title, "Hungry Hungry Homer", which was also Homer's mascot name. In the episode Simpson Safari, Homer scream "Ahh! A Hungry Hungry Hippo!" before a hippo attacks the family.

• The game was also mentioned in the film Donnie Darko. When Donnie is seeing his psychiatrist, she asks him about his childhood and why he is unhappy with his parents, and the following exchange takes place:
  Donnie Darko: "My parents didn't get me what I wanted for Christmas."
  Dr. Lilian Thurman: "What did you want?"
  Donnie Darko: "Hungry Hungry Hippos."
  Dr. Lilian Thurman: "And how did you feel, being denied these hungry, hungry hippos? "
  Donnie Darko: "Regret."
• In the Family Guy episode "A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas", the character of Stewie gets Hungry Hungry Hippos as a Christmas present.
• In its April 21, 1999 issue, faux-newspaper The Onion featured an article titled, "Hasbro Pledges Additional 30 Marbles For Hippo Hunger Relief."
• The game was referenced in Season 2 of the stop-motion animation television series Robot Chicken, in a segment in which Hungry Hungry Hippos is adapted into an action-packed movie.
• In a separate episode of Robot Chicken, a bum was shown holding a sign which said "Homeless", followed by a child with a sign that said "Orfen" (sic), followed by a bright yellow hippo with a sign that said "Hungry Hungry".
• An episode of Harvey Birdman featured Phill Ken Sebben describing Peter Potamus as a "Mopey Mopey Hippo".
• In the episode "Stolen Vows" of the ABC comedy Big Day, the bride-to-be, Alice, gambles away all of her wedding gifts while playing Hungry Hungry Hippos with her sister and maid of honor, Becca.
• On Late Night with Conan O'Brien Conan O'Brien vists Intel and mentions he plays Hungry Hungry Hippos over chess. He is later seen playing Hungry Hungry Hippos. On a separate episode, while conducting a faux interview with Zell Miller, Conan is challenged to a game of Hungry Hungry Hippos.
• On The Man Show there is a similar game poking fun at Oprah Winfrey, Hungry Hungry Oprahs.
• In an episode of the Chaser's War on Everything they offer to build a giant Hungry Hungry Hippo arena in the middle of a park in Sydney.
• One time in Dexter's lab, Dee-Dee and Dexter play Hungry Hungry Rhinos.
• Hungry Hungry Hippos was also the name of a Kansas counter-strike team that won a CAL-O championship, and nearly beat the top team from France, aAa, at the 2007 Winter CPL.
• Hungry Hungry Hippos was parodied in the Cory in the House episode "Gone Wishin'" as a game Sophie played and it's called Dippy Dippy Dolphins.
• Hungry Hungry Hippos was parodied by Cyanide and Happiness in This Strip as Hungry Hungry Hobos
• On the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson Craig said that he would play Hungry Hungry Hippos.

Miscellaneous

In the United Kingdom, the game is marketed under the title "Hungry Hippos", omitting the second "hungry".

Also produced under license is an arcade version of Hungry Hungry Hippos, which dispenses tickets based upon how many marbles each player consumes.

External links

• 15-second television ad for Hungry Hungry Hippos, from YouTube.
• The Frantic Marble Munching Game!, a detailed set of game-playing instructions from Hasbro.
• Hungry Hungry Hippos at BoardGameGeek
• Arcade version of Hungry Hungry Hippos