Mr. Bucket

Mr. Bucket

The package, multiple colored shovels and balls, and the Mr. Bucket toy
Publishers	Milton Bradley
Players	1-4
Age range	4 and up
Skills	Eye-hand coordination

Mr. Bucket is a tabletop game and toy published by Milton Bradley and released c. 1992 which was discontinued but re-released in 2007. The game features a plastic, motorized bucket which ejects differently-colored balls from its mouth. The player(s) use plastic shovels to scoop up the balls and place them back inside Mr. Bucket.

Gameplay

The object of the game is for a player to get all of their balls into Mr. Bucket before he pops them out of his mouth. To set up the game, blue, green, yellow, and red plastic balls are scattered across the floor. Each player chooses a shovel that corresponds to the ball color they need to collect. To start the game, one player switches on Mr. Bucket. Once Mr. Bucket is switched on, players scoop up the balls that match their shovel's color and drop them into the top of Mr. Bucket. While the players collect their balls, at regular intervals Mr. Bucket spits out one of the balls that are inside him. The winner is the first player to get all three of their balls in Mr. Bucket at the same time.

Slogans

• "Balls pop out of my mouth." (This slogan has proven to be quite humorous and controversial, because of its reference of the male genitalia being close to the Bucket's mouth.)
• "Mr. Bucket - Buckets of fun!"

Awards

Oa Therapy Associates, a clinic in the treatment for sensory problems, included "Mr. Bucket" in 2005's list of toys that helps hand/eye coordination.