Gameplay
The game is playable by two to four players and is recommended by the manufacturer for children ages 3 and up. The object of the game is to cause the player's hippo to "consume" as many of the twenty white plastic marbles on the playing field as possible. The player presses a lever on the back of their hippo which causes the hippo's mouth to open, extend towards the center of the board, close and retract. Marbles are drawn back into a depression within the hippo, so they do not drift back into play once properly consumed. Play ends when all of the marbles have been consumed by the hippos.
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 to the game. The game also is very loud, with the constant slamming of the hippo levers, and bouncing of marbles on the plastic board.
In a 1990 short story published in The New Yorker (and sarcastically named after the game), Edward Allen wrote, "The object of the game 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...."
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.
Read more about this topic: Hungry Hungry Hippos