Hungry Hungry Hippos

Hungry Hungry Hippos

Hungry Hungry Hippos being played by four players
Publisher(s)	Milton Bradley, now a subsidiary of Hasbro
Players	2–4
Playing time	10 minutes
Random chance	Medium
Skill(s) required	Dexterity

Hungry Hungry Hippos is a tabletop game made for 2–4 players, produced by Hasbro, under the brand of its subsidiary, Milton Bradley. The idea for the game was published in 1967 by toy inventor Fred Kroll and it was introduced in 1978. The objective of the game is for each player to collect as many marbles as possible with their 'hippo' (a toy hippo model). The game is marketed under the "Elefun and Friends" banner, along with Elefun, Mouse Trap and Gator Golf. The game was referenced in the 2010 Disney Pixar movie, Toy Story 3 and the 2001 cult film Donnie Darko. There is also a battle level based on the game in the 2016 Micro Machines game.

The game board is surrounded by four mechanical, colorful, plastic hippopotamuses operated by levers on their backs. When the lever is pressed, the hippo opens its mouth and extends its head forwards on a telescopic neck. When the lever is released, the head comes down and retracts. Colored plastic marbles are dispensed into the board by each player, and the players repeatedly press the lever on their hippo in order to have it "eat" the marbles, which travel down from under the hippo into a small scoring area for each player. Once all marbles have been captured, the player who has collected the most is the winner.

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:

The 1980s-era advertisement featured a different song:

As of 2009, the song in the commercial is now the Elefun and Friends theme song that appears in the first five commercials.

There were four hippos in the original version of the game: Lizzie Hippo (purple), Henry Hippo (orange), Homer Hippo (green), and Harry Hippo (yellow). A later edition of the game replaces the purple hippo, Lizzie, with a pink one named Happy. Although this passage states there was a purple Hippo named Lizzie, games that are stamped with a 1978 copyright have a Pink Hippo named Happy. In some versions of Hungry Hungry Hippos, Henry is replaced by a blue hippo of the same name. The fall 2009 North American edition of the game has a lighter blue base with pastel colored versions of the Hippos: Sweetie Potamus (blue), Bottomless Potamus (yellow), Veggie Potamus (green), and Picky Potamus (orange).