Firm Family Favourite (Chad Valley Hungry Hippos)

Member Name: DavyMichelle

Product:	Chad Valley Hungry Hippos
Date:	05/06/09 (20 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun For All Ages

Disadvantages: Noisy!

Hungry Hippos has been around for generations, and there's a good reason why it's still popular after so many years. We had this for our own kids when they were little, and now we have it to play with our young grandson too. If you want to buy this game, you can get it for £12.99 from Toys R Us. Previously, our version came from Amazon for around £7 or £8 though they haven't currently got it in stock.

Hungry Hippos is a great game for the family play, from around three years and over. Up to four players can join in taking a hippo each. The idea is to fire marbles into the centre of the game board, and hammer on the lever on the hippos' backs to make their mouths open so they can eat up the marbles.

Eaten marbles slide down the hippos necks and fall into a little ball pit. Every player's hippo has his own ball pit, so at the end of the game where there are no marbles left, you can count up to see who's got the most marbles.

It's great fun for people of all ages to sit hammering away on the hippos trying to gobble up the most marbles, and kids love that they get encouraged to be almost violent! It's a good educational toy for helping kids learn to count, though as everyone plays at once, it isn't so good for teaching turn taking. You can factor in little turn-taking bits like everyone has to fire one marble into the middle at a time though (which is strictly speaking how you're supposed to play the game).

The only downside to this game is that it's dreadfully noisy, so delicate kids, or adults that won't be able to cope with the racket, should steer kids of this. I think most people will put up with the racket for the sake having half an hour's family fun though, I know we do.

Summary: Highly Recommended