Hungry Hungry Hippos Fun on the Run Game

My 3 year old daughter really wanted a hungry hippo game for Christmas. I remember enjoying the game growing up, so even though I was already rolling my eyes at finding the marbles all over the house I couldn't deny her... then I found the travel version. She hauls this thing all over the house and has yet to lose one marble. It is quite a bit smaller, and can only handle two players - keep that in mind when purchasing - but if you are buying for a younger child this is the way to go.

I bought this game for my 6 year old niece. It broke within an hour of her playing with it. ( She's not a kid who plays rough with her toys, either.) Actually, the heads of both hippos came off, and could be put on again. But the heads come off again as you play with it. At least I didn't buy the full-sized game!

The game itself is compact and enclosed, which makes it perfect for travel. The plastic seems to be cheap in quality and i'm not sure how long it will actually hold up. The game is fine to play on a table top but when it comes to traveling in the car it is very difficult because the marbles sway the direction of the car. It makes it hard if not impossible to play while in transit.

Difficult for children to play. The noise is the most entertaining for the grandchildren and the most annoying for everyone around them.

My oldest had the original Hungry Hungry Hippos game, I remember it being loud, a pain in the neck, marbles always being lost and it ended up in the garbage. When my youngest now asked for it, I tried this version. It is small and only 2 players, but much less noise, much better made and the clear dome means no more losing our marbles. I'm pretty happy with it, though quite honestly the game gets pretty boring (even the original bigger version). I think it will be good for road trips though.

Since I wasn't sure if my 4 year old would enjoy playing this game, I didn't want to pay the price of the original size. When I saw this travel size and the price, I couldn't pass on purchasing it. Well, she loves this game! She loves playing it and I loved the price and the portability. It's 7.5 inches in diameter so it's a little small for my 8 year old but it's perfect size for my 4 yr old. When we play with her, we use one finger to push the lever (to be gentle) since it isn't a heavy duty plastic. I can see this eventually breaking but we've gotten a lot of enjoyment from it and well worth the price.

When playing it's almost random on who wins, so the effort/work for both players can be the same and both will win about the same number of times. With 10 balls used, ties are also possible. It's good that no pieces can be lost. My daughter likes to be the one to re-deploy the balls into the arena. This game may break easily, but for about $7, I'll just buy another one.UPDATE: We have played this game maybe 120 times, and it hasn't broken yet.

Overall this sucks. I knew going in it was a mini game, but this is very small. It doesn't work right. I tried playing with my son on a table and the floor and you have to tilt the game to get the balls to move anywhere. The balls stay in one spot of the game. You chomp chomp and the balls don't go in the mouth... (That's what she said.) but, yeah the game kind of sucks, I was disappointed. Got this for a 4 year old.