We did this as a joint young men/young women's activity last month. It was a riot!!!! We used balloons instead of balls and they worked great. Our fearless leader, Sheryl (below) had to try it out for herself. She purchased laundry baskets from All a Dollar....but the baskets weren't sturdy enough to make it through the whole game. Rather than buying expensive baskets, I'd make sure I had 2-3 baskets for each team (8/12- still cheaper than 2 good baskets.) We used longboards or skateboards. 4 teams. Attach a rope to the board. The Hippo needs to wear a helmet. Their team pushes the hippo on the board out and they try to capture as many balloons or balls in their basket before being pulled back. (see instructions below) The team with the most balloon/balls at the end or a certain time limit wins.
Here are the rules:
1. A player is pushed by their team to the center of the room and attempts to grab (or place under a basket) as many balloons or balls as possible and return them to his or her team’s corner.2. The scooter can NEVER STOP. As soon as the player reaches the center, he or she must be immediately pulled back.
3. You can either send the same player back to the center, or have the whole team rotate through being “hippos.”
4. Only balls that are completely in the team’s corner count as points. Balls will quickly become scattered around the room, and it is not enough to have balls “close” to a corner. If a ball is close, the team can send the hippo towards that ball instead of to the center.
5. The game ends when all of the balls are gone, or when the timer runs out.
NOTE: Please have hippos WEAR HELMETS. When players meet in the middle, the last thing you want to have happen is for their heads to smash in to one another.
