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Players working the central ball pit from the four colour corners of an inflatable Hungry Hippos arena

Human Hungry Hippos Hire

The classic table-top game scaled up until your guests are the hippos, with a bungee harness on each of the four colour corners and a pit of balls in the middle. Hire from £595 plus VAT.

How the Game Works

Four players take a corner each - red, blue, green and yellow - and clip into a bungee harness tethered to that corner. The middle of the arena is a pit of plastic balls. On the whistle you stretch into the pit against the pull of the cord, gather every ball you can carry, and haul them back to your corner before the bungee decides you have come far enough. When the pit is empty, the corner with the most balls wins.

Children and adults both play, and it gets as big a laugh from the people watching as from the ones playing, so it tends to gather a crowd around it. That crowd is the whole point if you are hiring it as a crowd-puller: on an exhibition floor, at a trade show feature area, or at a corporate fun day where you want one big thing in the middle of the field that everything else orbits.

We supply the arena, the balls, the harnesses, the inflator and safety matting, and a trained member of our team sets it all up and runs the rounds. We have been hiring out inflatable and carnival games from Sheffield since 1999, and the arena is our own stock, tested annually and maintained in-house.

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The interior of the inflatable Hungry Hippos arena with red, blue, green and yellow quadrants around the central ball pit

The Numbers

Players per round, children and adults
4
Arena footprint, 12ft high at the top
30ft x 30ft
Clear space to allow, with 15ft of headroom
38ft x 38ft
Hire from, plus VAT
£595+

Size and Space

Dimensions
Unit size: 9.1m wide x 9.1m deep x 3.7m high (30ft x 30ft x 12ft)
Space required: 11.6m x 11.6m (38ft x 38ft) with 4.6m (15ft) height clearance
Access needed: 1.2m (4ft) wide for crew and kit
Players: 4 at a time, children and adults

Power: One standard 13A socket runs the inflator. Where there is no mains within reach we bring one of our petrol blowers or a diesel generator on the same delivery.

Suitability

  • Indoors on artificial grass or hard floors
  • Outdoors on grass or hard standing
  • Not suitable outdoors on concrete, on mixed grass and hard surfaces, or on wood chip
  • Staffed with a trained operator as standard

The footprint makes it a floor-space attraction rather than a stand game. It suits a hall floor, a feature area or a pitch of grass, and it is the wrong tool for a 3m-by-3m shell scheme - the stand-sized games cover that job.

Where It Gets Hired

  • Exhibition floors and trade shows

    As a feature on floor space rather than on a stand: the crowd it gathers stops the aisle traffic around it, and the four-at-a-time rounds keep that traffic moving through the day.

  • Brand activations and launches

    Four colour corners and a central ball pit give an activation a filmable centrepiece that visitors queue to take part in. Our in-house branding service can dress the rest of the kit around it in your artwork.

  • Corporate fun days

    A reliable anchor for a summer fun day, with short rounds and quick changeovers that keep a department's worth of people cycling through across an afternoon.

  • Team building and It's a Knockout days

    Our operator can run it as heats with a final, which suits a Knockout timetable where every station contributes a score towards a team total.

  • Freshers fairs

    A sports hall full of freshers wants its biggest draw to be loud, bright and physical, and this is that. It needs the full 11.6m x 11.6m of clear floor, so send the hall dimensions with your enquiry.

  • Fetes and community events

    Children and adults play the same rounds, so families can take a corner each. Outdoors it goes on grass or hard standing, though not on concrete, which is worth knowing before you book a tarmac showground pitch.

The harness version

This arena is the Extreme Human Hungry Hippo, the redesigned build that replaced the scooter-board version we hired out for years. If you played Hungry Hippos before, the old format had you flat on a wheeled board while a teammate pushed you towards the middle. Here the harness and the cord do all of that: you go into the pit under your own effort, and the bungee brings you back whether you planned on it or not. The arena is bigger than the old one as well, a 30ft square against the old six metres, with the pit dead centre.

You will see much the same game listed elsewhere as Inflatable Hungry Hippos, Giant Hungry Hippos or Dash and Grab, and the format varies between hire companies. If you specifically want the four-corner bungee-harness version, say so when you enquire and we will confirm what is going out on your dates.

The four-colour inflatable Hungry Hippos arena set up on grass at an outdoor event

What's Included

  • The Extreme Human Hungry Hippo arena, with the bungee cords, harnesses and balls
  • Electric inflator and safety matting
  • A trained member of our team to set up and run the rounds
  • Delivery, set-up and collection on one of our own vans with our own crew
  • Full £5 million public liability insurance as standard, with indemnity to principal cover when our staff are supplied
  • Risk assessments and method statements emailed to you or your venue before the event

Hire is from £595 plus VAT. Delivery charges and minimum order values may apply depending on hire duration and location. We can usually discount multiple items on the same delivery - contact us for a quote.

We have been hiring games out of a 25,000 sq ft warehouse in Rotherham since 1999, five minutes off the A1, M1 and M18, and we own and maintain around 95% of everything we list. The arena is safety tested annually. Deliveries to the NEC Birmingham, ExCeL London, Manchester Central and the Telford International Centre are regular runs, and larger packages go nationwide. On exhibitions it usually travels as the anchor of a trade show games package or as the centrepiece of a product launch, with our branding service finishing the kit around it.

Gallery

  • Players working the central ball pit from their corners

  • The four colour quadrants and central ball pit from inside

  • The arena set up on grass alongside a Wipeout-style game

  • The arena set up for an outdoor event

  • The colour sections of the arena from outside

  • The padded walls and mesh netting around the arena

Questions About the Arena

Is this the scooter-board version of Human Hungry Hippos?

No. The scooter-board arena we hired out for years has been replaced by the Extreme Human Hungry Hippo, which is the bungee-harness build: one player per colour corner, clipped into a harness, going into the central pit under their own effort rather than being pushed on a board. It is a bigger arena too, at 30ft x 30ft rather than the old six metres square.

How much space does it need?

The unit itself is 30ft x 30ft and 12ft high, which is about 9.1m x 9.1m x 3.7m. We ask for 38ft x 38ft (11.6m x 11.6m) of clear floor with 15ft of headroom, and 4ft-wide access to get the kit in. That makes it a floor-space attraction rather than a stand game, so it is worth checking the hall plan before you commit.

What surfaces can the arena go on?

Indoors it goes on artificial grass or hard floors, and outdoors it goes on grass or hard standing. It is not suitable outdoors on concrete, on a mix of grass and hard surface, or on wood chip.

Pairs Well With

The arena works best as the anchor of a bigger plan. On a fun day or a Knockout-style afternoon it sits alongside the larger team games below; on an exhibition floor the compact ones like Plinko and Crack the Code fill the stand while the arena works the floor space. Send us the shape of the day and we will suggest a combination that fits the space you have.

Hire Human Hungry Hippos

Send your dates, the venue and how much clear floor you have, and whether it will be indoors or on grass. We will come back with a quote and, if it is part of a bigger day, a suggested set of games to run alongside it.

Is it on grass or hard standing?
Do you have electricity on site (within 25 metres)?
Do you require the items to be staffed by us?
For event bookings
Are you VAT registered?