--- title: Residents Find Joy in Real Version of Hungry Hungry HIppos description: Hippos aren’t required, but laughter is necessary in this real-world version of Hungry Hungry Hippos. canonical: https://time.com/5807338/hungry-hippos-game/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-03-20T18:05:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:01:24.084Z og:title: Residents Find Joy in Real-Life Version of Hungry Hungry HIppos og:description: Hippos aren’t required, but laughter is necessary. og:url: https://time.com/5807338/hungry-hippos-game/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbea08cd78d2242a5/698a0bd38fd2ee4f5f3610bd/elderly-care-home-hungry-hungry-hippo.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Elderly care home hungry hungry hippos og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Residents Find Joy in Real-Life Version of Hungry Hungry HIppos twitter:description: Hippos aren’t required, but laughter is necessary. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbea08cd78d2242a5/698a0bd38fd2ee4f5f3610bd/elderly-care-home-hungry-hungry-hippo.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Care Residents Find Joy in the Real-Life Version of Hungry Hungry Hippos by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Mar 20, 2020 6:05 PM UTC  Yellow Ball on Green Floor at a Ball Pit in School Playground. Yellow Ball on Green Floor at a Ball Pit in School Playground.Getty Images by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Mar 20, 2020 6:05 PM UTC As people around the world do their part to prevent the further spread of the [coronavirus](https://time.com/5804555/coronavirus-lockdown-uk/), residents in Wales have found a clever way to have fun and it only requires laughter, imagination, and being hungry, hungry. The senior citizens currently [self-quarantining](https://time.com/5805510/covid-19-coronavirus-video-chat/) at the Bryn Celyn Care Home, in Maesteg, Wales, have figured out how to keep their spirits up even amidst the [COVID-19 pandemic](https://time.com/5804786/coronavirus-issue/). [According to Welsh news outlet, _Wales Online_](https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/fun-stuff/care-home-residents-hungry-hippos-17953816), the residents have transformed the Hasbro board game, Hungry Hungry Hippos, into a real-world experience that looks like fun. For the game, the residents, who range in age from 80 to 102-years-old, sat in wheelchairs which the home’s staff arranged into a circle. Like in the game, the middle of the circle was flooded with colored balls and the residents rushed to collect as many as they could with the “makeshift hungry hippos” they had “fashioned from plastic boxes and brooms” before the game started. The result was a lot of laughter, a brief reprieve from coronavirus fears, and a reminder that moments of fun can be found even when [sheltering in place](https://time.com/5806477/what-is-shelter-in-place/). 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