Thrift Treasure: Stuff Yer Face Game

Six years ago, I excitedly replaced my childhood copy of Hungry Hungry Hippos with a newer version from Goodwill. It’s one of those games that transcends generations, even though it was released in the late 1970’s. In fact, depending upon which version you own, each hippo has its own name!

In the early 1980’s, Milton Bradley looked to further capitalize on the “catch the marble” theme with their release of Stuff Yer Face. This one was designed for only two players and contains a little bit more than just catching the most in your mouth. In Stuff Yer Face, the colors of the marbles matter.

The main thing that attracted us to this game was the unique clowns and arms which must be assembled. We were lucky to find a copy at thrift that not only had all twenty-five marbles in the right colors, but undamaged cloth arms. A quick assemble per the instructions on the back of the box lid and we were ready to play.

The object of Stuff Yer Face is to first grab all the marbles of your color, which is dictated by the colors of the clowns’ sleeves, and then collect the most red. Red must not be accidentally grabbed before you have all your own or you immediately lose the game. Players will perform at the same time trying to grab the marbles they need.

There is also a small indent in the board in front of each clown allowing you to “save” a marble, if you don’t knock it out. You might choose to hold on to a red until later, or one of your opponent’s so they can’t get it. Once you have grabbed all ten of your color marbles, you may then begin to grab the red ones.

The player to have the most red marbles in their tray when all marbles have been claimed is the winner of Stuff Yer Face! This is a silly, but immensely fun, two-player game that you should grab if you find a complete copy at thrift. Count the marbles and verify the condition of the rest of the parts before you commit. If you don’t want to risk it, grab one from eBay!

Which are scarier, clowns or hippos?