About two years ago I found this "Hot Hoops" game at the Goodwill for $0.99. I figure you can't go wrong for that price, even though the balls are missing. We played with it quite a bit, but it was frustrating. Ping pong balls didn't work because they are too large and too light. Among the plethora of balls in our various toy baskets, we really only found one that worked well (a small, purple, rubber ball).
At some point Colin figured out -- before I did -- that some pieces were missing. There are two holes underneath the baskets, and wouldn't it just be super cool if, when you made a basket, it sent the ball through the hole to the other side? Of course!
I told him a couple of times that I'd rig up a fix for it. We went to Tri-State one day and bought some flexible hose, but it wasn't flexible enough for the tight curves that were necessary.
We looked online for a "whole" Hot Hoops. They were a little rare and often didn't have all the pieces. I located one in Denver through craigslist and offered the seller to pay for shipping if she was willing. She was initially, but it never came together.
Then one day I struck gold in the Spokane listings. The seller agreed to meet sweet Aunt Marilyn downtown during lunch, and Justin brought it to us in Moscow. So we now have a whole Hot Hoops game! We gave it to him for an early birthday present.
He was pretty darn happy, to say the least.
