It’s one of the most familiar games of childhood, and one of the easiest to play. Hopscotch can be played using a pattern drawn in the dirt with a stick, or on a hard surface using chalk or red ochre.
The basic idea of the game is to toss a marker into one square of the grid, then hop through the grid, turn around and hop back. The marker has to land inside the correct square and be picked up on the way back. If the marker ends up outside the proper square or if the player puts a hand or other foot down for balance, steps in a square with a marker in it or steps outside the pattern or on a line, the turn is forfeited. That person’s marker must stay in the last square it was in, and the next player has a turn.
Generally, the first to get his or her marker all the way to Home wins.
Canadian Version of Hopscotch
The traditional Canadian game uses a grid consisting of three single blocks, then two side by side, another single, another pair, a single, and Home, a large semi-circle at the top. Each square is numbered: 1, 2, 3, then left one is 4, right one is 5, then 6, left 7, right 8, then 9, then Home.
Each child finds a small flat stone, a metal bottle cap or, in the days before plastic bottles became common, a small piece of weathered coloured glass to use as a marker. Glass was favoured because it didn’t roll or bounce as much as rock. Flat pebbles such as sandstone, mica and shale were used if glass was unavailable, but anything with enough weight could be used, such as shells or buttons.
Each player must toss his marker in one square at a time, hop successfully through the grid, then toss into the next numbered square. The last and hardest toss is into Home.
If there are three or four playing, the game is much more difficult, since more squares have markers in them. The first player to successfully throw his marker into Home, then negotiate the grid to retrieve it and get back to the start is the winner.
All throws have to be made from the starting position in front of square 1.
Canadian Variations of Hopscotch
All the markers can be placed in square 1 to begin the game, or the grid can start empty, so each player’s first toss is into 1.
Sometimes a line is drawn a foot or so back of the first square, and all jumps and all throws have to start from behind this line.
Occasionally the grid is drawn differently, with a single square, then a double, then single, double, single, double, home. Permanent grids painted on playgrounds or gym floors may be different again.
Hopscotch in Other Countries
There are many other ways to play hopscotch. In Indonesia, the game is called One-Leg Jump and the squares are side by side. In Australia and some other countries, there is a version called Snail Hopscotch, in which the basic design is a segmented spiral.
In some countries, Home is a rest area where the player can pause before hopping back through. Sometimes there are squares designated as neutral areas where two feet con be used. Sometimes the squares are not numbered, and sometimes the player has to switch feet for the return trip, or even jump through backwards coming home.
Of course, children can make up their own variations and combinations. But however it is played, hopscotch is a great fitness activity and fun for children of all ages.
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