Hello, Creatures.
It occurred to me that most of you might not know how to play hopscotch.
In fact, I was not entirely sure I remembered how to play hopscotch, so I had to turn to the trusty Internet for answers. Guys, this game is crazy old, with variations dating all the way back to Ye Olden Times…which, I guess shouldn’t have really surprised me, given that it’s a pretty simple game. Turns out I did pretty much remember the game, and I will REVEAL ITS SECRETS TO YOU!*
You can play by yourself (you know if you wanna) but it’s better if you get a gaggle of kids together, draw out the court, and grab a couple of rocks to get started.
Each kid takes a turn tossing their rock down in each successive numbered box, one for the first turn, two for the second, etc. Then they hop over the box with the stone in it and proceed down the course. When they get to the tenth box, they turn around, head back down the course, stopping in the box ahead of their rock to pick it up, hop over the box that had the stone in it again and finish the turn.
That was confusing.
The first turn would go like this: The player tosses the stone down in One box, then hops over the One box and into the Two box, then proceeds up the course, hopping in every box until they get to the Ten box. In the Ten box, the play turns around, and proceeds back down the course, once again hopping in every box until they stop at the Two box to pick up their stone in the One box. Once the stone is retrieved, the player hops over the One box to finish the turn. Repeat the process with each successive box. The player loses the turn if they throw their rock outside of the designated box, if they step on a line, or put both feet in one square. First player to complete the entire board: A Winner Is You!
*Seriously, this is the reason why women live longer than men. Here’s a video (Eddie Izzard explains hopscotch. It’s Izzard, so there’s some language in there. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.)
