Why a chalk court?

Hopscotch needs very little. You draw a court with chalk, or scratch one into the sand with a stick, and find a flat stone. That is the whole kit, which is why children play it almost everywhere.

On a screen we kept the chalk and the stone, and turned the hopping into a beat. A ring closes in on the box you land on next, and you tap as it closes. The real rules decide which button you press. One box takes one foot. Two boxes side by side take both feet. You never land in the box with your stone.

A bit of real hopscotch history

The English name explains the game. A scotch is an old word for a line scratched on the ground, and you hop over it. In England the game was called Scotch-hoppers in the 1600s. Poor Robin’s Almanack of 1677 marks “the time when schoolboys should play at Scotch-hoppers”.

Where it started is a harder question. You will often read that Roman soldiers trained on long hopscotch courts, or that a court is carved into the Roman Forum. Historians of ancient games say there is no evidence for this. Other stories place the start in China or India, also without firm proof. The honest answer is that nobody knows.

It has many names. In France it is marelle, in Spain and Latin America rayuela, and in Germany Himmel und Hölle, which means heaven and hell. In Malaysia it is teng-teng, also called ting-ting or ketengteng, and people writing about old Singapore games use the name teng teng too. Singapore’s National Library Board says hopscotch was popular with children here in the mid-20th century.

The court the National Library Board describes has eight boxes in a double T shape, with a semicircle marked home at the end. Boxes 1, 2, 3 and 6 are single. Boxes 4 and 5 sit side by side, and so do 7 and 8. You throw your marker into box 1, hop through, land with both feet on the pairs, and pick the marker up on the way back. Next turn it goes into box 2. In the last round the marker goes into home, and you reach behind you for it without looking. After that, players throw with their backs to the court to win boxes as their own houses. Only the owner may set foot in a house.

France also has the escargot, or snail, court. It is a spiral of boxes with a resting spot in the middle, and there is no marker. You hop on one foot to the centre and back. Each clean trip lets you write your initials in a box, where you may stand on both feet. Everyone else has to hop over it.

The five courts

• Starter line: four boxes and home, a slow beat and an easy throw.
• Kampung court: the eight-box court from the National Library Board’s description, ending with the round where your stone goes into home.
• Ten-box court: a longer court of our own, with a quicker beat and a faster throw.
• Escargot: twelve boxes in a spiral. Two friends have already claimed boxes, so hop over them. Each clean trip wins you a box of your own.
• Houses: the kampung court again, but your friends own boxes 3 and 7, and box 6 is your house. The beat is the fastest of all.

How to play

• Hold the throw button or the Space bar. A dotted circle slides up the court. Let go when it sits in the glowing box.
• Then hop to the beat. Tap Hop for a single box, and Both feet for a pair, for home and for a box you own.
• On the way back, tap Pick up in the box just before your stone, then hop on.
• A throw on a line or in the wrong box is a miss, and you throw again. A hop too soon, too late or with the wrong feet is a wobble. Your stone stays put and you hop that round again.
• Keys: left arrow hops, right arrow lands on both feet, down arrow picks up. P pauses.
• Each court gives up to three stars. Fewer misses means more stars, and the start card shows the numbers for that court.
• Earn 3 stickers in this game for your QuickBOP sticker book.

Tips

Listen to the ticks. Two ticks count you in, and every hop lands on a tick after that.

Watch the court, not your thumbs. The ring shows the next landing. If it wraps two boxes, use both feet.

Let go a little early. On the faster courts the circle moves quickly, so release just before it reaches the box.

The pick-up has its own beat. Bend for your stone on one tick, then hop on the next.

Your turn

The court is drawn and your stone is in your hand. Start on the Starter line and hop your way to a house of your own.