Category Archives: Hopscotch
I grew up in Jersey City,…
I grew up in Jersey City, NJ. I remember playing a version of hopscotch that we called “kick the can”. Same basic rules, but you threw a flattened can into the numbered boxes. Then, on the way back, you didn’t pick it up. You had to kick the can back to home base while hopping on one foot.
I used to play this in Southern…
I used to play this in Southern California in the 60’s, when I was 10 or so. It was like hopscotch, except you drew a grid of 9 squares, and started in the lower right square. Each square was labeled. We labeled the first one “girls”, the second one “boys”, the third “fruit”, and so on. All I remember was, we had to jump in a counter- clockwise pattern, name the square, then name an object from that square for the rest. Sounds confusing. Let’s see if I can make it clearer. First, jump in first square and say “girls, girls”, then seconds square, say “mary, mary”, third square say “jenny, jenny”, etc., until you got to center square, hopefully coming up with 8 girls names. Then you’d start over, but this time, you’d jump in the first square, saying “girls, girls”, then jump in the second square saying “boys, boys”, then proceed to name 7 boys names without repeating. 3rd time around, it would be “girls, girls”, “boys, boys”, “fruit, fruit”, then name 6 fruit as you jumped into the next 6 boxes. Does anyone out there remember this game? I’ve been racking my brain to remember more of it, what the labels on the other boxes were, and whether you had to throw a stone into the boxes or anything. I played this with my cousins, whose parents were German, so maybe it’s from Germany. No one at school played this. I’d love to find the rules for it on line, or in a book, but everywhere I look for hopscotch games, it’s nowhere to be found. And, I don’t have a clue as to whether it has a name or not. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
How about Potsy? You make…
How about Potsy? You make a 8 boxes and you use 2 bobby pins hooked together or keys and throw them in a box one at a time 1 – 8 and you can’t step on the lines. When you complete 1 – 8 you go backwards 8 – 1 and when you complete that you own a box of your choosing and no one can step on it throughout the game. We spent hours playing Potsy.
I’m helping with a research…
I’m helping with a research project that is exploring leisure and pasttimes (and escapism) during the Great Depression. Any memories you might have or heard from parents or grandparents would be appreciated. I know my mother talked about paper dolls, jacks, and hopscotch because they cost little or no money. Any memories you would like to share?
We used Chinese Jacks as…
We used Chinese Jacks as our hopscotch markers. They were so fun and colorful. We all had a few that we made up with certain colors that we would use together. It was perfect. As a matter of fact, I am trying to find a place to purchase some Chinese Jacks. If anyone has any ides, please share.
We would use chinese jacks…
The game shown in the diagram…
I guess I will be considered…
I guess I will be considered the “old fogey” compared to those who have submitted their messages here. I found this site by accident and read all the letters posted here. I was born Oct 24,1921 in the very old original Bronx Hospital on corner Fulton and 169th St. It originally was a beer brewers mansion. Lived at 813 E 170th St (which does not exist anymore) around the corner from the Loews Boston Road Theatre. Schools: PS40, PS61, PS98, Morris H. S. The Bronx will always remain the great passion of my life. The memories that have been stated by others here are equal to mine. Its not easy to erase the past when it was the best time of our lives. and I grew up during the depression whose only silver lining was that folks had more respect and showed more kindest to each other. That we had less is the reason we created those great games like stickball, stoopball, johnny on a pony, kick the can, hide-go-seek, even potsie, I played that too. Nice talking to “ya old Bronxsites” and thanks for the memories Max
I am an artist and plan…
I am an artist and plan on creating an art piece made up of all kinds of hopscotch boards. I’m interested in different ways people made their boards. For example, I plan on making one out of sand, one of twigs, and one of cloth. Do you have any other ideas on what I could use to create these boards. In some boxes I’m going to use words and photos instead of numbers. Any ideas or stories about this game would be helpful. Thank you