Hopscotch

Legend has it that hopscotch was invented as a training exercise for Roman soldiers stationed in Britain. The hopscotch course would be over 100 feet long, and the soldiers would "play" the game in full armor and kit, with the aim of imporving their fitness, endurance, and footwork. According to some sources, the courses were marked out on the main Roman road between Glasgow and London.

The name of the game in English derives from the nature of the game - one hops over a scotch (scratch or score) - indicating that the origins of the game probably involved lines marked in soil with sticks, something that was unlikely to have happened on Roman roads.

Be that as it may, whether or not iron-clad Roman soldiers clanked up and down hopscotch courses in the pallid Ancient British sun, generations of children have certainly enjoyed the fitness, endurance and co-ordination benefits of a good game of hopscotch.

Times, they are a'changing, however.

In Birmingham in 2006, two 14-year-old girls were chastised by authorities for playing hopscotch. Allegedly they were drawing too many hopscotch grids on the pavement. Local police described it as "low level crime", and community workers called it "anti-social activity",

I'll bet they didn't take that sort of tone back in the days when it was Roman soldiers chalking the grids, rather than hapless adolescent girls!

More than just a pastime for children, hopscotch is recommended as a form of cross-training for serious athletes. A study published in the European Journal of Sports Physiology reported that cross-training with activities including hopscotch improved the performance of long-distance runners. The theory is that cross-training, particularly in activities which require a range of movement, increases the flexibility of lower leg muscles and thus improves the "running economy"- the amoiunt of energy it takes to run a given distance.

The first player tosses the marker (typically a stone, coin or bean bag) into the first square. The marker must land completely within the designated square, without touching a line or bouncing out.

The player then hops through the course, skipping the square with the marker in it. Single squares must be hopped on one foot. For the first single square, either foot may be used. Side by side squares are straddled, with the left foot landing in the left square, and the right foot landing in the right square.

Optional squares marked "Safe", "Home", or "Rest" are neutral squares, and may be hopped through in any manner without penalty.

Upon successfully completing the sequence, the player continues the turn by tossing the marker into square number two, and repeating the pattern.

If, while hopping through the court in either direction, the player steps on a line, misses a square, or loses balance, the turn ends. Players begin their turns where they last left off.

The first player to complete one course for every numbered square on the court wins the game.

A French variant of hopscotch is known as Escargot (snail) or "La Marelle Ronde" (round hopscotch). It is played on a spiral course.

Players must hop on one foot to the center of the spiral and back out again. A player marks one square with his or her initials, and from then on may place two feet in that square, while all other players must hop over it.

The game ends when all squares are marked or no one can reach the center, and the winner is the player who "owns" the most squares.

There are many other forms of hopscotch played across the globe. In Russia and Russian--speaking countries it is known as классики (diminutive for the word meaning classrooms).

In Poland, it is called klasy, meaning classes. In Malaysia the most popular variant is called tengteng. In India, a game similar to hopscotch is called chikki-billa, chikki meaning the chalk borders and billa meaning the marker, and elsewhere in India, Ekaria Dukaria. In Vietnam, it is known as Pico, and in Argentina, Rayuela.

In France the game is called Marelles, in Germany, Templehupfen or Hinkspiel, and in the Netherlands, Hinklebaan.

In 1998, the EU caused an uproar by banning the heavy glass markers used by Danish children to play hopscotch. The EU decided that children's toys made of glass were "too dangerous", even if the glass was so thick it would never break.

Images: Shanger's Legend, How2 UK, Dave Parker, staxnet