Hopscotch

[4] Traditionally the court ends with a "safe" or "home" base in which the player may turn before completing the reverse trip.

(In Scotland and Ireland, the marker is usually replaced with an old shoe polish tin or flat stone, called a piggy.

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.

B. Lal states (without evidence) that hopscotch was played c.1200 to 600–500 BCE during the Painted Grey ware era of India.

[16][19] The first recorded references to the game in the English-speaking world date to the late seventeenth century, usually under the name "scotch-hop" or "scotch-hopper(s)".

The 1707 edition of Poor Robin's Almanack includes the following phrase... "Lawyers and Physicians have little to do this month, so they may (if they will) play at Scotch-hoppers.

"[22] In 1828, Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language also referred to the game as 'Scotch-hopper' ... 'a play in which boys hop over scotches and lines in the ground.

'[23] According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the etymology of hopscotch is a formation from the words "hop" and "scotch", the latter in the sense of "an incised line or scratch".

[24] The journal of the British Archaeological Association, volume 26 (dated March 9, 1870) states: "The sport of Hop-Scotch or Scotch-Hoppers is called in Yorkshire 'Hop-Score', and in Suffolk 'Scotch Hobbies or Hobby', from the boy who gets on the player's back whilst hopping or 'hicking', as it is there termed; and in Scotland it is known as 'Peevers, Peeverels, and Pabats'".

In Poland, it appears in two forms: klasy ("classes") which has a rectangular shape and no marker (instead, players call out names of various items of a given class, e.g. colours or flowers, while jumping on successive fields); and pajac ("buffoon") which has a human shape and uses a thrown marker, e.g. a piece of glass or stone.

In Brazil it is called amarelinha, evolved from marelle, the French name for the game that became too closely associated with the radical amarelo (yellow) and its diminutive in -inho/a.

In South Korea, hopscotch is called sabangchigi (사방치기, meaning "Hitting the Four Cardinal Directions") and is widely played across the nation.

In the 1950s and 1960s in Glasgow, it was common for the peever to be a shoe polish tin filled with stones or dirt and screwed shut.

[30] In Germany, Austria, and Switzerland the hopscotch game is called Himmel und Hölle (Heaven and Hell) although some other names are used, as well, depending on the region.

In India, hopscotch is also called Kith-Kith, Stapu, Langdi in the Hindi-speaking areas, or Ekhaat Duhaat or Ekka Dukka in Bengal, Tipri Pani in Maharashtra, Kunte bille in Karnataka, Paandi in Tamil Nadu, and Tokkudu Billa in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

In Spain, and several South American countries (Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Uruguay), the name of the hopscotch game is "Rayuela",[32] However, it may also be known as golosa or charranca.

In Cuba and in Puerto Rico it is called "La Peregrina" Chindro is the South Asian version of hopscotch.

Other variants are Ponci (West Sumatera), Sekebat (Aceh), Pecut Kelapa (Bangka Belitung), Kecek (Bali), and Setatak (Riau).

During the COVID-19 pandemic, in April 2020 a giant hopscotch game with nearly 1,000 squares was created in Edinburgh, to be used while following social distancing rules.

[34][35] The current Guinness Book of World Records holder for the fastest hopscotch game is Ashrita Furman, at 1 minute and 2 seconds.