Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Adventures in Hopscotch
Anu Visel's research into "The Traditional and the Recent in Modern Schoolchildren's Games" in Estonian Folklore" is the very kind of treasure of play scholarship that inspired me to write the Interplay Games Catalog for the School District of Philadelphia, because it presents concrete, scholarly descriptions of games that actual kids actually play. Take for example this wonderful image 
of a girl playing some kind of hopscotch. But what kind of hopscotch looks like that?
Number Beds.
"It probably arrived in Estonia in mid- or late 1960s," writes Visel, "and in 1972-73 Number Beds was a well-known game (RKM II 306). The figure represents a square or a rectangle that is divided into 9, 12 or 24 compartments. Often an additional square ('foot') is joined to the middle square of the front or back row. The numbering system varies, but usually the neighbouring beds are not marked by successive numbers. Here hopping is the only activity: the player is to traverse the figure precisely in the order of the numbers.15 Only the manner of hopping varies: 1) feet together, 2) on the right foot, 3) on the left foot, 4) backwards. Depending on how inventive the players happen to be the game may be prolonged and diversified further (e.g. the figure may have to be traversed in the opposite order, or blindfolded etc.). Every class consists of as many rounds as there are squares. For "one" all beds have to be taken, for "two" all except the first, etc. Rest beds or "rest homes" may also be involved, sometimes even lending their name puhkekodud to the whole game."
"Jumping games," Visel observes, "are one of the games group that has changed the most during the last 60 years. Jumping games have, in most cases, been adopted from other nations. Such games have come to life quite lately and they represent the quickly changing international town folklore. In Estonia, too, they are mostly girls' games. Though it seems that Hopscotch was popular already in the 1930s, it must have been a relatively new game at that time. During the post-war years popularity of the game grew, some new hopscotch schemes appeared, favourite games changed, jumping sessions or classes became more detailed. It has been overdominated by twist (Elastic Skipping) - though girls knew several kinds of Hopscotch in 1992, they hardly ever used them. Totally new local developments (One Leg, Two Legs; Class: Strawberry, etc.) can be found only in some periphery (e.g. Kihnu Island). Compared to the earlier period the number of Hopscotch played without stones and elements (or boxes) in the schemes and the usage of a private bed (or "home") had increased."
Yet another new adventure in Hopscotch, another way to play, another principle of play to apply to another group of games, to create yet more games, to give kids yet more options, yet more ways to invite each other into play in evermore rapidly changing times.
from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith
of a girl playing some kind of hopscotch. But what kind of hopscotch looks like that?Number Beds.
"It probably arrived in Estonia in mid- or late 1960s," writes Visel, "and in 1972-73 Number Beds was a well-known game (RKM II 306). The figure represents a square or a rectangle that is divided into 9, 12 or 24 compartments. Often an additional square ('foot') is joined to the middle square of the front or back row. The numbering system varies, but usually the neighbouring beds are not marked by successive numbers. Here hopping is the only activity: the player is to traverse the figure precisely in the order of the numbers.15 Only the manner of hopping varies: 1) feet together, 2) on the right foot, 3) on the left foot, 4) backwards. Depending on how inventive the players happen to be the game may be prolonged and diversified further (e.g. the figure may have to be traversed in the opposite order, or blindfolded etc.). Every class consists of as many rounds as there are squares. For "one" all beds have to be taken, for "two" all except the first, etc. Rest beds or "rest homes" may also be involved, sometimes even lending their name puhkekodud to the whole game."
"Jumping games," Visel observes, "are one of the games group that has changed the most during the last 60 years. Jumping games have, in most cases, been adopted from other nations. Such games have come to life quite lately and they represent the quickly changing international town folklore. In Estonia, too, they are mostly girls' games. Though it seems that Hopscotch was popular already in the 1930s, it must have been a relatively new game at that time. During the post-war years popularity of the game grew, some new hopscotch schemes appeared, favourite games changed, jumping sessions or classes became more detailed. It has been overdominated by twist (Elastic Skipping) - though girls knew several kinds of Hopscotch in 1992, they hardly ever used them. Totally new local developments (One Leg, Two Legs; Class: Strawberry, etc.) can be found only in some periphery (e.g. Kihnu Island). Compared to the earlier period the number of Hopscotch played without stones and elements (or boxes) in the schemes and the usage of a private bed (or "home") had increased."
Yet another new adventure in Hopscotch, another way to play, another principle of play to apply to another group of games, to create yet more games, to give kids yet more options, yet more ways to invite each other into play in evermore rapidly changing times.
from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith
Labels: fun studies, games
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