Hopscotch Rules: The Grid, The Scoring And Six Variations

A piece of chalk, a stone and a paving slab. Hopscotch is played in some form in almost every country on earth and has been for two thousand years.

Here's the standard British grid and the rules that go with it.

The grid

• The classic layout: squares numbered 1, 2, 3 in a column, then 4 and 5 side by side, then 6 alone, then 7 and 8 side by side, then a semicircle at the end marked 'home' or 10.
• The simplest version: single squares 1 to 10 in a straight line, which is what most children draw.
• Each square wants to be big enough for two feet side by side - roughly a paving slab.
• Chalk on tarmac, a stick in dry mud, or tape indoors.
• You need a marker each: a flat stone, a beanbag or a coin. Flat matters, or it rolls.

How to play a turn

• Throw your marker into square 1 without it touching a line or bouncing out.
• Hop through the grid, skipping the square your marker is in. Single squares are hopped on one foot, side-by-side pairs are landed on with both feet, one in each.
• Turn around at home, hop back, and pause to pick up your marker from the square before it while balancing on one foot.
• Hop out. If you completed it cleanly, throw into square 2 next turn, then 3, and so on.
• Fault and your turn ends. Next time you start again from the square you failed on.
• First to complete the grid from 1 through to the last square wins.

What counts as a fault

• Standing on a line.
• Putting your second foot down in a single square.
• Falling, or touching the ground with a hand.
• The marker landing on a line, in the wrong square or outside the grid.
• Hopping into the square your marker is in.
• House rule worth agreeing: whether you get a second throw if your first misses. Most streets said no.

Variations

• Snail or escargot hopscotch: a spiral of squares numbered inwards, hopped on one foot the whole way. When you reach the centre you may claim one square as your own to rest in - and nobody else may use it.
• Sky blue or aeroplane hopscotch: a longer grid with wings, popular in Scotland.
• Hopscotch with the marker kicked from square to square rather than thrown.
• Eyes closed for the last square, called by a friend.
• Timed hopscotch, fastest clean run wins.
• Alphabet hopscotch for younger children - letters instead of numbers, and you say the letter as you land.

Shop cards

How to write it so it lands

• A flat stone, not a round one.
• Squares the size of a paving slab.
• Snail hopscotch is the version children invent for themselves.

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Frequently asked questions

What are the rules of hopscotch?

Throw your marker into square 1, then hop through the grid skipping that square - one foot on single squares, two feet on side-by-side pairs. Turn at the end, hop back, collect your marker while balancing, and hop out. Complete it cleanly to move to the next square.

How do you draw a hopscotch grid?

Squares 1, 2 and 3 in a column, then 4 and 5 side by side, 6 alone, 7 and 8 side by side, and a semicircle marked home at the end. Each square should be about the size of a paving slab.

What counts as out in hopscotch?

Standing on a line, putting your second foot down in a single square, falling or touching the ground with your hand, or throwing your marker onto a line or into the wrong square.

What is snail hopscotch?

A spiral of squares numbered from the outside in, hopped on one foot the whole way. Complete it and you claim one square as your own to rest in - and nobody else may step in it for the rest of the game.

Do you sell games or play equipment?

No - we make greeting cards, art prints and pin badges in the UK. Every game here needs a wall, a ball, a piece of chalk or nothing at all, and the only products on this page are our own cards.