Editing Hopscotch (section)

=== Playing the game ===
The first player tosses a marker onto the court.<ref name="canisius-salley-hopscotch">{{cite web |last1=Salley |first1=David P. |title=Hopscotch |url=https://www-cs.canisius.edu/~salley/Articles/hopscotch.html |website=[[Canisius College]] |access-date=15 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990128065601/https://www-cs.canisius.edu/~salley/Articles/hopscotch.html |archive-date=28 January 1999 |quote=Dagonell the Juggler}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Whiteman |first1=Susan |title=Hopscotch History and Variation |url=https://www.albany.edu/~sw7656/ |website=[[University at Albany, SUNY]] |access-date=15 March 2022 |date=November 1, 2005}}</ref> The marker (typically a small stone, coin, bean bag, or small chain with a charm) should land in the square without bouncing, sliding, or rolling out. (In Scotland and Ireland, the marker is usually replaced with an old shoe polish tin or flat stone, called a piggy.{{Citation needed|date=April 2018}}) In the United States the marker was called a “lagger” and in the 1940s Hopscotch Laggers made of rubber were sold by the Hoppy Taw Company of Utah.<ref>Hoppy Taw Hopscotch Lagger https://www.etsy.com/listing/105606102/lagger-hoppy-taw-hopscotch-game-thingie?show_sold_out_detail=1&ref=nla_listing_details</ref> The marker must be thrown in sequential numerical order completely within the square without touching the line.<ref name=":1" /> The player then hops through the course, skipping the marker's square. Single squares must be hopped on one foot, except for the first single square, where 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. After hopping into "Safe", "Home", or "Rest", the player must then turn around and retrace their steps through the course on one or two legs, depending on the square, until reaching the marker's square. The player stops in the square before the marker<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gameskidsplay.net/games/other_games/hopscotch.htm |title=Hopscotch |access-date=2017-04-24 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kidspot.com.au/things-to-do/activities/hopscotch |title=Hopscotch |work=kidspot |publisher=NewsLifeMedia |access-date=2017-04-24 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fungameskidsplay.com/hopscotchgame.htm |title= Hopscotch Game |work=Fun Games Kids Play |access-date=2017-04-24 |quote="The two basic rules to remember - 1. Players can only have 1 foot in each square of the hopscotch board at a time. 2. Players have to hop over the square with the rock in it." }}</ref> and reaches down to retrieve the marker and continue the course as stated, without touching a line or stepping into a square with another player's marker.

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.

Although the marker is most often picked up during the game, historically, in the boy's game, the marker was kicked sequentially back through the course on the return trip and then kicked out.<ref>{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Hop-Scotch |volume=13 |page=687}}</ref>