Team Size: 1
Timeframe: 1 week
Type: Playground game
Gameplay: 10-15 minutes
Number of Players: 2-6
Prompt: Think about what is good and bad about the traditional game of HopScotch, and then create a new version of the game to make it more “fun.”
Traditional HopScotch works in its simplicity, but there isn’t much strategy to the “shooting” mechanic, and, after a while, the game begins to gets stale, with the same beats getting repeated again and again. Where’s the progression?
HopShooter, like traditional HopScotch, is a variation meant to employ more strategy and physical progression. It can still be played with kids, but is meant for more advanced hoppers and older kids who like more strategy to their hopping.
HopShooter relocates HopScotch to a more longform course, where you need to throw a “shooter” onto a square and then hop to it (with each square representing a different type of foot movement). You need to reach the square your “shooter” landed on to be successful, and thus throw from the new square on subsequent turns.
You will need:
- Indoor Space (can be played anywhere but you need to have stairs nearby)
- Tape (to make the board)
- A “shooter” (Balled-up socks work well, or beanbags – things that don’t roll)
- 2-3 larger, physical obstacles (Lamps, Large boxes, Furniture, etc.)
- Two medium-sized objects (Pillows, Cushions, etc.)
Basic Rules
The goal of the game is to make it across the “course” first. To do so, you throw your “shooter” through the air towards the course. You then must hop across the course across different types of Spaces (see below) to get to your “shooter.” If you make it to your “shooter”, then this becomes your space to end your turn. Leave your “shooter” on this space. If you don’t make it to your shooter, it doesn’t count and you must return from where you started your turn. If you threw the “shooter” and it lands off the course, it doesn’t count and you don’t move.
On the following player’s turn, they repeat the same motion. If the Player 2 passes the space where Player 1’s “shooter” is and successfully completes their turn, the first player is bumped back to the closest checkpoint on the course (see below). Turn continues until a player reaches the end of the course.
The taped-down part of the course is meant to end at the bottom of a flight of stairs. The “final challenge” for each player is to throw their “shooter” up the stairs to the stair directly below the landing (you can’t just throw it over the stairwell). As with the taped-down part of the course, you must hop up the stairs to where your shooter. You can take as many turns as you’d like to reach the top, but keep in mind that this gifts other players a chance to pass you and push you back to the last checkpoint. The player to reach the top of the stairs wins.
However, each following player is allowed a rebuttal, and if, for instance, Player 2 ties Player 1, who reached the top of the stairs, both Player 1 and Player 2 then return to the bottom of the stairwell. Play continues (the number of these rebuttals/returns allowed is equal to the number of players playing) until there is only one player on the top of the stairs.
It is possible to come from behind in this game if you take more challenging shooter throws. Good luck!
My full-scale documentation for the game can be found here (turn to page 25 for the final ruleset):
Matthew Floyd 