R&D: Hopscotch [4] Rules

Marketing: [REDACTED]

[edit: Director] R&D and Marketing: If you continue to act like children then your salaries will be adjusted accordingly.

Number of Players: 3

Materials

• Masking tape (indoors)
• Sidewalk chalk (outdoors)
• 6 three-foot dowels or sticks
• 7 objects about the size of a pair of socks (preferably soft and malleable) 

Setup

Begin by creating the following game board on the floor using chalk or masking tape. For scale, the circle in the middle should be about three feet in diameter.

Place the 7 objects in the center of the circle.
Place the 6 sticks in pairs around the edge of the circle at equal distances from each other.

Goal

At the end of the game, the player who has collected the most objects is the winner.

Rules

SQUARES: There are three kinds of squares: bases, movement squares, and goal squares.

Each player chooses a base. Players begin by standing with both feet in the center of their bases.

When the game begins, players hop from their base to one of either of the start points next to their base [See figure: gold stars] and begin to make their way along the path of movement squares to the center circle.

MOVEMENT: After entering a set of movement squares, players must hop on one foot from their current square to an adjacent square (vertical or horizontal, diagonals don't count). A player in the movement squares may not switch feet. The only points from which a player may enter or exit the movement squares are from a start point or an endpoint.

Should the player put both feet down while in the movement squares, skip a square, or fall outside of the squares, they must walk back to their home base.

Once a player has reached an endpoint [See figure: black dots], they may jump to any of the goal squares. If they fall outside of a goal square or land in multiple goal squares, they must walk back to their home base. Once in an endpoint, a player may only jump to an endpoint. The player may not move to any other goal square before touching an endpoint.

OBJECTS: Once a player has reached a goal square, they may plant both feet in the square. There should be three pairs of sticks arranged around the circle. The player may pick up a pair of sticks and use them to drag one of the seven goal objects from the center of the circle to their goal square. Once the goal item is within the bounds of the player's goal square, they may drop their sticks, pick up the goal item, and hop back to an endpoint and travel back along their movement squares to return the goal object to their base.

In this process, players may NOT:

• Grab more than one goal object
• Carry the sticks beyond the circle
• Hit other players with sticks (though it's fine to hit others' sticks)

If the player falls outside of the squares or places both feet on the ground in the movement squares after having picked up a goal object, they must first return the object to the circle before walking back to their base.

Once an object has been placed in a player's base, no other player may touch it. 

End Game: The game ends when all objects are in one of the three home bases. The player with the most objects in their base wins.

[Excerpt from discussion log]

[Dev] I dunno, is it still hopscotch? I mean, there's hopping, yes, but there isn't any throwing anymore. That was half the skill–first you threw, then you hopped.

[Red] We replaced the throwing with the stick battles. We also added a bunch more player interactivity and engagement. I didn't like the throwing bit, anyway. It slowed things down.

[Dev] Oh wait, wait. Idea. What if instead of throwing rocks at the squares, you could keep them in your pocket to throw at other players to... you know what, just don't listen to me.

[Red] I rarely do.