Hop Scotch

Hop Scotch on a sidewalk 

 Now you may not remember this but during those growing up years we did not have cell phones or texting but we had baseball, alligators (old story I wrote), basketball if it was cold or rainy (it was not an option if the weather was good) and HOP SCOTCH.  Hop Scotch was a game played on the cement (yes, dangerous) where someone would draw out a picture like the one above using chalk.  Usually it was about 10 to 20 squares but could be as big as you wanted.
The way it worked is everyone had a rock and you would throw it and whatever square it landed on you had to not step on the square.  Also when you started you had to jump from row to row but if there were two numbers in the row you planted both feet but if there was one number you had to skip on one foot and the worst would be if the rock was on the single numbered row and you had to totally skip the row.  Each round consisted of when everyone had successfully Hop Scotched through the numbers without a mistake.  If you made a mistake you were out.  The next round would start after another rock was tossed and another square was eliminated.

This was a pretty good game and the girls loved it as they seemed to be the best.  I really liked the game but was rather big and clumsy for my age and probably never won as far as I remember.  Now the smaller guys who were more athletic could be competitive with the girls.

The thing about these games is everyone of every age participated and it was expected that you would get along and not fight or get in arguments.  And of course every game there were mostly losers and one winner.

So what do you learn in the Osage from this little game?

• There are always people with more and less talent than you (except I think I was the least talented every time on this game)
• Learn to enjoy the adventure as that was more important than winning although I would have loved to have been a winner.  Perhaps that is why I am very competitive today and if so then it was a good thing to lose even if it was most of the time or all of the time.
• Learn to get along and stay in line, take your turn, don't complain, respect one another, etc....

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com