(Baonghean.vn) -Hopscotch (or simply hopscotch) is a familiar folk game in Nghe An province; it aims to train beginners in body balance skills and improve dexterity.
Let's watch the children of Nghe An playing hopscotch:
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In Nghe An province, you often see children hopping on one leg, the other dangling, on a brick courtyard, open field, or sidewalk within squares drawn with chalk, bricks, or even sticks on the ground. They are playing hopscotch. To begin the game, they draw seven squares on the ground. This game can be played with a few or many people. Photo: Le Khanh Thanh |
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| First, the children play rock-paper-scissors; whoever wins gets to play first. Photo: Le Khanh Thanh |
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| This is a hopscotch field drawn in a village alley. A middle-aged man is instructing young children on how to play hopscotch. Photo: Le Khanh Thanh |
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The game begins. The playing equipment consists of a small piece of brick or stone, sharpened to the player's liking, or anything similar like a bag of beans, seed shells, plastic toys, etc., called a lead (in some places called a copper coin). The lead is thrown into a square, and the player who completes the turn puts it away and continues playing until they lose their turn. However, if a player steps on a line or throws the lead outside the square, they lose their turn, and it's the next player's turn. Photo: Le Khanh Thanh |
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| While playing, jumping over the line like this is "dead," you lose your turn. Photo: Le Khanh Thanh |
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| If you were to ask what the most difficult part of the game is, many would probably answer that it's retrieving the pencil when it falls into a square but is closest to the edge. Photo: Le Khanh Thanh |
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| This little girl has to stretch her whole body to reach the lead that's quite far out of reach, while still having to hop on one leg. Photo: Le Khanh Thanh |
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| The children take turns playing until the last person remaining who hasn't stepped on the line, lost a footing, or thrown the lead coin outside the line wins. Photo: Le Khanh Thanh |
Le Khanh Thanh
