Kith Kith Game
In India, hopscotch is also called Kith-Kith, Stapu, in the Hindi-speaking areas, or Ek-hat - Du-hat in Bengal, Chirpi in Maharashtra, Kunte bille in Karnataka, Paandi in Tamil Nadu, and Tokkudu Billa in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. These games have similar principles in that players must hop on one foot and must throw the marker in the right square. The game is mostly common among girls in India, though some boys play too.
See an open surface and a chalk to draw? Lets play Kith Kith! A popular playground game in which players toss a small object into numbered spaces of a pattern of rectangles outlined on the ground and then hop or jump through the spaces to retrieve the object. This popular game is also played in other countries and is loved by all.
Hopscotch is a children's game that can be played with several players or alone. Hopscotch is a popular playground game in which players toss a small object into numbered spaces of a pattern of rectangles outlined on the ground and then hop or jump through the spaces to retrieve the object.
To play hopscotch, a court is first laid out on the ground. Depending on the available surface, the court is either scratched out in dirt, or drawn with chalk on pavement. Courts may be permanently marked where playgrounds are commonly paved, as in elementary schools. Designs vary, but the court is usually composed of a series of linear squares interspersed with blocks of two lateral squares. Traditionally the court ends with a "safe" or "home" base in which the player may turn before completing the reverse trip. The home base may be a square, a rectangle, or a semicircle. The squares are then numbered in the sequence in which they are to be hopped.
Kith-Kith or Hopscotch or Stapu in a children’s game. Every child in India has played this game. It is also known as Ekhat-Dukhat. This game requires physical agility and nimbness. It does not require too much place. It can be played in streets, indoor or outdoor.Kith-kith is played almost in all the states of India. In Tamil Nadu it is called Paandi, Kunte Bille in Karnataka, Tokkudu Billa in Andhra Pradesh and Telengana and Khane in Kashmir.
Generally a chalk or a small brick piece is used to draw blocks on the ground. It contains8 blocks.Each player uses a marker such as a bottle cap, shell, stone or button. A player has to stand behind the starting line and toss his marker in the first block. He has to hop over the first block to the second one and then continue hopping to the eighth block, turn around, hop back to the second block, pause and pickup the marker, hop in the first block and set out. Then he has to toss the marker in the second block. This goes on until the player reaches the eighth block and completes the lap successfully. In this game, all hopping is done on one foot, unless there are two lateral blocks, where the player can land his both feet.
There are many games for children, but kith kith is simplest one yet very tricky. It needs good balance and precision. A player is out if the marker does not land in the right block, touches the line or the player loses balance and touches the line accidentally. There are many other local rules and variations that govern the dynamics of the game which add to the fun and difficulty level.
In India, this game is mostly played by girls, but boys also play this game.
In India, this game is mostly played by girls, but boys also play this game.
Kith kith is not only played in India. It has global reach. It is lanlan in Persian, Escargot (snail) or Marelle Ronde in French, Bebeleche in Mexico, Himmel and Holle in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Playing the game
The first player tosses the marker (typically a stone, coin or bean bag) into the first square. The marker must land completely within the designated square and without touching a line or bouncing out. The player then hops through the course, skipping the square with the marker in it. Single squares must be hopped on one foot. For the first single square, 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 the "Safe", "Home", or "Rest" the player must then turn around and return through the course (square 9, then squares 8 and 7, next square 6 and so forth) on one or two legs depending on the square until he or she reaches the square with their marker. They then must retrieve their 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.
It is attested that an ancient form of hopscotch was played by Roman children, but the first recorded references to the game in English-speaking world date back to the late 17th century, usually under the name "scotch-hop" or "scotch-hopper(s)". A manuscript Book of Games compiled between 1635 and 1672 by Francis Willughby refers to 'Scotch Hopper‥. They play with a piece of tile or a little flat piece of lead, upon a boarded floore, or any area divided into oblong figures like boards'. In Poor Robin’s Almanack for 1677, the game is referred to as "Scotch-hoppers". The entry states, "The time when schoolboys should play at Scotch-hoppers." The 1707 edition of Poor Robin’s Almanack includes the following phrase… "Lawyers and Physicians have little to do this month, so they may (if they will) play at Scotch-hoppers." In 1828 Webster's An American Dictionary of the English language also referred to the game as 'Scotch-hopper'...'a play in which boys hop over scotches and lines in the ground.'
Since the game was known and popular in the seventeenth century, it is logical to suppose it may have existed at least a few decades (or perhaps even many centuries) before its earliest literary reference; but no conclusive evidence has yet been presented to support this theory.