How to Play Beds

By Jaques of London · Est. 1795 · Updated 2026-08-17

Beds is a traditional outdoor hopping game played on a grid of numbered squares chalked onto a hard surface. Players take turns tossing a small marker and navigating the course, combining balance, coordination, and a steady throwing arm. It costs nothing beyond chalk and a stone, which is a large part of its enduring appeal.

It is most often played on playgrounds, driveways, and paved back gardens, and it travels well because the only equipment needed can be found on the spot. Children pick it up within minutes, yet the later rounds demand enough control and concentration to keep a group genuinely competitive.

A little history

Beds is a regional British and Irish name for the family of games more widely known as hopscotch. Hopping-and-throwing games of this type are documented across Europe from at least the seventeenth century, and versions appear in historical records from Britain, France, and the Netherlands. The specific name "Beds" is traditionally associated with the north of England and parts of Scotland and Ireland, though its precise origins are unclear. Whether the name refers to the rectangular shapes of the squares or to some older local usage is not recorded with any certainty.

Setting up

1. Draw a grid of ten numbered squares on a flat, hard surface. The standard layout is: a single square (1), a side-by-side pair (2 and 3), a single square (4), a side-by-side pair (5 and 6), a single square (7), a side-by-side pair (8 and 9), and a single square (10) at the top, sometimes drawn as a semicircle labelled "Home" or "Bed".
2. Each player chooses a distinct marker small enough to land clearly within a single square.
3. Decide the playing order, typically by age or by throwing a marker closest to square 1.
4. Players stand at the throwing line at the open end of square 1.

How to play

1. On your turn, stand behind the baseline and toss your marker so it lands flat inside the target square for that round. On your first turn, the target is square 1.
2. If your marker lands on a line, outside the grid, or in the wrong square, your turn ends immediately and play passes to the next player.
3. If the marker lands correctly, hop through the entire grid, skipping the square containing your marker. Hop on one foot in single squares and land with one foot in each square of side-by-side pairs simultaneously.
4. At square 10 (Home), you may place both feet down, turn around, and hop back through the grid in reverse order.
5. On the return journey, when you reach the square just beyond your marker, pause, balance on one foot, and pick up the marker from the adjacent square without touching the ground with your raised foot or losing balance.
6. Complete the return hop to the baseline. If you succeed, on your next turn you advance to the next square number: toss your marker to square 2, and so on.
7. A turn ends without progress if you: step on a line, step into your own marker's square, put both feet down in a single square, lose balance and touch the ground with a second foot, or step outside the grid.
8. When it is not your turn, rest your marker off the grid. Any square containing another player's marker is treated as a blocked square: all players hop over it as though it were their own.
9. Play continues with players rotating turns until one player completes the full sequence through all ten squares.

Winning and scoring

The first player to successfully complete rounds 1 through 10, meaning they have tossed their marker into each square in order and hopped the full course each time, wins the game. There is no points system in standard play: it is a race to finish all ten rounds cleanly. If playing multiple games, a simple first-to-three-wins format works well with most groups.

The fine points

The most common dispute is whether a marker resting on a line counts as out. The standard ruling is strict: any part of the marker touching a line means the throw fails and the turn passes. Similarly, a foot touching a line is out, not just a foot landing fully outside the grid. Both rulings should be agreed before the game starts, because relaxing the line rule significantly changes the difficulty.

A second frequent argument concerns picking up the marker on the return: the player must be balanced on one foot before reaching down, and must not touch the ground with the raised foot while retrieving it. If a player hops into the square next to their marker rather than stopping short of it, their turn ends. In side-by-side pairs adjacent to the marker's square, the player lands on the single available square on one foot; if both pair squares are occupied by other players' markers, the pair is effectively blocked and the hopping player must jump cleanly over both.

How to win more often

• Throw your marker to the centre of the target square, well clear of all four lines. Accuracy off the baseline is more important than power.
• Keep your hops short and controlled rather than covering maximum distance. Overreaching is the main cause of line faults.
• On single squares, look down at your landing spot before you hop, not at the next square. Reset your balance fully before moving on.
• When picking up your marker, plant your standing foot firmly and lower yourself slowly. Rushing the pick-up causes more failures than the hop itself.
• Watch where your opponents place their markers on each round. Plan your foot placements around blocked squares before your turn arrives so you are not calculating mid-hop.

Variations

French Beds

In this version, players hop through the grid on the outward journey but must complete the return journey hopping backwards, facing away from the grid. The marker is still collected on the return. This variant adds a significant balance challenge and is popular with older or more experienced players looking to raise the difficulty.

Poison Square

Before the game starts, one square is designated the Poison square by agreement or by random draw. No player may hop into or land on the Poison square at any point in the game; they must jump over it. The Poison square changes each game, keeping the route unpredictable and forcing players to plan their hops differently each time.

Beds with Forfeits

Any time a player faults, the other players collectively set a small physical forfeit before that player's next turn, such as hopping on the spot ten times or doing five star jumps. This adds a lively social dimension and keeps the game moving for players waiting their turn. Forfeits should be agreed in advance and kept age-appropriate.

Ownership Beds

After a player successfully completes a round, they initial that square lightly in chalk. Owned squares may be rested in with both feet by the owner but must be hopped over by all other players as if they were marker squares. Over time the course becomes progressively harder for everyone except the leading player, making comebacks more difficult and rewarding consistent early play.

Beds: frequently asked questions