The pits are thrown over the palm by the boy whose turn it is to play; they must fall so far apart that the finger can be passed between them. Then the player with a fillip of the thumb makes his pit strike the enemy's, and wins both. If he misses, the next takes his place. This game, like the rest, has its regular season, at which all the boys in the neighborhood may be seen playing it.[114] No. 144. _Buttons._ Buttons are in extensive use in the sports of German children, with whom they form a sort of coinage, each sort having a stipulated exchangeable value. Traces of similar usage exist in the United States. A common New York game consists in throwing buttons. A line is drawn, and a hole made about twelve feet off. The players toss their buttons, and whoever comes nearest the hole has the first shot. He endeavors to drive the buttons of the rest into the hole, striking them with the extended thumb by a movement of the whole hand, which is kept flat and stiff. When he misses the next takes his turn, and so on. Whoever drives the adversary's button into the hole wins it. Another game, for two players, is called "Spans." The buttons are cast against the wall, and if a player's button falls within a span of the adversary's, he may aim at it and win it by striking as before. No. 145. _Hop-Scotch._ A figure of about twelve feet in length, similar to that represented in the diagram, is described on the ground, and selection made of a small flat stone, having sharp edges. From a line drawn at a distance of a few paces, a stone is tossed into No. 1, after which the boy or girl hops on one foot into No. 1, and kicks out the stone, which is then thrown into No. 2. The player now hops into No. 1, and jumps into No. 2, in such a way that one foot is in the division 2, and one foot in 1. The stone is kicked into 1, and then out, and so on. In passing through divisions 1 and 2, 4 and 5, 8 and 9, a straddle must be made, one foot being placed in each; in the others a hop only mast be taken. A failure to throw the stone into the right place, or to kick it into the right division, or leaving it on any line, or touching the raised foot, or stepping on a line, puts out, and the next takes his or her turn. [Illustration] In other localities, no straddling step is taken, but the player, in certain divisions, is allowed to place the stone on his foot, and so expel it from the figure at a single kick; the compartments also vary in number and arrangement.