FourSquare and the Playground Pecking Order

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Dec 1, 2000

The one thing I remember disliking about FourSquare , one of the most popular playground diversions of my youth, is that the short kids had a clear advantage. Countless times they'd reach for a ball moving over my square, slipp in under my gangly (shouldn't all ten year old boys be at least a little gangly?) reach, and slap the ball down two times in quick succession. This move was known as Pitter-Pat, or Double Whammy in some schoolyards, and it was illegal genteel circles. It always worked on me. I spent my share of time in the King's Square, or Square #1, but I was nowhere near the elite of our school. My game relied on guarding the back lines of whichever square I was in, even to the point of diving across the hot glass-and-pebble-riddled asphalt. I was accorded respect for the raspberries on my elbows and knees, at least.

FourSquare, alive and well in cities and suburbs across the country today, has a murky history. Kings Corners, a more codified version of the game, is mentioned in kids books from the turn-of-the-century; beyond that we are left to assume the game is of British origin. Besides the game's obvious reverence for monarchy and autocratic power, there's the reserved nature of the action. One can't participate until one waits in line, possibly for the entire recess, at which time one must pat or strike a ball into a chalk or paint square besides one's own. I haven't a single shred of evidence (notice the British grammatical patterns sneaking up on me as I revel in the game) for my supposition, but I can't help but think of shrill-voiced London boys in knickers excelling at this game.

Never a champion at FourSquare, I was nevertheless entranced by the wonderful order it could bring to the messy social stratification of our playground. The game forced us to covet postions of power, to attack those who held power, and encouraged our creativity in naming the four squares. I think it was fifth grade when we changed the Jack and Duince squares to Pisser and Asshole. When I say social stratification, I'm talking about a structured hierarchy. Sheets of rankings were passed around classes and editorialized by anyone brave enough to comment on them. The entire playground took on a cockfighting atmosphere when two highly-regarded players ended up in the Squares at the same time. On a warm day, a dozen or so kids would be in line just to get in the Dunce (or Asshole) spot. We tried adding squares a few times, but the geometry of the game was all wrong.