Hopscotch could become a strictly underground pursuit under amended graffiti laws in New South Wales.

Legislation introduced to the state’s parliament today aims to make it an offense to intentionally mark any premises or property without the owner’s consent. Other games traditionally requiring markations to be made on often impromptu fields of play include; four-square handball, street cricket and sidewalk noughts-and-crosses.

NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge says the laws are too heavy-handed: “Unless the kids get the consent of the local council they're committing an offence,” he said.

“This Government is going to be putting on the statute books laws that make it an offence not just for kids to chalk a hopscotch court on the footpath, but for Mr Stace to have chalked "Eternity" or for a street artist to put a rainbow crossing on the road.”

Attorney-General Greg Smith downplayed the extent of the laws while conceding that hopscotch would technically be illegal, saying police discretion will be the ultimate deciding factor.

If police choose to take a hard line on the strictly recreational activity it could see hopscotch relegated to the seedy areas behind the bike sheds, or to late-night gatherings at illicit patches of concrete. 

The law changes add a $440 fine to graffiti legislation, pushing some forms of artistic expression further into the margins of legality.