Leapfrog is a game in which players in turn vault with parted legs over the backs of others who are bending down. Games of this sort have been called by this name since at least the late sixteenth century. Below is a collection of some of funny vintage photographs of people playing leapfrog.

Young bellhops playing leapfrog on the sun deck of US liner Leviathan (former Hamburg America line vessel Vaterland), on arrival at Southampton, 1923. (Photo by A. R. Coster)

Oxford University relay team leap-frog to keep fit on board SS Berengaria on their way to the USA, April 1923.

 

Members of the Brighton Swimming Club leap-frogging on the beach at Brighton, 1925. (Photo by E. Bacon)

 

A couple of young women playing leap frog on the beach at Hove, March 1929.

 

Friends on holiday by the river at Harwell in Oxfordshire, May 1929.

 

Leap-frogging on a Californian beach. 14th May 1930.

 

Able seamen at the Royal Navy Anti-Gas School at Tipnor, Portsmouth play leapfrog wearing gas masks, to accustom them to carrying out strenuous tasks in respirators. 22nd January 1934. (Photo by William Vanderson)

 

A group of women camping near the River Thames enjoy a game of leap-frog, 1935.

 

Holidaymakers enjoying a game of leap-frog on the pier at Llandudno. 16th August 1935.

 

Two women enjoying a game of leap-frog on the beach at Blackpool. 28th March 1936.

 

Students at University College Cardiff leap frogging during a physical training display. 17th May 1936.

 

Two girls play leap-frog on the beach at Clacton. 27th June 1936.

 

Four girl campers at Upshine, near Epping are pictured playing leap-frog with their dog trying to join in, 1936.

 

Women divers who are competing in the European Championships at Wembley, London playing leapfrog with the speedway riders as part of a “keep fit” regime. 6th July 1938. (Photo by George W. Hales)

 

Girls playing a game of leap-frog, circa 1938.

 

Jack Payne, the British dancer, pictured rehearsing with his troupe, ‘Manhattan Six’ on the roof of the Holborn Empire, 1938. (Photo by Fred Ramage)

 

A group of boys from the Gorbals play amongst the gravestones of the Corporation Burial Ground in Rutherglen Road, UK, one of the few areas of greenery in the district, 1948. (Photo by Bert Hardy)

 

Pupils enjoying games on the beach during a working break at the residential branch of their Wakefield school by the seaside in Hornsea. 7th August 1948. (Photo by Haywood Magee)

 

A group of children playing leap frog in the street, 1950. (Photo by Bill Brandt)

 

Two women wearing fins play leap-frog on the beach, 1955. (Photo by Peter Purdy)

 

A game of leap-frog in a field, May 1955. (Photo by Charles Hewitt)

 

Bert and Ellie Lang, a young American couple on their honeymoon in Hawaii play leap-frog on Honolulu’s Waikiki beach. In the background is the extinct volcanic crater of Diamond Head, circa 1955. (Photo by Orlando)

 

Arsenal’s new signings from Leyton Orient, Vic Groves (jumping) and Stan Charlton, enjoying their first day of trraining at Arsenal’s Highbury Stadium in North London, 8th November 1955. (Photo by L. Blandford)

 

A boy plays leap-frog in St Peter’s Square in The Vatican City, circa 1955. (Photo by Vecchio)

 

Paris street performers Jean Louis Bert and Grethe Bulow playing leap-frog in front of the Eiffel Tower, 1955. (Photo by Jean Berton)

 

Fashion models Darien Leigh and Valerie Drew play leap-frog on the beach. 2nd July 1956. (Photo by Harry Kerr)