I’m translating a Japanese novel into my language. The novel I’m working with
is a fantasy story about a teen witch and children. But I’m not sure about the
meaning of とびっことりっこ which appears several times:

(Aくん is a boy who loves climbing trees. Bちゃん is a 4 year-old girl. Cくん is a 2
year-old boy. A once took B and C to a へんな国 by jumping over a stick.)

So I (the main character who is a witch) want to know about へんな国.

> 「Cくん、教えてくれない。Aくんとへんな国にいったんでしょ」
>
> 「うん、いったよ」
>
> 「どんなとこだった」
>
> 「あのね、ぷーって、 **とびっことりっこしたんだ** 」
>
> Cくんはぷーっというと、Iのひざのうえでとぶまねをしました。

And,

> 「ねえ、Bちゃん。Aくんと行ったへんな国のお話、して」
>
> 「おててつないで行くんだよ。みんなして胸のところ、きゅうっとなるの。それから **とびっことりっこ** するの。また行くんだ、Aくんと・・・」

And,

> あれからずっとAくんは、高いところ、高いところとのぼりつづけて、変な国をのぞいて **なにかをとびっことりっこ** しているのかもしれない。

What does とびっことりっこ mean in these contexts? I’m not sure if it means “jump over
something” or “jump and race with other people” (since 取りっこ means to fight
with other people to get something, but it sounds weird in this context
though), or just “jump”.

I assume it should be “jump across something, since in the last context it
says なにかを so なにか should be something that is jumped over.

But since it’s not a commonly used word, I might misunderstand it. Please let
me know how you understand this word.
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meaning translation words interpretation
What does とびっことりっこ mean?
とびっことりっこ is probably a made-up word used only in the novel you're working on.
You will need to read the entire novel to find all the references that
possibly explain the meaning of this unfamiliar word. If you're translating
this professionally, you may need to make your own new English phrase that
"feels" like とびっことりっこ.

Still, it's possible to analyze this. (っ)こ is a suffix that forms the name of
a play/game involving two or more people. See [this
entry](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E3%81%93/#jn-71117) and [this
question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/43825/5010). For example, かけっこ
is "駆ける + っこ", and にらめっこ is "睨め + っこ". So とびっことりっこ can be intuitively
understood by native speakers as a game-like activity where two or more people
fly/jump (飛ぶ/跳ぶ) and catch/take (取る) something. Maybe it's something like a
witch version of frisbee dog or playing catch, but this is just my guess. (I
intuitively took this とぶ as "fly" rather than "jump" because most witches in
fantasy works can fly, but of course I may be wrong.)
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If you break it down into とびっこ and とりっこ, it looks like both are found in
dialects in the Kanto area. According to [http://www1.tmtv.ne.jp/~kadoya-
sogo/ibaraki-to.html](http://www1.tmtv.ne.jp/%7Ekadoya-sogo/ibaraki-to.html)

  * とびっこ is a synonym of かけっこ: running and chasing
  * とりっこ is a synonym of 取り競べ (I don't know what it is exactly, but it sounds like it might be a game for maintaining possession of something (like a ball))

I admit I don't exactly know a word that combines the two. If I had to guess,
it sounds a lot like a game that involves maintaining the possession of
something (like a ball) while running away from non-possessing players.
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