There is this old, fun game that we used to play driving on long road trips…
- License plates from other states – the one with the most states wins (kind of like an election)
- Counting mailboxes or cows or train cars – capture everyone else’s when you spot the cemetery first
- Punch buggy – 1 time for a regular VW Beetle, twice for a convertible – unless you flinch, then 2 hits for flinching
- Car bingo – a set of 4 boards, various road side items and you just have to be first to get 5 in a row – just like regular bingo except you can’t yell that loud or your parents will probably flip
- Singing 100 bottles of beer on the wall (singing faster and faster if counting down as the numbered streets go by, which, ironically is also a great way to get a speeding ticket)
- I spy (with my little eye)
It was a great way to pass the time.
Of course, the rules would vary by car, by family driving, or the generation who was in the car with you for some odd reason. The rules in NJ seemed to be slightly different than those in PA and yet somehow, very much the same in AZ. Wildly different in OH. Flat out strange in FL. Only, of course, by comparison and lack of familiarity.
Today, we don’t need to do these crazy things, each kid has a device of some kind or another and they are completely, thoroughly engaged in their own little world.
Fortunately for me today, they were not on their devices and no, we didn’t play a single one of these, not one old fun game. Instead, we made up a new one…counting blue cars, trucks, vans, SUVs, trashcans (recycling versions in our area are the same bright blue), signs promoting the pool installer, blue houses, blue reflections off of the street signs from the bright sunny, day – you name it, anything blue was shouted out – each and every time it was seen. It was engaging, clever, simple and the kids laughed along with me. Which, sometimes, is all you need to not feel quite so blue in spite of being reminded of it all day long.
~ Dawn aka Hat Girl