The Mother Of All Car Games was (is) "I see something blue" (or red/yellow/green/etc.). I suppose there is an ex-kid somewhere who never played it, but I've never met him. My folks encouraged my brothers and I to play any current car games we knew or to make up our own games. One frequent game was to keep an eye out for VW's and be the first to yell "Beatle!" We had other versions such as cowboy hats on other drivers and passer-bys, motorcycles, and "spot a cop". Someone was always delegated to read the Burma-Shave signs out loud. When we got a little older, Dad would challenge us to guess how many tenths of a mile to the overpass or landmark in the distance. He would give us a few seconds warning and when he said "Now" we had to each verbally commit our best guess. Closest guess won. Spotting out of state license plates was sometimes played but Mom had the best seat and always won...... us kids just played against each other and ignored Mom's score. When I was old enough to be a driver and cruised with friends, the games took on a new dimension. We might still spot VW's but instead of winning glory we could win a kiss or get to punch the other guy's arm, depending on the gender of the "friend". Or you might be the punchee instead of the punchor for losing/coming in second. Another similar game after dark was first to spot a burned out headlight, with the same rewards for winning/losing. I recall yelling the nonsense word "Padital!" when you spotted a score but I have no idea the roots of that. Let's hear what games were played to keep from getting bored on those long and short trips. By all means, don't hold back the other "games" you played to get under the skin of your siblings. "Mom! He's touching me! Dad! Make him stop looking at me!" ..
My brother and I would play a car game in the car...sitting on the front porch, etc. When we'd see a car we liked... "That one's mine!" "That one's mine!" It got to be a little too much for my dad in the car. He shut us down.
See an ICX semi truck, it was punch the brother in the arm while saying; "ICX's No Backs" and then you had to wipe the punch off. If you didn't wipe it off or didn't say "No Backs" you got a punch in the arm, but couldn't be any harder than the one you gave....sure. This was from my dad, the same guy that would broadcast 98 pennies in the front yard grass and tell us boys not to come back into the house until we found a dollars worth.
Late 50s summertime, slightly older neighbor car lover kid like me...we'd try to guess the brand of car coming from the farthest hill up the road. "who could get the answer first"...Then we were getting too good at that, so we would do it with eyes closed...Flattys, Buick inline 8, chev 6, etc. It was fun times with no modern electronic/digital/cell stuff like today.
I remember slug bugs and perdiddles. You got to slug your buddy for a VW bug. You got to kiss your girl for a perdiddle (a car with one headlight out).
Still play the alphabet game. Find a word on a road sign, billboard, building that starts with A, then B, then C...gets tougher at the end.
Cant believe that was a game other kids played, I grew up with a brother and two sisters (and one brother younger than us) We did that all the time, That ones mine! That ones mine! No, I picked that one last time then my sister started picking out ponys and stuff I was the oldest and after that I kinda quit and so did they ....and when out on the road acting like you were pulling a air horn to the big trucks to get em to honk, even taught my kids to do that.
A bud had a 1933 Studebaker 4 door. We had a game where we had a girl in the back seat. Now this car had regular opening front doors and suicide rear doors and running boards. So the driver got out while the car was driving and got into the back seat with the girl, the passenger slid over and drove, then that driver got out and in the back seat and the 1st driver got out and moved up to the passengers side and the passenger slid over and drove. We rotated places while the car was still moving. Now the best part was on your 1st trip in the back seat you got to kiss the girl, the second time thru you copped a feel the 3rd time hand under her skirt 4th time thru you started to unbutton her dress or blouse. the 1st guy to get her top opened and exposed her titties won the game. The winner got a free coke. We had some girls willing to play and some that cried and wanted us to stop which made us try even harder. I don't ever remember actually stopping when they told us to stop. Today we would be up for charges and listed in the me 2 movement. just sayin' brasscarguy
We had the cardboard cards with the little plastic windows you slid shut when you spotted the thing in the picture... road sign, cow, cop car, etc. Other than that it was hours and hours of AM radio whine with Vin Scully’s voice barely audible in the background. I still have no idea how my mom managed to tune in stations from Colorado while driving on I-5 in California.
My wife and I have our own rules; slug bug = a punch in the arm Baja bug = slap and a slug turbo beetle = 2 punches electric/hybrid car = pinch with a zzzt sound effect an error call (calling a prius when it is not a prius for example) means you get he same punishment X 2 (2 pinches) Pedditles = 1 point each, once you get to 10 you earn a personal favor...
As a kid when I'd have a friend along for a ride, we'd play "spot the out of state license plate". Who ever spotted one would slug the other in the arm and yell, "outa state license plate".
The AM frequency can skip especially at night. I used to sit in the car at night in SoCal and listen to the Colorado stations.
We have a local trucking company (Erb Transport) that runs through out the province. Our family cottage is about a 3 hr drive away so we always see several of them in our travels. When me and my future wife would go to the cottage we would keep track of who spotted the most, and then the other would have to "give a favour" () once we arrived. Still play it today 30 years later but the favours have dropped to the getting a beer or a back rub level. Only thing that scares me is my 23 year daughter plays the same game with her boyfriend - just hope they aren't playing with the same rewards !!!! Sent from my iPad using H.A.M.B.
When I was a teenager, our Sunday afternoon entertainment was to play hide-and-go-seek with the cars. We had boundaries laid out. Back then it was mostly peach orchards and soybean fields, and very little traffic. That same square today is all subdivisions and a huge sports complex.
That sounds exactly like the game we had called; "Auto Bingo". Riding in the rear-facing seat of a 59 Plymouth 9-passenger station wagon, that is how my brother and I passed time in our move from Iowa to Oregon in 1960. - EM
I had a cousin who did the brand spotting deal. He was also pretty good at it at night just from the characteristics of the head + "parking" lights.
I won't tell you what happened when we (high school sweetie and I) once spotted a slug bug perdiddle!
As teens in the late '50s, early '60s, we had a stunt for a bit of extra fun when cruising with a full front and back seat. Rolling up to a light that had just turned red, usually when the giggling had tapered off, someone might yell "Chinese Fire Drill" and then all the doors popped open and everyone jumped out, ran around the car and changed seats. The driver had to make a full circuit of the car to get back behind the wheel. The idea was to be all back inside before the light turned green and to see the reactions and expressions on the faces of folks in nearby cars..... and to improve your chances of rubbing thighs with that cute girl..... * ....... and giggle some more. Sometime during the evening, we would head over to the cut-rate gas station and everyone had to pony up all their pocket change so we could put a couple gallons in the tank and give the pump jockey some good-natured harassment.
we played slug bug, don't really any others other then the ass whipping we got from slugging each other. mom and dad were no fun.
You guys are really bringing back some memories. Played 'My car, Your car' w/my sisters as a kid. Oncoming traffic was the premise. Always a hoot when somebody got a clunker. Got a 10 transistor radio for my tenth birthday. Discovered WCFL out of Chicago would come in clear as a bell, late at night... Super Chicken, he's everywhere, he's everywhere!!
I had a personal game I played when we went to visit my older sister in Virginia. Rt 66 into DC was not yet completed and ended just pass our on ramp so there was never any traffic to merge with. Just as we would pull into the lane I would yell out CAR. Dad always jumped and looked at his side view mirror followed by a few cuss words and an attempt at a back swing. It worked quite a few times, the trick was getting him or my Mom into a conversation right before the ramp. We always laughed about it after a few miles and my Mom would comment "He gotcha again". I learned from the best, Dad would pull up close to a tractor trailer being towed backwards when I dozed off. A yell and a tap on the brakes got my attention real quick. Had my young life pass in front of me a quite few times.
The only games I remember was who pissed dad of first, "Are we there yet?" or him saying "Don't make me stop this car." Later on as a teenage driver we played "Chinese Fire Drill" at red lights. HRP
Slug bug is the old standard. Then find a car of a certain color or make first. Then once we started driving on our own it was dirt roads and bumper tag at midnight. Of course back then our old cars had metal bumpers so it was easy to tell when you were "it".
Back tracked a little and read this one too......this is also a good one My Dad wouldnt have been that easy goin about it tho
Working two jobs most of his life we didn't get a lot of quality time when I was little. We made up for it on road trips and vacations. I remember him having to pull over once because we were laughing so hard. Great times.
What's with the "Colorado radio stations"? I live in Texas now after 23 years in Colorado and still listen to KOA 850 Denver at night if I'm away from city limits. Nothing better than a Rockies game to listen to when on the road. Counting cars, trucks, etc. Just to keep boredom away on a long trip. A few months ago, someone from Australia or New Zealand had commented how much big rig traffic there was on I 40. Last week my wife sent me to a casino in Oklahoma for my birthday, and once I got out of city limits, I started counting big rigs out of curiousity. Got to 411 at 60 miles and realized that wasn't a good idea. You know what happens when you count sheep, lol.