Fun Old-Fashioned Car Games You Can Play While On Vacation

According to US Travel Magazine, this is the busiest week of summer for travel.  More Americans take a vacation the week of the Fourth than any other time during summer.

For a lot of people, that means traveling in the car with the kids.

Back in my day, before smart phones and iPads, when we traveled anywhere we had to make our own fun.  See if you remember playing any of these car games as a kid.

• Slug Bug - first person to see a VW Bug got to slug the other person in the arm.
• Woody Wagon - similar to Slug Bug, first person to spot a car with wood-grain siding got to hit the other person in the arm.
• One Eyed Monster - first person to spot a car with only one working headlight or taillight got to pinch the other person.
• Banana Game - object of the game was to see who could spot the most yellow vehicles.  Cars were worth 1 point, trucks 2 points, and school buses 3 points.
• White Horse - first person to spot a white horse got to pinch the other person.  Another variation was whenever you spotted a white horse, you would wet your thumb, place it in the palm of your other hand and then spin it around for good luck.
• State Game - object of the game was to see who could spot the most out-of-state license plates.  To make it really tough, you would start with the letter "A".
• Geography Game - first person would throw out the name of a city, state or country (ex. Arkansas), second person would then have to come up with a city, state or country that started with the last letter of previous word (ex. Seattle), and so-on.
• Alphabet Game aka Name Game - after deciding on a topic (for example groceries), the first person would think of a grocery item that started with the letter "A," second person would then say the "A" word and have to come up with a grocery item that started with the letter "B", third person would then say the "A" and "B" words and then have to come up with a "C" word; and so-on.
• Bumble Bee, Bumble Bee - you would say "Bumble Bee, Bumble Bee, I see something you don't see, and the color of it is _____."  Winner would then get to be "King Bee" for the next round.
• I Spy - similar to Bumble Bee, only you would say "I spy something with my little eye, and the color is _____."  Another variation on the game was to give the first letter of the name of the object rather than the color.
• I See See, What Do You See? - similar to I Spy.

And then there was the way my sister and I would divide up the space in the backseat.  First person to say, "In the backseat, down the middle, is a line no one can see.  It divides this side from that side, and this side belongs to me."  First person to say that phrase got to choose which side they wanted.