This time of year is one of the best for a little game I like to call Padiddle. Actually, it will only get better as the winter goes on. That’s because nobody wants to get outside in the cold and changer their headlight. “I have one working headlight? Oh, that’s good enough…”
Thus the basis of the game. It is also better and better in winter time because there is just more darkness and it forces people to keep their headlights on all season long. For those of you not familiar with the game, it consists of yelling “Padiddle” and punching the roof of the car when you see someone who has one headlight out. This can be headlight, taillight or foglight. As long as only one of them is out, not just dim.
In the past there has been a point system for this game, and it goes something like: One point for a car, two for a semi, four for a police car. I guess that’s because police cars technically can’t be out at all with a headlight out, so if they are, that just means they’re on their way back to the station.
But that’s an archaic system. The better way to play it, for those who are comfortable is called Stripadiddle and involves the removal of clothes. Probably will only take place on Ultimate Frisbee team trips and the like. Except everyone in the car (but the driver) have to be playing for it to actually be fun. Or anyone else except me, really.
That’s only one of my favorite road trip games, however. I tried to play Padiddle as well as a couple more games on my way back from the family farm a couple weeks ago. There’s also the Roadkill game, the Alphabet game and several others that can’t be played simultaneously. It’s really hard to see whether that lump on the ground is a dead animal when you’re trying to look for the Q which you’ve been on for 20 minutes. Fortunately Katie got a Z, which gave me some time to catch up.
In the present day, of course, it’s less acceptable to incorporate other people into the games. But back in the day we used to play a game called Sweet & Sour where we would do the “hang loose” gesture to others (back when people didn’t know what that meant) and see if they smiled or frowned and keep a running tally. Or you could just play the “Look over, then fall back and pass the car again with shades on, not paying any attention to them” Game.
Finally, I made up a game of my own, which doesn’t necessarily need to be played on a roadtrip, but I think it is perfect for them. I call it the iPod game. You have a friend hold your iPod, put it on shuffle, and you say as much about the song that’s playing- Name, Artist, Album- as fast as you can. Then you can even make it competitive. Each have an iPod in, then take turns and see how fast you can get through the songs. Suffice it to say, I’m pretty good at this game.
But not quite as good at Stripadiddle.
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