subject: No Punch Backs: A Guide To Road Trip Games [print this page] One of the most excruciating activities you will encounter with your kids is a long road trip. The whole family is stuck in a small space for hours with nothing to do but whine and beat each other up. Hours of silence pass and it's little wonder that no one jumps out the car window to alleviate the pain.
Cell phones can download lots of convenient and addictive games. However, cell phone companies charge ridiculous monthly subscription rates. Even if you can afford the charges, your phone might not be up to the pressure. Constantly using your cell phone drains the battery.
Save your battery power for roadside emergencies. You could always spend the trip singing along to the radio. How many verses of "99 Bottles of Beer" can your voice box handle? Your fellow travelers can provide all the entertainment you crave without the strain on your vocal chords.
Bingo isn't just for blue haired ladies at the senior center any more. You can go to websites that allow you to design your own bingo cards. Try picking out driver stereotypes instead of numbers and putting them on the cards. While driving along be on the lookout for a female redneck driving a powder pink, massive pick-up truck, or a Bentley with an executive in a three-piece suit doing the driving. Don't miss spotting that aging hippie with the pony tail in the tie-dyed '67 VW Bus.
VW recently released the new VW Bug. Pretty soon the highways will be teeming with brand new Bugs for the picking. Spotting any VW Bug first in your vehicle gives you the right to punch any and all of the other passenger while you cry out, "PUNCH BUGGIE!" If it weren't for the automatic retort, "no punch-backs" the game would go on for hours based on the sighting of one Bug!
Do not let the beatings get too drawn out. Any game played must come up with a victor. People want to play a game where they are given a chance at something. The winner can claim rewards like snacks, where the next stop should be, the radio station to listen to for the next hour or the right to sit in their favorite spot in the car until days end.
Be careful with the driver when playing a game. One real good punch to a driver could have the lot of you swerving off the road. Safety always comes first even with competitive road games.
The picnic game is a good one also as it combines memory and the alphabet in an intelligent, creative way. The game starts with someone declaring "I'm going to a picnic and I'm going to bring..."then says something that starts with the letter A all through to the letter Z. The fun comes when the food starts with a letter u or x or some other impossible letter to begin a food with. People will become desperately creative when it comes to inventing a food name that will help them win.
In many cases along the road the scene will be pastoral and you will have more sheep than people to watch. A little game called the Cow game pits the right side of the road against the left and gives points to the traveler who spots a cow. Spotting a cemetery on the opposite side of the road clears the points the cow side has earned. The victors with the most cow points pick the next lunch place.
Keep sane by keeping amused. The destination is only part of your journey. Don't mark time by whining and wishing you were somewhere else. These games can be so invigorating you may just keep driving!
