Driving with our family can be scary for anyone that hasn’t ridden with us before.
New passengers are often startled when a quiet conversation is interrupted by a sudden flurry of shouting “punchbug!” and “padiddle!”
The rules of the original punchbug (or punchbuggy) game included punching the person seated next to you when a VW Beetle is spotted. You can avoid getting punched if you were the first to call out “punchbuggy, no punch back” – meaning nobody can return the punch.
However, when the kids started hitting each other too hard, we began calling punchbugs for points.
Punchbugs must be called by “old” or “new” and by color and any other determining factor. For example, if a new yellow convertible VW Beetle is spotted, the proper way to call it is, “New yellow convertible punch bug.”
Punchbugs can’t be called if they are parked and points are started at zero with every new trip.
We also play “padiddle,” the game of yelling “padiddle” when spotting a car that has only one working headlight and extra points are earned for tractor trailer trucks with one light.
Two bonus points are awarded for emergency vehicles such as a fire truck or police car with a headlight out. A padiddle punchbug also earns extra points.
Because I am usually the driver, I use the rearview mirror to my advantage, calling both punchbugs and padiddles behind us. The kids cry foul about this practice, but I call it “driver’s handicap.”
I don’t know who came up with these silly games, but they can make a car ride either really fun or utter chaos as everyone argues over the validity of a call.
We also play a dumb game that has no name. When we pass a deer crossing sign, the one that shows a leaping deer, we all duck our heads to avoid being “kicked” as the deer jumps. Anyone who fails to duck in time, is smacked in the back of the head.
And, before we even get in the car, someone calls out “Shotgun!”
Nearly every time we walk out the door to get in the car, one of the kids has to declare their seat as “shotgun,” otherwise known as the front passenger seat.
I don’t understand what difference it makes whether they sit in the front seat or the back. Both seats are going to the same destination and will arrive at the same time.
Nick, my youngest son, will call shotgun for the ride to the grocery store and my daughter Chelsea will call it for the ride back home.
It was even worse when my oldest Zack lived at home as there were three people vying for the front seat. For awhile it got so out of hand, I didn’t allow anyone to sit in the front seat except the dog.
Calling shotgun doesn’t seem fair because it really depends on how fast it’s called, if you remember at all. I think two-out-of-three rounds of “rock, paper, scissors,” also known as Rochambeau, should determine the front seat.
You know the hand game – rock beats scissors, scissors beat paper, paper beats rock. Rochambeau is always a fair way to settle a dispute. I even did it once with a co-worker here at the office. We had the opportunity to take some photos for the paper, but couldn’t decide which of us should do it. We ended up playing three-out-of-five rounds of Rochambeau. I got the assignment.
  I wish I could play Rochambeau in negotiating the price of gasoline.
                                                             – Renee Worthing