Someday Drivers
We are a little bruised these days from summer travel.
I’m not talking about the weary bones you get from a long drive (although back-to-back tri-state weekend jaunts are not advised). I’m talking about Slug Bug.
This is a game my daughter, Jaime, picked up in third grade and spread to the rest of our family like a low-grade fever that spikes on long road trips. You play like this: First person to spot a VW Beetle slugs everyone else in the car while saying, “Slug Bug. No backs!” There’s a frenzy of slapping while each rider tries to tag anyone that hasn’t slugged him first. (Since there are “no backs,” of course, you can’t slug back anyone who has already slugged you.)
My son Andrew is a particularly energetic slugger and usually aims for the driver. This isn’t dangerous, really, but takes its toll on my husband’s right shoulder. The rest of us have simmered down to a mere tap but it’s essential to touch another player, or your calling out doesn’t count.
There’s also Cruiser Bruiser for PT Cruisers, and Jeeper Creeper for “old-fashioned” Jeeps. My husband once tried to slug Jaime for a Jeep Wagoneer and got dressed down for cheating.
The game components go brandless after that: Woodie (any vehicle with fake wood paneling) and Canary Car (for that shade of school-bus yellow that is, incredibly, really hot right now). Actual school buses don’t count, or semis, or motorcycles. In mid-June, someone added “Hot Shot” for convertibles, but we nixed “Pea Soup Green” as being too conducive to car sickness.
The game gets particularly frenzied for a minivan full of Girl Scouts, who feel compelled to touch each other all the time anyway. Even when it’s just our family, Slug Bug muddies conversation: “Yesterday at camp we Slug Bug, no backs! took the best hike and Woodie, no backs! found this great Canary Car, no backs! place in the woods to Jeeper Creeper, no backs! have a campfi Woodie, no backs!”
The game isn’t unusual, really. It’s more novel than the Alphabet Race or Those Are My Cows (which I have never played, but sounds complicated and tedious just the thing to keep the kids cheerful those last 180 miles). It’s not tough to train your eye to pick out a particular vehicle on the road. Heck, it happens every time you buy a new car. Suddenly, that’s the only kind you see on the road and boy, aren’t there a lot of them?
No, with Slug Bug, it’s the branding that strikes me.
It’s funny to watch kids zoom in on grown-up brands the kind you assume only mean something to adults, who can actually drive and buy cars and assimilate them into a home-grown game. It’s like they suddenly own all the Beetles on the road, just for a second, just long enough to best you because you didn’t own them first. Then just as soon as they’ve trained their eyes to hunt out one brand, they add another. It’s like collecting badges with zero-percent down and no monthly payment.
The other thing that surprises me is how eagerly I play. I’m embarrassed to say I’ve even slugged my husband on occasion when it was just the two of us in the car.
Maybe the lesson here is that people belong to brand niches in different ways. We use VW Beetles, PT Cruisers, and old Jeeps to bond. My kids aren’t buying cars yet, but they sure are differentiating their brands. And they’re showing a particular penchant for Hot Shots these days.
Happy travels.
Got Game?
Tell us about games you’ve seen kids play with brands. (No Pokémon anecdotes or Barbie scenarios, please.) We’ll pick our favorites and share them here and maybe even field a game table at promo Expo in October. Send descriptions to [email protected]. Play ball!
