Car Games

We went on a mini-road trip today - my sister is working out of town over summer, popped over for a visit, and needed to be dropped back. On the road trip (hour and a half each way), we brought out the car games! Car games rule.

On the way over we played Horse! Horse! is similar to other classic car games Tractor! and Beehive! in that every time you see a horse, you shout Horse! and give yourself a point. (Obviously when you are playing Tractor! and Beehive! then you don't give a shit about horses because you are looking for tractors or beehives, but all the games run along the same lines and there is one rule which is the same for all three, the Holy Fuck! Fire rule, which dictates that if you see a horse/tractor/beehive actually on fire then you instantly win the game.)

Also you receive this badge and a lifetime membership to the New World Christmas Club.

Horse! can cause quite a lot of tension because
a) sometimes everyone sees the horse at once and it is difficult to ascertain exactly whose horse it is, and
b) sometimes people make up rules mid-game ("Oh, it's a foal, that's two points" / "Oh, horsefloat, that's ten points because of all the potential horses you can put in it" / "That horse was MASSIVE, I am giving myself two.")

For those who are interested, these rules are bollocks and you only made them up because you were losing, Kate. And also sometimes people pretend to see a horse when there is actually no horse at all, and I am sorry about the couple of times I did that but I totally would have won anyway.


On the way back we played a few round of 20 Questions - this is always entertaining to play with my family because they have an awful tendency to pick people they know nothing about. Here is a sample game:

"Are you alive?"
"Yes."
"Are you male?"
"Yes."
"Are you famous?"
"Yes."
"Are you American?"
"I... I'm not sure. I think so."
"OK... are you in showbiz?"
"Yes!"
"Are you in movies?"
"I... I'm not sure. I think I might be in TV."
"OK, well, are you over 50?"
"Yes. Wait, no." Pause. "Maybe I'm not American."

And then it turns out that actually they were Paul Newman all along and they were hoping you would get it through strategic salad-dressing related questions because that is actually all they know about Paul Newman. Also, once I ran out of questions on Michael J Fox because the person whose turn it was thought he was dead.


After 20 Questions we played a spot of The Alphabet Game, which is where you pick a topic - say, for example, Fruit And Vegetables - and go through the alphabet and everyone has to name one. It sounds pretty simple but we're not always very good at it.

Example A: Fruit And Veges

"Banana." "Blueberry." "Boysenberry."
"Carrot." "Chinese gooseberry." "Cherry."
(excited shout) "Duck!"
"What?"
"Oh. Oh. That's a meat. Never mind."


Example B: Mammals And Birds

"Monkey." "Marmoset." "Macaque!*"
"Narwhal." "I... I will also choose Narwhal." "Numbat?"
"Octopus."
Pause.
"Octopus?"
"Yes."
"It is a cephalopod!"
"Well, I'm having it."
"Does it have live babies? Does it feed them milk? Is it cute and fuzzy?"
"No, I suppose it... Orangutan."


We also had one round of Hard-Out Alphabet Game ("My name is Ally and my husband is Adam and we are Architects and we live in Ashburton") but everyone was getting a bit tired ("My name is Edwina and my husband is Egbert and we live in Eggs and we are... Elephants") so we packed it in before it reached its inevitable Zelda/Zach/Zookeeper/Zaire end.


Of all the games, though, I think Horse! is the best, because you can do other things while you're playing it, like have an intelligent conversation (peppered with the odd frantic shout of Horse!) or daydream about living in the South of France, or perhaps have a little sing-a-long to Uptown Girl...

"Uptown girl, she's been living in her white bread wo- HORSE! 20!"
"HORSE! HORSE! HA! 23!"
Pause
"As long as anyone with hot blood can, and now she's looking for a downtown man-"
"That's what I am-"
"- HORSE! 24!"
"FUCK!"
"HAHAHA! HAHA HA HORSE HORSE!"

I won Horse! 30 to 26. I am awarding myself the badge.


*it is the funniest named of all the monkeys.