Do you play the license plate game?

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PartyLikeaPirate@reddit

Usually something done with kids

I’ll notice weird ones I haven’t seen often (like alaska, hawaii etc) while in VA. But we get a lot of other states bc military is very prevalent in my area

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TheHolyFritz@reddit

Craziest I've seen is a NY plate while living in Alaska (not counting foreign plates since their so common over there), and a Manitoba plate here in Ohio.

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CupBeEmpty@reddit

I saw a German one in CT, not sure how that works or why.

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Poi-s-en@reddit

https://www.cbp.gov/trade/basic-import-export/importing-car

“Nonresidents may import a vehicle duty-free for personal use up to (1) one year if the vehicle is imported in conjunction with the owner’s arrival. Vehicles imported under this provision that do not conform to U.S. safety and emission standards must be exported within one year and may not be sold in the U.S. There is no exemption or extension of the export requirements.”

They also have to pay a 2.5% Duty on the value of the vehicle to clear customs.

Of course if you only saw the plate on the front and not the back it could just be a fake vanity plate attached on a vehicle from a state that does not require front plates.

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Poi-s-en@reddit

I’ve seen plates from pretty much every state except North Dakota, and yes I have seen Hawaii and Alaska plates here. Have not seen plates from territories yet. Have seen plates from Canadian Provinces Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and the Yukon Territory. I have also spotted a Peugeot with French License Plates and a Tiguan with GB plates.

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Jens0485@reddit

I keep a list on my phone of the ones I've seen, usually during road trips, although the last time I updated it was over a year ago. I've got 43 of the states on it.

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geronika@reddit

I have never seen a Rhode Island liscense plate.

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vLT_VeNoMz@reddit

I do, but with traveling for work and living near a major city I tend to see 48/50 plates if not all 50 every year. Because of this I’ve adapted the game to seeing each plate per year and keep track in my head.

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Burial4TetThomYorke@reddit

I guess i informally do this. I’ve seen (off the top of my head): MA CT RI ME NH VT NY NJ PA MD VA DC FL AL NC GA KY OH MI ON QC IN TX OK AR WI CA CO NV and most excitingly by far, a Hawaii license plate in the DC area!

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annaoze94@reddit

Yes surprisingly in California you can find a lot of East Coast states and I think it's just cuz people move out here and don't want to pay to switch their plates. But like all of those people did two to three day drives out here which is why I'm surprised to find so many

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Tristinmathemusician@reddit

Not usually, but I will usually make a remark if someone is out of state.

So far I’ve seen Sonora (Mexican state south of Arizona), Utah, Texas, New Mexico, California and some more interesting ones like Tennessee and even Maine. I’ve also seen some out of country plates like English ones and even a Middle Eastern one.

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OK_Ingenue@reddit

We did when we were kids but not as adults

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GOTaSMALL1@reddit

Does no one play Punch Buggy/Slug Bug?

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Davmilasav@reddit

I haven't seen a VW bug in ages.

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shelwood46@reddit

Yes, we also played Padiddle (one headlight gets a punch) but those are pretty rare where I live since we have annual inspections.

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zeezle@reddit

Yes, this is a classic.

A few years ago I saw a car with plates from the Netherlands in the parking lot of my grocery store. I took a picture and sent it to my mother and declared that I had won the license plate game forever.

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taniamorse85@reddit

My brother and I did when were kids. Our family did a road trip every summer, and games like that probably kept us from driving our parents crazy. I'm sure I've seen a plate from every state. During our travels, we visited the 48 contiguous states, and I'm certain I've seen at least a couple Alaska and Hawaii plates as well.

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Kellosian@reddit

I live in a college down, so occasionally I see some distant plates. I saw a Canadian plate once on a car, which considering I live in Texas is a serious drive.

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GingerPinoy@reddit

In Colorado, we play the "expired registration" game.

It can get brutal since seemingly no one registers in this damn state

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EvaisAchu@reddit

Same! We try to find the oldest tags we can. Right now I hold the record with tags from 2014.

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Kellosian@reddit

If my tags are out by like a week I get every cop in DFW on my ass, meanwhile people are out there on expired tags, paper plates from the 90s, and a license so old it shows Texas as part of Mexico and they just never get caught.

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Quercus@reddit

Yellowstone National Park is the epicenter as most vehicles are either rentals or people on road trips. Saw a Yukon Territory and a Guam last time. Made licence plate bingo cards for the group, though limited to states and provinces.

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Top-Comfortable-4789@reddit

I’ve probably seen nearly all of them. I have only seen a Hawaii plate maybe twice. I’m missing Alaska and some midwestern states.

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fredbobkate@reddit

In Ohio and we are only missing DE and Rhode Island this year ...

Most years we see Alaska but it's only about about every 3 years we see a Hawaii plate ... we have seen one this year!

WY and MT seems to be hard to find too

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fredbobkate@reddit

You can even find apps to keep track throughout the year

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Red_Beard_Rising@reddit

I did this as a child but not anymore. The common ones around Chicago are Wisconsin and Indiana of course. Florida, Iowa, California, and Texas plates aren't common, but you'll see them here and there. All U-Haul trucks have Arizona plates. The big rigs can be from anywhere, really. So much freight passes through here.

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Dinocop1234@reddit

My neighbor has Alaska plates and I have seen Hawaii plates of all things. I also saw an Ontario plate a few weeks ago. I used to see Chihuahua plates as well, but it’s been a while.

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anneofgraygardens@reddit

there aren't usually a ton of other states license plates in my area because I live so far from a state border. It's not super unusual to see one (esp from other Western states) but it's definitely not as common as when you live somewhere in the middle.

When my sister and I were kids we played the alphabet game, trying to find all the letters of the alphabet on signs and license plates. We live pretty near San Quentin and we'd inevitably get stuck on Q and then wait impatiently for the first sign for San Quentin. If you happened to see a Q on a license plate first it was a guarantee that you'd win.

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azuth89@reddit

It resets for every road trip.

Points are allocated by EC votes, but our own state doesn't count unless you spot a special tag. Exempt, registered farm truck, something like that.

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ZLUCremisi@reddit

Did it a few times. Got a lot of states just in California bay area and I5

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JediKnightaa@reddit

Yes, I can usually get 5 plates in one day

Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, and Washington DC or Virginia

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GhostOfJamesStrang@reddit

I do on long road trips or when I'm in a touristy area.

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CupBeEmpty@reddit

Yup mostly if the kids are in the car and need something to occupy them for a bit. Maine in the summer is pretty good for it.

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seancookie101@reddit

I always pay attention to license plates whenever driving. I notice a couple every single day. The thing is I don't keep track and write them down. Just looked through the list and I am sure I have seen around 35 different states, 4 Canadian provinces, and a couple of others (Washington DC, Diplomat, US Government) all in recent memory but there are for sure more, I just don't remember.

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w84primo@reddit

Yeah! Living around the Orlando area and I’ve almost always done this. I’ll usually just count how many I see in a normal day. I could go grocery shopping and spot 10 different plates. If I see a bunch of plates I normally wouldn’t see I’ll ask my wife to guess which States I spotted.

I even started looking at all of the different Florida plates. I think we have about 100 different options. Sometimes I’ll see a bunch of different ones all together.

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framptal_tromwibbler@reddit

A few years ago, I came up with a cool divisibility trick for 7. It does require a little practice, though. Ever since, I've been using the numeric part of license plates (usually last 4 characters on the plate around here) to practice on.

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BankManager69420@reddit

Yep. I play it all the time. Oregon and Washington don’t count though since I’m in Portland.

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Unusual_Ad_512@reddit

I’ve played the license plate game a bit, and I’ve spotted plates from about 25 states—it's always fun to see which ones pop up on the road!

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wooper346@reddit

Only without realizing it. The other day I saw an Alaska plate in Houston, and it was significant enough to draw my attention on its own.

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Traditional_Entry183@reddit

I certainly did as a kid. I grew up in a city where a major interstate ran through, so we saw cars from a lot of different places all the time.

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AshDenver@reddit

I’m in Colorado and there are probably 50 different versions of license plates issued in this state. Rather than play the actual license plate game, each day I actually leave the house, I count each plate I see beyond the regular green and white mountains. Today, I got up to 47. I think my record was 210 in a four hour period. Crazy bananas.

Regular plate options, special plates, military plates, and alumni plates.

I got the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) plates. A one-time $50 fee. Plus the blue and white looks snazzy on my white vehicle.

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OceanPoet87@reddit

When I go on vacation, yes.

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IHaveALittleNeck@reddit

Of course. Also the one with cows and cemeteries.

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shelwood46@reddit

Played it as a kid and now I just tend to notice it on road trips and just driving around, even at home. I do like noticing plates from far flung places (and judging their driving ability).

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Im_Not_Nick_Fisher@reddit

All the time! I usually play on road-trips. I’ll drive from the east coast of Florida to southern Alabama maybe 3 times a year. And I’ve seen them all twice on that trip. It’s pretty hard to find them on on a single trip.

Just today I was at Disney and saw a few unusual ones.

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7yearlurkernowposter@reddit

When traveling alone yes, if I really have nothing better to do I factor mile markers.

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Silt-Sifter@reddit

My dad and older sister made up a version of the license plate game but it is wildly different from the one everyone else plays, and we played that as kids.

So yes, but also no.

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littleyellowbike@reddit

Unofficially, yeah. I do look at license plates and it's fun to catch the less-common ones, but I don't, like, have a record or anything. Besides the obvious Indiana plates, I also see Illinois/Ohio daily, Michigan/Wisconsin/Kentucky a few times a week, and I see Minnesota, Missouri, Iowa, North Carolina, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, New York, Texas, Colorado, California, Florida, and Ontario (bonus points for Canada!) often enough that I can immediately picture what they look like. Indiana isn't called "The Crossroads of America" for nothing, after all.

Years ago, when I was a kid, Indiana used a license plate numbering scheme based on the county where the plate was issued. The BMV used to print a little checklist to keep in the car to keep track of the county codes as you spotted them. Back in the days before minivans had built-in TVs, it was a great way to keep the kids in the backseat occupied.

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Longjumping_Bar_7457@reddit

my family sometimes does, I don’t usually play since I can’t see the license plates

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Cheap_Coffee@reddit

What's "the license plate game?"

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estifxy220@reddit (OP)

Its when you try to find a license plate on a car from each individual state. Its commonly played with Canadian provinces and Mexican states too.

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Cheap_Coffee@reddit

Thank you.

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Perdendosi@reddit

I live in an area with national parks. I play it when I'm near the national parks. But I regularly take note when I see a plate from Hawaii, Alaska, a state in Mexico, or a province in Canada.

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estifxy220@reddit (OP)

Seeing a Hawaii plate is like seeing a unicorn if youre not near a military base.

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49Flyer@reddit

When you live in Alaska the license plate game isn't very fun.

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nowhereman136@reddit

Grew up playing. Sort of just a habit to notice license plates anymore. On my cross country trip 2 years ago, I saw every state plus DC and Puerto Rico. Also saw a bunch of Mexican and Canadian plates. Furthest I've ever seen was Brazil, which had no other legal plates so it must have actually come from Brazil.

Was living in Sydney Australia for a year, in the first month I think I saw all 6 states including Tasmania. Helped that our neighbors just moved from Tas

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fasterthanfood@reddit

My wife and I play on road trips. One point for every out-of-state plate, minus 2 if you misidentify a plate. Our toddler plays a modified version where he gets a point for every blue car he sees. Hopefully he can graduate to license plates soon.

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musical_dragon_cat@reddit

I've seen 'em all, even Hawaii and Alaska as well as Chihuahua, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Labrador, but strangely, I don't think I've ever seen a Kentucky plate.

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Cheese1423@reddit

My wife and I play poker with license plates 2-9 are themselves 1=10 A=ace K=king J=jack and q doesn't really get used on plates around us so 0=queen

Just gotta make the best 5 card poker hand.

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Kencleanairsystem2@reddit

My kids played this weekend on a trip to Vermont. We got all of New England, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Florida, Arizona, California and oddly Alaska. We don’t get many Alaska plates round these parts

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webbess1@reddit

Yes, with my niece (age 5) and nephew (age 8). It passes the time.

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Past-Apartment-8455@reddit

It's kind of unusual but I normally find a wider veriation in my home county than I do on the road. But then again, I live near Walmart headquarters and people come from all over the world to Corp.

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biggestchips@reddit

I got all 50 on my drive from Oregon to Connecticut last year. Surprised I saw more than one Hawaii.

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fetus-wearing-a-suit@reddit

I don't keep an active track but while in Tijuana I've seen (in alphabetical order because I had to look up a list to refresh my memory): Alabama, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.

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