Kids with their electronics to pass the time on long car trips will never know what it’s like to have nothing to do but stare out the window and watch the little invisible man running along side the car.

[-]

badhoopty@reddit

i used to fix my eyes on power/telephone lines and follow them. got kinda trippy if you really committed to it.

[-]

Fast_Satisfaction484@reddit

Yes, true, but it was boring as hell too.

[-]

toejampotpourri@reddit

Studied Randy McNally maps, stuffed in the pocket of the seat. This is how I learned geography. Well, this and my gumshoe skills.

[-]

Normobserver@reddit

Count trucks, red cars, signs, sing, name this and that shows, math problems…🤣

[-]

beachbummeddd@reddit

I mean you could read. I, however, would get carsick if I read.

[-]

AbsolutelyNot5555@reddit

Watching raindrops race on the window

[-]

msartore8@reddit

Nobody here had electronic LED Tiger games?

[-]

schoolisuncool@reddit

Even as a kid, those games were fun for like 10 minutes at the most for me

[-]

AndrewInMN@reddit

Or a Gameboy. I mean, I didn’t, but I had friends that did.

[-]

Newgeta@reddit

Only had Pokemon Zelda Kirby Tetris RC proam and f1 race but it was more than enough until I got a ds

[-]

x7leafcloverx@reddit

I had a gameboy but for whatever reason I got so many more hours out of this bad boy on car trips.

[-]

blove135@reddit

I had a Game Gear that I saved up mowing lawns for a whole summer to buy. The $8.00 in batteries lasted about 10 minutes on a road trip lol.

[-]

The game gear car adapter was a game changer for Indiana to Florida drives. The following year we got the tv tuner adapter for Christmas. Watching insanely fuzzy nothings of tv stations on a 22 hour drive with my Sister was hilarious! We definitely still spent plenty of time playing I see something you don’t see or slug bug though.

[-]

Baked_Potato_732@reddit

My dad hooked an inverter up in our van for a cross country trip and put a 13” tv/VCR combo in the van. We tested it the night before and all worked well, something failed and it wouldn’t charge so it died about an hour intro the trip and mocked me the whole way. But I do have a game gear with car adapter.

[-]

Living-Video-3670@reddit

I had a Gameboy, but once the sun went down the fun was over.

[-]

courdeloofa@reddit

Not if you had the attachable light. Ate batteries. Still can’t believe I saved up $30 for that thing.

[-]

username__0000@reddit

The weight of it was crazy too, the one I had took the same amount of battery’s as the gameboy itself. lol

[-]

Living-Video-3670@reddit

I didnt get one of those till way later. Damn thing weighed a ton with all the add-ons.

[-]

username__0000@reddit

Gameboy wouldn’t work in the dark. And it ate batteries.

I had one. And I had a light that attached to it.

But the batteries didn’t last a long car ride and my tiny wrist would get tired from the weight of the device plus 8 double a batteries (4 for the system, 4 for the light). lol

[-]

Allureme@reddit

I had a teacher who bought a couple for her classroom. When we got free time we got to play it.

[-]

Prestigious-Emu5277@reddit

Submarine hunt!!!!

[-]

TrixieBastard@reddit

Memory unlocked!

[-]

Durakus@reddit

Good luck seeing that screen on a night drive. Had to use the street lights strategically.

I think i eventually got one of those light up screens for my gameboy but the battery life on that thing sucked and my parents basically never bought me batteries (thus the scavenging of the remote control batteries would continue)

[-]

sixfourtykilo@reddit

I definitely had it both ways. That Atari Lynx couldn't hold a charge long enough for really long road trips and/or I would have to bring extra batteries.

The real pro-tip that people are missing here is the magic of time travel.

Nothing was better than falling asleep and arriving at your destination.

[-]

boringdystopianslave@reddit

This is why the Gameboy became so successful. The battery life on that bad boy was legendary.

[-]

WayneReidus@reddit

I had the battery pack for the Lynx that you’d put like 6 D cell batteries into.

[-]

Gorkymalorki@reddit

Even back then, those games were such a let down. Once I got a Gameboy I never played them again.

[-]

Specific_Hamster6778@reddit

I had a little electronic pinball handheld for the car. I had some other handheld electronic game too. And then later got a Gameboy. We didn't ever have a console at home but my brother and I each had a Gameboy. It made car rides and flights so much better.

[-]

DoctorBlazes@reddit

I had the Bo Jackson baseball/football combo game .

[-]

Lost-in-library-land@reddit

Bo knows.

[-]

Mrpeewee982001@reddit

I had that one as well! So many memories of playing that game for the endless hours on road trips.

[-]

Allureme@reddit

That’s the one!

[-]

smcivor1982@reddit

I had the Little Mermaid one. It was very fun.

[-]

strawberrylemonapple@reddit

omg that third level fighting Ursala was so intense!

[-]

smcivor1982@reddit

Yes!!!!! She was tough!

[-]

Jimmy_cracked_corn@reddit

I had a picture of one, ‘bout all we could afford

[-]

Gator_Tail@reddit

We had a tiger general knowledge quiz game. Or we played cards or the tiny magnetic checkers board.

[-]

Hot-Parsley-6193@reddit

We were too poor for that, I got activity books.

[-]

PMmeHappyStraponPics@reddit

I had pinball and double dragon, but I also got carsick if I tried to play them in the car.

[-]

Moist_Rule9623@reddit

I had the MERLIN, I got so bloody much use out of that thing

[-]

HotTubSexVirgin22@reddit

My mom bought me a video poker game at a truck stop.

[-]

I_AM_DEATH-INCARNATE@reddit

Ninja Fighter

[-]

FireZoneBlitz@reddit

I had a baseball one

[-]

trainwreckhappening@reddit

The Alphabet Game ffs people!

[-]

tomahawk66mtb@reddit

Funny how similar my kids have it to how I did as A kid: no devices in the car and only 1 speaker so we all have to agree on which song is next. Oh, and the car is a 2 door Suzuki Jimny so they have to climb over the fold down passenger seat. We also do 6+ hour road trips.

[-]

skinnyminnesota@reddit

Everyone choose a color. You get 1 point for every car you see that's that color.

I'll say the name of a country and the next person has to say a country starting with the last letter of the country I said.

I spy, with my little eye...

[-]

purplepunc@reddit

We used to look for VW Beetles. “Beetle bug yellow”

[-]

FlatwormSame2061@reddit

Slug bug. You got punched in the arm if someone saw one before you.

[-]

Clear-Journalist3095@reddit

At night we punched each other for what we called "padiddles", I'm not sure why. But it was what we called a car with only one working headlight.

[-]

Top-Pudding-4139@reddit

We said "perdiddle". The less violent version - we'd kiss our thumb and tap the ceiling with it. Though it turned into an actual kissing game with boyfriends in teenage years 😊

[-]

doloresgrrrl@reddit

We STILL do that!

[-]

taozentaiji@reddit

Now that you mention it ... Where the hell did 'padiddle' come from and how did we all know that?

[-]

Clear-Journalist3095@reddit

enters_and_leaves is probably right about it coming from our parents' generation. I'm an only child and had no siblings to play these kind of games with. but my best friend in middle school is the one who taught me about padiddles. I don't remember her ever telling me who taught it to her, but I could see it having been her dad, he was that kind of jokey dad who would have thought it was funny.

[-]

enters_and_leaves@reddit

It’s from our parents’ generation, if not earlier. My dad told me when you saw one you were supposed to lean over and kiss your sweetheart. Well, I didn’t have a sweetheart, so I just called them out for bragging rights. But then The Wallflowers came out and I associated them with cars having one headlight instead.

[-]

JosephBlowsephThe3rd@reddit

Never heard "padiddle". We always called them Popeyes

[-]

carmelainparis@reddit

Punch buggy no punch backs

[-]

OtherwiseMechanic322@reddit

We had; Punch buggy Slap happy (combi van) Bash bmw Hurt the Merc Whack the Mack (trucks) and for motorbikes we just yelled out MOTORBIKE! 😂😂

[-]

Aggravating-Try1222@reddit

Purple punch buggy gets an extra punch

[-]

FormidableMistress@reddit

As I got older my mom developed fibromyalgia so that was the end of the punching. After that we had a point system. Most bugs were 1 point, convertibles were 2. Black ones were 5 points, as were 2 in a row.

If you saw 2 bugs of the same color, passing each other in opposite directions, you yelled "HAIL MARY PASS!!!" along with the color, and you won for the day.

[-]

Joerugger@reddit

Slug bug and Cadillac smack were the rules of the road in a car with three brothers in the back seat.

[-]

CaptPotter47@reddit

My wife said we can’t do slug bug because she didn’t want me to hit out kids…I couldn’t argue with that.

But instead we yell out “dead car” when we see a Jeep Renegade and “Red Dead” for a red Renegade.

[-]

forgetfulsue@reddit

Somehow my kid learned this. Now I should teach him paddidle (car with one headlight burnt out) we hit the ceiling of the car.

[-]

Ornamental_oriental@reddit

Still do this, but with modern VW bugs included.

[-]

skinnyminnesota@reddit

Me too but the first person I punch is the driver of a modern VW Beetle

[-]

MartyFreeze@reddit

Alphabet game. Had to go from a to z pointing out letters on signs, billboards on things as we drove by. What's a word from a particular sign was used? Nobody else could use it.

X was a real bitch.

[-]

TrixieBastard@reddit

Half the billboards on the interstate have the word "exit" on them, though

[-]

MartyFreeze@reddit

I guess when we were playing on long car rides, we were in areas with many many miles in between exits.

Or being kids, that frame of time felt exceptionally long

[-]

enters_and_leaves@reddit

Not many train tracks by you?

[-]

Enough_Structure_95@reddit

This, we still play this game on trips!

[-]

cortesoft@reddit

My sister and I played this game where we would look forward out the window and pick the furthest point down the road we could see (but not say anything). Then, when we would get to that point, you have to tell the other person.

Whoever picked the point furthest down the road won.

Don’t tell her, but I cheated sometimes.

[-]

SmokeyOSU@reddit

sometimes?

[-]

nwbrown@reddit

We played you get a point for every herd of cows you spot.

I saw some horses, I asked how many points they were worth.

"0 points," my dad said. "Only cows are are with points. Oh, also emus, they are worth 1,000 points."

I grumbled something and put back on my headphones.

Maybe half an hour later we are still driving down I-95, and in the middle of Nowhere, Virginia was a motherfucking emu farm.

I got my points and retired as Cow Counting Game Champion.

[-]

vinciblechunk@reddit

You get 1 point for every car you see that's that color.

This game worked better when cars had colors other than that stupid milky gray

[-]

yallknowme19@reddit

Count cows and horses on your side of the car, but if you passed a cemetery all your cows died and you started back at 0

[-]

TrixieBastard@reddit

I had those Yes & Know invisible ink activity books. I also had a clipboard that had a storage compartment underneath the writing surface that held a surprising number of colored pencils, sheets of paper, and a coloring book.

I would spend a lot of time just enjoying the scenery and singing along to the music, too.

My mom and I also developed a way to play Clue verbally. I'm 44 years old and we still play Car Clue when we road trip to see my grandpa 😂

[-]

Aware_Walk8510@reddit

I’m actually shocked at all the people who imagined things like people or planes flying next to the car. I never visualized anything! 😂 Just me?

[-]

TrixieBastard@reddit

I didn't either, I just enjoyed looking at the moon or singing along with the radio or reading or munching on the road trip snacks. I still associate Pringles, that individually-wrapped "beef jerky" in the tan canister, and Fresca with being on the road

[-]

emptybeetoo@reddit

These invisible ink books are how I passed the time before portable electronics. Hours of fun when you have nothing better to do!

[-]

TrixieBastard@reddit

I loved those books, they were entertaining af!

[-]

Reasonable-Wave8093@reddit

Mad libs!

[-]

sjmuller@reddit

Had to scroll way too far to find this!

[-]

Reasonable-Wave8093@reddit

give me an adverb

[-]

symbolic_love@reddit

Gladly!

[-]

Competitive-Hotel-14@reddit

I would bring books to read in the car.

[-]

sunsetandporches@reddit

We used to count satellite dishes on our side of the car. You remember the big tv dishes people had in their yard. We were like our own little space programs in every yard but only accessed tv. My dad really liked wrestling and wanted to see every event.

Now at least in Oregon there are three letter and three numbers usually. We like to make word statements with the letters and see who’s is the funniest and makes sense.

[-]

Bondedknight@reddit

Sticking your hand out the window and being a little airplane riding the current

[-]

janellthegreat@reddit

Check these toys out! Little surf boards to really ride those air currents!

https://www.alohatinyboards.com/

[-]

Impressive_Chef1528@reddit

My invisible man’s name was Robin and yes, he looked like Robin Hood.

[-]

doloresgrrrl@reddit

Etch-a-sketch FTW!

[-]

Beautiful-Fault-3695@reddit

Playing slug bug, I spy with my little eye, or singing in the car too was always fun. Man, I miss those days. 😔❤️

[-]

FlatwormSame2061@reddit

I had a horse running along side the car jumping over things. I thought I was the only one!

[-]

Apprehensive_Hat8986@reddit

My kid had a dog. Sometimes he'd jump up and ride on the roof.

[-]

GraphicDesignMonkey@reddit

I had a dragon. He'd fly over fences and duck under bridges

[-]

heycarrieanne@reddit

I had a horse too!

[-]

MetalNew2284@reddit

We counted hay bales\^\^'

[-]

Demondep@reddit

Omg memory unlocked. I thought I was the only kid who did this.

[-]

Illustrious-Highway8@reddit

They will if you take away their electronics for a few hours. 😁

[-]

Secure-Force-9387@reddit

I always read. I taught my kids the alphabet game, even though they had a DVD player and game systems.

[-]

JubBird@reddit

Invisible running man on the school bus. Yeah, i played it like a video game. When I want him to run, i would clench my teeth, and when I wanted him to jump over things, I would release the clinch. You could run on grass, but had to jump over driveways and fences.

[-]

_Xee@reddit

Invisible man? It was Star Wars ships dodging trees and buildings for me.

[-]

rtekaaho@reddit

Prior to the gamboy, I had comics, my toys, napping etc so I was never bored to tears constantly looking out the window driving to Florida from NY. Once the game boy came out, the drive down became even better although I was only allowed one pack of batteries so I learned to ration my time.

When I drive down now with 2 kids, I limit their electronic use to 4 hours and have them include other activities such as reading, toys or anything else.

[-]

Fly-by-Night-@reddit

It was a galloping horse jumping all the fences, not an invisible man, but I'm so glad I wasn't the only one

[-]

TakingYourHand@reddit

Mine was a laser beam outlining trees

[-]

gimlet_prize@reddit

Mine was a white horse leaping over mailboxes and cars, and running through ditches

[-]

butterednoodlelovers@reddit

Mine was a white horse too! Jumping over trees and powerlines. Joining up with its herd in the clouds. It was so relaxing

[-]

ElayneGriffithAuthor@reddit

Heeey there’s the horse girl. Mine was a majestic black Friesian 😄

[-]

jojocookiedough@reddit

Yes! Mine was a horse too. Color changed depending on mood. Sometimes there was a girl (me) riding it, most of the time it was just a horse though.

[-]

EnragedAmoeba@reddit

Back to the Future 2 got me... I was surfin' a hoverboard off of overpasses, zipping through traffic, and grinding bridge rails because hoverboards don't work on water - unless you have pOwEr!

[-]

MonkeyChoker80@reddit

Thank you! I knew I wasn’t the only one watching the imaginary hoverboard.

[-]

Brock_Savage@reddit

Holy shit, until today I thought I was the only child in the world who played this game.

[-]

WonderfulWhirld@reddit

Tom Wallisch Imagination

[-]

Heart_Love@reddit

Mine was a girl roller skating on power lines

[-]

lurk3141592653589793@reddit

I made my hand a jet that had to fly over signs, telephone poles, and trees or else crash and blow up. (Complete with vocal explosion sounds.)

[-]

Loingsign@reddit

I was on a dirt bike ripping through the trees and jumps in the road.

Oh imagination, how I miss you.

[-]

Aggravating-Try1222@reddit

Skateboarder for me.

[-]

shornscrot@reddit

I could jump my dirtbike clear over those mountains

[-]

JonDonJuan_@reddit

Same 😎

[-]

Weak_Radish966@reddit

Same here, either a laser or a giant razor sharp blade.

[-]

Turkzillas_gobble@reddit

Leaning out the window with a big scythe, just ripping up the pavement

[-]

SteelGemini@reddit

Giant sword slicing through telephone poles lol

[-]

Appropriate-Diver301@reddit

I can't be the only one reading in the car...

[-]

butterednoodlelovers@reddit

Read books in the car no problem as a young person. Tried again as an adult and got the worst motion sickness ever.

I can't even ride in the rear seats or I get bad motion sickness now. Riding as a passenger through the twisty roads of the Australian range, motion sick. Trying to take the 13 hour ferry trip from the mainland to Tasmania, perfectly torturous motion sickness. Discovered this past August small plane travel = motion sickness. What the heck happened to my vestibular system‽

[-]

Sassifrassically@reddit

I wanted to but it made me motion sick

[-]

SpaceLemur34@reddit

As I got older. When I was younger it was various activity/coloring books.

[-]

Brock_Savage@reddit

Books are like kryptonite to the typical Redditor.

[-]

ADHDFeeshie@reddit

Tiny me desperately reading 6 words at a time every time we passed under a streetlight during night drives 😂

[-]

Far-Implement-818@reddit

We didn’t have street lights but I would use the car behind us headlights, but mountain roads made for insufferable increments

[-]

stefanica@reddit

I remember!

[-]

BarrelFullOfWeasels@reddit

I am still deeply envious of people who can read in the car without getting queasy.

[-]

Tidalick81@reddit

The trick is to hold the book up high, directly in front of your face. Although I didn’t learn this until I was an adult - so many 80s/90s road trips where I coulda busted out some Fighting Fantasy!

[-]

metalbees@reddit

As a reader and road trip lover, same.

[-]

mosesoperandi@reddit

100%, especially in the "way back" of the Volvo station wagon when there were six of us.

Also totally wild that as the youngest I was the one who went in the area with no seat belt.

[-]

burritosandbooze@reddit

I was a car reader - I brought like 4-5 books on every car trip even if it was only 20-30 minutes. I remember my mom punishing me a couple of times by only letting me bring one book along 🤣, the torture!

[-]

somainthewatersupply@reddit

I totally read and drew.

[-]

pendejo-san@reddit

I always got motion sickness (doesn’t mean I didn’t try)

[-]

stefanica@reddit

It wasn't so bad when I was smaller and would make a nest on the back floorboards of the land yacht. Fresh Archie comics from the first gas station and a couple of dogeared Newbery Award winners.

[-]

QueenInYellowLace@reddit

Yep. I still get the joy of being bored to death riding in cars for any length of time because I get horrible motion sickness, and even looking at my phone for more than a minute makes me nauseated. It’s the “watch the cows and power lines go by” life for me forever.

[-]

fighthouse@reddit

Honestly not a bad life - you are forced to observe and appreciate the environment around you

[-]

waywardflaneur@reddit

Same.

[-]

SalusaSecundeeznuts@reddit

I would check out 8-13 books for a 10am road trip. Walkman and books.

[-]

officermeowmeow@reddit

I did and still hear my mom "PUT DOWN THE BOOK AND LOOK OUTSIDE!" whenever we were driving through the mountains or going somewhere new.

Now I tell my dog the same thing! 😅😅😅

[-]

Jammin_CO@reddit

Was here to make sure someone had this, I read whenever I'm in any situation where someone else is driving. Only difference is I now have my kindle with a thousand books in my bag.

[-]

KieferMcNaughty@reddit

It was always Mad Magazines for me

[-]

HallucinogenicFish@reddit

I did too, but I remember a lot of my friends couldn’t because they got motion sickness.

Also, when did Game Boys come out? I remember some vicious head-to-head Tetris being played on long car trips.

[-]

draculasbloodtype@reddit

1990ish

[-]

Ok_Breakfast5425@reddit

I would get yelled at by mom if she saw I was reading on the car since she thought it would instantly make me sick

[-]

LatherRinseRage@reddit

I would bring half a library with me. Lol.

[-]

Jenaaaaaay@reddit

I have such a vivid memory of laying on the third row seat of my grandparents minivan reading The Last Vampire while listening to Lisa Loeb on my walkman.

[-]

mckmaus@reddit

I remember reading The Handmaid's Tale, in the back of a rented mini van, listening to Nirvana. In Utero had just come out. Wild times. Definitely defined the person I am today.

[-]

Awkward_Stranger407@reddit

Sounds like a 90s music video lol

[-]

Jenaaaaaay@reddit

Haha it does!

[-]

LizM75@reddit

I would have loved to if it didn’t make me feel horribly ill.

[-]

ObiWan-Shinoobi@reddit

🤢

[-]

ReinaShae@reddit

You aren't

[-]

ImmaDrainOnSociety@reddit

Some of us knew how to read, and the Gameboy came out in 1989.

[-]

Abeefrog@reddit

You didn't even read a book??? /j

[-]

isitgayplease@reddit

Well... books, word puzzles, toys, games?

[-]

Sassifrassically@reddit

I was imagining a horse running in distance along with the car

[-]

Chickenbrik@reddit

My dad is a Macgyver type guy. He put a tiny tv and my NES in the suburban between the front seats, middle row down and the back with my sister and me playing as we drove from CT to SC in the late 80s. Don’t get me wrong I played the running man, but I also think I got something most young kids of that era never got.

[-]

throwawaycasun4997@reddit

Cemetery, bury your horses!

[-]

gogosox82@reddit

lol I thought i was the only one who did that as a kid.

[-]

Farm-Alternative@reddit

this was pretty much me but i didn't really imagine a little man running, just my general focal point playing a 2d platformer game jumping the obstacles.

[-]

Vermalien@reddit

Mine was Sonic the Hedgehog. Using the spin dash was very useful.

[-]

painneverending@reddit

My little man could shape shift and would normally take the form of a cheeta or a dog. He would jump over obstacles with amazing speed!

[-]

Its-all-downhill-80@reddit

I just printed out a page of every state for the license plate game for my kid. We’re doing a coast to coast to coast roadtrip and will get everything we can! She’s 11 and excited to be someone’s New Hampshire plate in California.

[-]

axphin@reddit

Pretend your action figure is running on the side of the road. Or a toy motorcycle is riding.

Or during daytime trips “take photos” with your eyes by closing your eyes (bury your face in your pillow for even better effect) then aim your face out the window, open your eyes and close them real fast, bury your face again and then observe the after image snapshot of what you looked at.

[-]

Budgiejen@reddit

Mooooo!

[-]

ruby_jewels@reddit

Raindrop races

[-]

Skarvha@reddit

Mine was riding a horse. Still do it to this day

[-]

salami_cheeks@reddit

You start picking at your sibling then your dad pulls the car over and smacks you around. Never a dull moment.

[-]

southdakotagirl@reddit

I had a Walkman in the 80s. For really long roadtrips I got 1 extra set of batteries. These had to last me for both ways on the trip. It was over 8 hours each way. This batteries did not last.

[-]

SparklyTree_1754@reddit

My sister and I had books and magazines, and some small games like a water ring toss and Etch-a-Sketch.

[-]

TheGhostofWhoIWasBe4@reddit

He was on a motorcycle

[-]

AKookyMermaid@reddit

I'd listen to music and daydream. Sometimes listen to a book on tape. I couldn't read in the car or I'd get sick so my options were super limited.

[-]

kellyasksthings@reddit

Playing Cricket: batter up, you add up the last digit of every number plate until it’s a zero, then you’re bowled out and it’s the next persons turn. Winner is who gets the highest score each round.

[-]

CheesyRomantic@reddit

As a silly joke we will play I spy as we drive by trees and trees and more trees... and I just find different silly ways to describe trees over and over. Lol

[-]

RainbowUnicorn0228@reddit

Rain drop races if it was raining that day. We each picked a drop at the top of our window. The first drop to reach the bottom wins.

[-]

Mrpeewee982001@reddit

I did the same but in my mind with the raindrops. Anything to try to stay sane during long road trips.

[-]

RainbowUnicorn0228@reddit

Yup, used to practice when I was alone in the car trying to figure out what made one drop fall first or what made one drop get bigger and not fizzle out. Lol. Never did solve the mystery of which drops would win.

[-]

GrammaticalObject@reddit

Wtf you talking about? The invisible man ran along the powerlines.

[-]

BoukenGreen@reddit

That’s when you try to pick out a tag from every state.

[-]

CalmRecognition5725@reddit

Counting cows; if you get a cemetery on your side of the car you lose all your cows

[-]

Previous_Injury_8664@reddit

I’ve taught this to my kids and their friends on long trips through the countryside. They love it!

[-]

nwbrown@reddit

Yep, that's the game!

https://www.reddit.com/r/Xennials/s/bV8tICCbs2

[-]

ChiaOtter@reddit

My grandfather knew how to get home from every direction so that the other side of the car hit a cemetery toward the end of a road trip. The man was a magical, devious genius (and we all wanted to be on his side of the car).

[-]

Sebastian_dudette@reddit

We played Cow Poker
First to 500 wins.

cow = 1 point
horse = 10 points
goat = 15 points
police car with lights on = 50 points
pink car = 75 points
chimney standing alone (no house attached) = 100 points

pass a cemetery = lose all your cow poker points (competitive play we had sides of the road to watch. And if your sibling didn't point out the cemetery you kept your points.)

I remember complaining once about there not being any cows on a long road trip and I was instructed to count my trees!

As a parent I gave kiddo a binder for road trips. It included things like instructions for cow poker, road trip bingo, a map of where we were going, a map of the country / list of states so they could mark off each license plate the saw. And the family favorite a long list of things you might see from mundane like road signs, a green pick-up truck, a dog in a yard, to harder to find things like a spotting an alligator, yellow car, and someone singing in their car.

All sheets were either laminated or in a sheet protector and then kiddo had a pouch of dry erase markers. She did eventually have electronics, but still a lot of time spent doing activities in the binder even as a teenager.

But I don't think she ever spent time cheering on which rain drop will win the race down the window.

[-]

cortesoft@reddit

Mr Jones and me played that game.

[-]

yourlittlebirdie@reddit

I’m so upset that I didn’t know about this game 40 years ago.

[-]

Burlington-bloke@reddit

We did that with horses. If you saw a graveyard you said "bury all your horses"

[-]

skinnyminnesota@reddit

Unless you hold your breath while you drive by

[-]

Swifty-Dog@reddit

Ah yes. We called it Cow Poker. We’d add rules like a bank would get you insurance from the next cemetery.

[-]

overengineered@reddit

My kid would look up Google maps and try to get me to take a different route.

[-]

Menteerio@reddit

That sounds awesome. I loved our little rules we made up. I always just followed the power lines.

[-]

Usual-Bag-3605@reddit

I was lucky. I was a nerd who loved reading and didn't get car sick when doing so. The few times I finished the book mid-trip, though, my sister and I would try to find every letter of the alphabet by looking at license plates.

[-]

Appropriate-Iron3204@reddit

Books and word searches for the win!!

[-]

luckycharmsmafia@reddit

License plate bingo ftw

[-]

psilosophist@reddit

I had books.

[-]

Outside_Wrongdoer340@reddit

I've had Uber drivers comment on how they think it's rare to see someone in their car that isn't staring at their phone. I typically just relax and look out the window or chat with the driver. Likely because I learned to entertain myself without tech as a kid.

[-]

Frippertron42@reddit

I used to choke myself out with the seatbelt

[-]

Nikon37@reddit

I still do...

[-]

cigarandcreamsoda@reddit (OP)

Putting the auto in auto erotic eh?

[-]

The_Long_Blank_Stare@reddit

I see Dad made it to the thread.

[-]

Cold-Monk5436@reddit

It's kind of mind blowing learning that other people did this, too.

[-]

bigfanoffood@reddit

Raindrop races!

[-]

Cool_Hawk3192@reddit

I used to imagine a cheetah running and jumping over obstacles along side our car

[-]

Venusian2AsABoy@reddit

Mine was a snowboarder ramping and grinding on everything on the side of the road

[-]

Emannuelle-in-space@reddit

One of the nicer things about growing old is that the little running man is still there.

[-]

jessendjames@reddit

I can’t be the only one who doesn’t give my kids electronics in the car…?

[-]

Pavlover2022@reddit

No we don't either. We just did a 10 hour Easter trip from Queensland to New South Wales without them. Chatting, snoozing, listening to a family podcasts (my kids love the quiz ones) or audiobooks, playing word games... passing the time is manageable without screens

[-]

ElenaDragon@reddit

I’d probably be tempted to on the really long car rides if he didn’t get carsick so easily.

[-]

Funandgeeky@reddit

I also don’t give your kids electronics in the car.

[-]

Pavlover2022@reddit

Haha we literally just got home yesterday from a 10 hour interstate drive. We managed it without screens, there are plenty of ways to pass the time

[-]

DadNotBro@reddit

Wait….you all could see the man too?!?!

[-]

Lance_Operazole@reddit

Used to get car sick doing anything but looking out the window. Used to listen to a walkman because no one else liked my music.

When I went away with a friends family they played tapes of stand up comedians.

[-]

ScientistAsHero@reddit

Did any of you guys have "Travel Bingo?" I remember my grandparents had a couple of those in their car. They were these little cardboard things with images of a bunch of different objects that you might see on a long road trip - a barn, a bus, a windmill - arranged in a grid, with these little transparent red sliders that, when you saw the object, you would slide closed over the image. It was played pretty much like regular Bingo.

[-]

ADHDFeeshie@reddit

I didn't have them as a kid but my kids do now, because I'm a big meanie and usually refuse to use the car's built in dvd player.

[-]

Brutalboxox@reddit

I studied the road atlas and learned every state bird, flower, and tree

[-]

Three4Anonimity@reddit

Yeah…no. We had so much stuff for trips. Archie’s Double Digest, comic books, Game Boy, Game Gear, MAD Magazine, Cracked, Gramma’s Readers Digest, and on and on and on. Sony Walkman and U2, Pearl Jam, INXS, the list goes on. Thrasher Magazine, BMX Plus….I can do this all day.

[-]

rynnbowguy@reddit

Did you guys not read books?

[-]

grimacefry@reddit

I had a Walkman and that was early 80s, and a Nintendo Game and Watch (Donkey Kong). It wasn't the complete dark ages 😂

[-]

CornishShaman@reddit

I used to stare at the sun until i could see a purple ball and then stare at that.
Yeah i probably broke my eyes doing that.
But that was fun in the 80s

[-]

Tygie19@reddit

My daughter is 14 and stares out the window in the car, will only briefly check her phone if she gets a message or whatever. But then she never had an iPad and didn’t get a phone until she was 11. My 19 year old is the same if he’s a passenger, doesn’t go on his phone.

[-]

cudenlynx@reddit

To be fair. my world changed when I got my first cassette tape walkman in the 80s. Car rides went a lot faster when I didn't have to listen to the stuff my parents listened to.

[-]

forgetfulsue@reddit

I mean my sister and I had travel games, coloring books. My dad made us little “lap desks” that had snacks, games, books etc. Also, I’d sleep. I still like playing spot the plate. I have an app for it.

[-]

AuntArtemis@reddit

Invisible lines your siblings are not allowed to cross.

[-]

fyukhyu@reddit

We had all kinds of road trip games (20 questions, a to z, license plates, bury all your houses, etc) plus books. Why were you hallucinating instead of talking?

[-]

eat_like_snake@reddit

Did y'all mfs never have coloring books and shit? Word searches? Crosswords? Sketchbooks? Because I sure did.

[-]

RoRoRicardo@reddit

In my mind it was me running along. I did have car bingo and Wooly Willy to help pass the time.

[-]

KeyWeek446@reddit

Looking for all the license plates from different states. Seeing who could find the most.

[-]

The_Shadow-King@reddit

Car bingo

[-]

ctrl_f_sauce@reddit

I remember sitting in the back seat and coloring in the road as we hit mile markers and overpasses.

[-]

RicFlair-W000000@reddit

Thought I was the only one 😆

[-]

adjust_your_set@reddit

That and when you’re driving through the rain, rooting for your favorite raindrop to overtake all the others on the window.

[-]

arrakiswitch@reddit

I put my headphones on and Walkman’d it. I remember the sounds of my fifth grade trips were the Dirty Dancing soundtrack and Suzanne Vega’s Solitude Standing.

[-]

DookieMcDookface@reddit

You mean he’s not real

gif

[-]

Stuporhumanstrength@reddit

I used to imagine there was a big long blade sticking out from the side of the car like an airplane wing, and what it would do to everything we passed. Some things would get sliced in half, some things further away might get only knicked, and some sturdy items like a steel buildings would knock the blade off, but luckily a new blade regenerated instantly and the mind game continued.

[-]

nochumplovesucka__@reddit

Game Boy

[-]

Sh3llyP@reddit

When we took car trips, we didn't allow our son (now 21) electronics. We played iSpy, or license plate games. And instead of slug-bug, we looked for motorcycles, who ever yelled "bike" first when one was spotted got a jellybean or Starburst. Recently he told us when driving, he actively looks for motorcycles. And he started playing the "bike" game with his friends when he is a passenger after one experience when a friend was driving and didn't see the motorcycle in the next lane and almost hit them - if he hadn't yelled bike, the motorcyclist would've been seriously injured, and his friend thanked him.

[-]

western_style_hj@reddit

For me it was an invisible me on a dirt bike hitting sick jumps at highway speeds until we got to grandma and grandpa’s

[-]

FunTXCPA@reddit

Once I got my own portable tape (and later cd) player, I was all set for road trips. I had a whole shoebox on tapes I'd bring with me and rotate through.

[-]

Hetjr@reddit

Upstate NY we had a college station that played metal late nights so i’d stay up as late as i could and record off the radio. Save them for car trips and our school bus ride in the morning which was looooong.

[-]

mousee3176@reddit

I wasn't allowed to read or I'd puke. We had audio books on tape tho.

[-]

Craig_M_242@reddit

Rain drops racing down the window. Pick your horse and place your bets everyone

[-]

Heart_Love@reddit

Raindrop Races!

[-]

Neither_Internal_261@reddit

My invisible mane was on a skateboard grinding on those steel barriers and powerlines

[-]

Happy_hunny_badger@reddit

My dad hooked up a small tv and our Nintendo in the back of the station wagon with an adapter that plugged into the cigarette lighter.

[-]

Hetjr@reddit

I had my walkman with previously taped songs from the radio and its FM tuner. And dodging cigarette ashes flying into the back seat.

[-]

sleepy_unicorn40@reddit

Whenever we go on road trips, all electronics get turned off for one hour. We use this time to play games, sing, or joke around.

[-]

TinyRedGuy@reddit

My kid still does this and all the other car games. Just instead of getting bored and crying he has an iPad as well. The kids are gonna be just fine

[-]

EggstaticAd8262@reddit

The car is an iPad free zone. There, I fixed it with one rule

[-]

KieferMcNaughty@reddit

First you look for the letter A. Then you look for the letter B...

[-]

KieferMcNaughty@reddit

This was our video games

[-]

Adorable-Race-3336@reddit

I read books

[-]

HiddenUser1248@reddit

Mine eas on a dirt bike.

[-]

GraphicDesignMonkey@reddit

Invisible man? No, invisible FLYING DRAGON!

[-]

picollo7@reddit

Books. I was a reader. Free library entertainment.

[-]

FoxyTurtleOnTwoLegs@reddit

Mine rode a motorcycle, and did a bunch of cool jumps.

[-]

peregrine-l@reddit

Looking for UFOs (no success). Seeing shapes in clouds. Running or flying alongside the car. Laser cutting the landscape. Watching raindrops running and merging. Looking at the unmoving moon. Playing car plate games. Daydreaming on music playing on a Walkman. Struggling very hard not to vomit (I have serious motion sickness).

[-]

pnjtony@reddit

Acting like most of us didnt have a tiger electronics game or a cassette player we got for christmas.

[-]

Hello_Hangnail@reddit

I would pack the lord of the rings and rip through it in the time it took u s to drive to my aunt Betty's house

[-]

SCCAFVee@reddit

Leave me alone. I’m reading.

[-]

Remote_Independent50@reddit

I looked at license plates. I got a point for every plate that had all the numbers end in 10, or 20, sometimes 30. My wife is a teacher, and is very surprised that I break everything into 10s

[-]

PropadataFilms@reddit

The inevitable outcome of a long drive in an early 90’s Ford Aerostar was boredom to the point of burning your thumb on the cigarette lighter in back seat.

[-]

Responsible_Trash_40@reddit

Mine was a car that turned in to a plane and also a dirt bike. Best transformer ever.

[-]

trinicron@reddit

Hand plane out of the window maneuvering between trees/electric poles and actually incoming cars.

[-]

MeauxsTavern@reddit

MadLibs

[-]

Shoddy_Bet9619@reddit

"I Spy" was always a good time consumer...

[-]

HopelessMagic@reddit

My kid gets car sick if she reads or is looking at her phone. She's learned to cope the old fashioned way. Hehe

[-]

ElenaDragon@reddit

Yep, same. We play a lot of verbal car games (like trying to spot stuff outside).

[-]

geekychick1984@reddit

Same for mine. We make phone playlists to listen to.

[-]

ha11owmas@reddit

I always brought a book

[-]

mist_kaefer@reddit

Mine was an invisible plane dodging all the trees. One time we had a big pvc pipe in the back of the truck and I pretended I was blowing up all the buildings in the distance in my tank.

[-]

lunaflect@reddit

My 14 year old doesn’t use electronics in the car. She’s an iPad kid through and through at home. But in the car and at school she doesn’t care to use a phone or iPad. I’ve been almost forcing her to take a phone to school at least so she can keep in touch with friends before and after. She truly doesn’t know the concept of boredom though, and we’ve been discussing that lately. The dopamine hits are always available

[-]

Drum_Eatenton@reddit

I still just stare out the window like a dog when I’m riding in a car

[-]

draculasbloodtype@reddit

Same. I just loved looking out the window at the scenery. Now I drive everywhere and don't have that luxury.

[-]

FoppyRETURNS@reddit

My twelve year olds have NOTHING. Problem is they ask for emo music. 💀

[-]

59apache01@reddit

I remember the license plate game. Try to find a plate from all 50 states and the Canadian provinces. Also played road sign bingo.

Tried that with my niece when she was young and you would have thought I was speaking another language.

[-]

LaFantasmita@reddit

For added difficulty, find each state in each color.

Less fun lately with everything being white, gray, or black. In the 80s and 90s we had colors.

[-]

59apache01@reddit

That was the challenge. In the '80s, there were still a few cars from the early '60s on the road when two-tone paint was popular. Those would count for each color on the car!

[-]

HotTubSexVirgin22@reddit

I live near Yellowstone National Park and you can often knock out 35-40 of the states in a single parking lot. Feels like a cheat code.

[-]

DamYankee77@reddit

Lucky. I grew up in north New Jersey so I'd get mostly Jersey, and NY plates. Occasionally I'd spot a New England one (usually Connecticut).

[-]

59apache01@reddit

I-95 was always productive.

[-]

andiinAms@reddit

Me riding a horse alongside the car. Or eye spy.

[-]

Bradtothebone79@reddit

And have that man jump over every lamp post

[-]

Dry-Lifeguard-5754@reddit

Mine was a bicycle with big circular saw blades as wheels

[-]

Electronic_Camera251@reddit

The boredom of said trips was one of the initial reasons i became an aficionado of fine pharmaceuticals (no anxiety like pot, no smell like pot or alcohol,fairly long duration and redosing was nearly imperceptible) take a few valium and some dilaudid let your eyes roll in the back of your head as your discman skips but you no longer care

[-]

LaFantasmita@reddit

Get a big piece of paper and draw a spreadsheet. Colors for columns, states for rows.

Mark down each color of car and license plate combo you see.

Man I was eagle eyed for purple cars.

Did I mention neurodivergence runs in the family?

[-]

GarminTamzarian@reddit

Processing img ufi7xhv1qsug1...

[-]

like_shae_buttah@reddit

Hot take: I like staring out the window.

[-]

Tag82@reddit

I would stare at the power lines as they drooped from pole to pole.

[-]

Lazy_Red_7678@reddit

Mine was a little mouse in a boat sailing down the road in the ditches. We actually had to use our imaginations back then.

[-]

artemis17121985@reddit

If it’s raining. Raindrop races!

[-]

DamYankee77@reddit

I just posted the same thing!

[-]

SnooStrawberries9563@reddit

I remember playing a game of map drawing. Put a pencil point at the top corner of a fresh sheet of paper and let the pencil decide where to go with every bump and dip in the road.

[-]

DamYankee77@reddit

My favorite-- when it was raining I would watch raindrops "race" down the window. Sometimes, if I'm riding shotgun on a long trip I'll still do that.

[-]

cellrdoor2@reddit

Did anyone else imagine a painter? I had two, a preliminary messy one that traveled right next to the car and a fine detail painter that followed up to fill in details. I would think about what were the main things a painter would have to lay in to create the landscape and what was more of a finishing detail. I also used to like getting really close to the window to look inside of a rain drop and imagining another world in there.

[-]

Weird_Squirrel_8382@reddit

I never knew either, it was an important part of vacation prep to go to the library. My mother didn't like me being bored any more than I did. Sitting in the rental van with my reading light on, with my snacks in the arm rest was a delightful part of childhood.

[-]

shouldernauts@reddit

It got really wild when it was raining because then you got to watch the water droplets race down the window. Sometimes they'd even join up to form a Megadrop that no other drop could beat!

[-]

falkorsaveslives@reddit

Playing “I went on a picnic…” first person takes something that starts with the letter A and the next person has to repeat what the first person said, and then they brought something that starts with a B. It continues through the entire alphabet and you have to repeat everything before adding your item. It was my favorite car game.

[-]

elonmusktheturd22@reddit

Lucky! I had to sit on the floor in the back of the van with the luggage. 3 days to get to Florida, 3 days to get back. No window, no ac, couldn't hear the radio, felt every bump, and was threatened with a beating for moving around too much when i adjusted after being thrown around by large bumps, also had to hold it all day because my parents said it was too much work to open the back door when they stopped places for my sisters.

No wonder i hated traveling

[-]

yourlittlebirdie@reddit

As a teenager, it was listening to my Discman and looking out the window pensively imagining myself starring in a music video.

[-]

limelight022@reddit

I used to look at the oncoming traffic and pretend i was playing Contra.

[-]

Rhediix@reddit

I had a original Gameboy which I could play about 25-30 minutes before I got so nauseated I had to stop. I also had a RadioShack personal casette player and later on a shockproof portable CD player. I'd either put those on, close my eyes and fall asleep, or just listen to whatever my parents had on (typically oldies from the 60's which was okay by me because I didn't mind it). I also invariably would just sit there and stare out the window at places I'd never been before. On at least two trips my mom would have me take along trivial pursuit cards and read them aloud and see if either of them could guess the answers. For a 10 year old, that was pretty fun; until I started to feel sick. To this day I refuse to read anything on long car trips and if I do (like a gps screen) it's super quick because it doesn't take very long for me to get carsick.

[-]

FiveCrappedPee@reddit

Mad Libs kept me and my brother a bit entertained in the backseat, I love absurdist comedy and man could you get wildly creative with some mad libs. Reading them back always had me dying.

[-]

zenprime-morpheus@reddit

Reading was the gateway to time travel.

gif

[-]

Day_Old_Paper@reddit

Those long flying leaps over the tops of the utility poles.

[-]

TheActualDonKnotts@reddit

He's so fast! LOOKATEMGOO!

[-]

SweetCosmicPope@reddit

When my family went to Yellowstone a few years ago we passed the time by counting the number of those white crosses on the side if the road in Montana for drunk driver deaths. I don’t remember the number, but it was really high.

[-]

International_Link35@reddit

You bounce over the cars on the road with your eyes, you know, boing boing boing...

[-]

Video-More@reddit

WH Smith - commando books and WWI other half size comics from the station. Loved the uk.

[-]

cuemchugh@reddit

I was actually super ahead of the curve: I would audio record my favorite cartoons onto a tape. Closed my eyes and imaged it while the audio played through my Walkman.

[-]

LineImpossible3958@reddit

I read books and later on had the Walkman tape deck.

[-]

noonesaidityet@reddit

the little invisible man running along side the car.

The first time I saw a video of someone doing parlor, my first thought was that's exactly what I was imagining someone doing when I'd watch out the car window on long road trips. I'd imagine someone running parallel with the car, jumping and dodging everything in the way; buildings, signs, poles, ditches, etc.

[-]

_WillCAD_@reddit

But... books?

[-]

wingthing666@reddit

Little invisible Catwoman for me, doing sick parkour with her whip whenever we passed through a city.

Long rural drives were nappy time. My god, I never slept so well as back when I could still stretch out in the back of the old Blazer.

[-]