The Now Inaccuratly Named "Jeep Game"

I can't believe that I forgot about the "Jeep Game." It is basically just some rules for the old "Slug Bug" game. It all started a few years ago when I was thinking about buying a Jeep Wrangler. My friend Barry pointed out how horrible Consumer Reports said they were, but Kia, my girlfriend at the time and voice of EVA in the original Command & Conquer, said they had just gone through a big turn around, and the newer Jeeps actually were earning a good reputation. While having this conversation in the car, we started to notice how many Jeeps we were seeing and we started calling them out. This suddenly became a contest and we started to keep score. Rules had to be invented to solve some common problems, and I'll get to those in a minute.

On my trip to Death Valley a few weeks ago with Eric#1 the game was updated. He called out "Slug Bug" and punched his son Justin in the arm. This is the classic "Slug Bug" where if you see a VW Beetle aka Bug you "slug" a person in the car of your choice in the arm. They had also added a modern update with "Cruiser Bruiser" where you do the same thing if you spot a PT Cruiser.

I pipped up about the Jeep game and how what it lacked in punching and sore arms, it made up for in being easier to get people to play and was less likely to cause the driver to get a charlie horse and careen into a ditch. I also explained the rules we had come up with. This seemed to take off and we combined the two so that it really can't be called the "Jeep Game" anymore; because, you can now count Jeeps, PT Cruisers and VW Bugs. New name suggestions are welcome.

We assigned 2 points to Jeeps and Classic bugs, but after the game on the way back from Death Valley I don't think those two are any rarer than the others. So, I think we are going to go back to 1 point for all the target vehicles, but feel free to adjust it for your area.

Rules as Follows:
The game is playing while driving in a vehicle and play does not start until the vehicular you are in is moving. It is not necessary to even announce or remind other passengers in the vehicle that you are playing until you call a target vehicle. Just sit there quietly until you spot one and then call it.

Calling out a target vehicle is done in a calm, normal voice as "Target Type - Color." For example, "Jeep Blue." Correctly being the first to call a target vehicle awards one point. It is also good to then say how many points you have because most of the time you won't be noting the score on paper and people forget even their own score. We have been relax about calling the color but if two people call out at the same time the one who also says the color wins over the one that doesn't, otherwise you should honestly try to decide which player started calling first.

Calling out a non-target vehicle will lose you a point. For example, calling Jeep when it turns out to be Range Rover, which looks very similar, will cost you 1 point. Your score cannot go below zero. This is to prevent people from losing too badly and give them more incentive to call faster if they are at zero already.

Any target vehicle in the parking lot you are starting in does not count. This includes reasonably connected parking lots and even entire apartment complexes if that is where you are driving out of. This is to stop the arguments where multiple people spot a target vehicle as they are walking to the car then all trying to call it as the vehicle starts moving. You want a nice clean start to the game.

Dealerships, Post Office Parking Lots, and any other place where more than 5 Target Vehicles are seen cause all target vehicles in that parking lot not to count. Again this is to stop confusion and arguments when you drive past a dealership with 20 plus target vehicles and pandemonium ensues.

The game ends when you stop and somebody gets out. The game does not continue between trips. So, if on your way home you stop at the bank and then then to get dinner, you can have three separate games. It is best to have multiple shorter games, so somebody can do their little victory dance,and then everybody gets to start over fresh.

There is an additional experimental rule that was discussed at one point; where you could call out a target vehicle in advance to cause it not to count. An example of when and why this would be used is, for example, when everybody in the car knows there is a VW Bug parked on the side of the road up ahead because its been parked there "For Sale" for days. Everybody gets all intense about who will see it first and then there is arguing about you couldn't have seen it yet, it was still blocked by the McDonalds and so on. So ahead of time you call out "Negating VW Bug up ahead the one for sale, yadda yadda" and now that VW Bug doesn't count for anybody and you can just go on playing without the stress.

Target vehicles include:
Jeeps - This is the standard Jeep starting with the Willys MB US Army Jeep, along with the nearly identical Ford GPW which was manufactured from 1941 to 1945. And up to today's Jeep Wrangler (1987 - present). No other type of Jeep brand vehicles count. For example a Jeep Cherokee SUV is not considered a Jeep for this game. It should be noted that Jeeps used by the United States Post office do count as they are legitimate Jeeps. This the reason Post Office parking lots do not count.

Volkswagen Beetles - Both the Classic aka "Type 1" (1938 - 2003) and Newer Model (1998 - present) commonly referred to as "VW Bugs." Again, no other Volkswagen brand cars, just the Beetle. Aftermarket kits applied to the VW Beetle still allow it to be called as a target, as long as it still can be seen visibly to be a VW Beetle. Kits where the whole body has been replaced to make it look like a Porsche don't count no mater what you may believe is under that fiberglass body.

Chrysler PT Cruisers - This is the retro-style wagon introduced by Chrysler in 2000 and which apparently Chrysler announced they were discontinuing in January of 2009.