I Spy With My Highly Amused Eye

“I spy with my little eye something beginning with… W W,” said the voice on the radio.

I was driving back from the Coast, listening to the radio and the hosts were talking about games people play in cars to keep the kids amused and happy.

Car games are the best, aren’t they? Always a chuckle, often a guffaw and sometimes they produce a hilarious story someone will be bringing up at family gatherings for years.

For us, I Spy is the premier game of choice at the moment because it’s quick and we rarely go further afield than an hours drive. Plus, it’s so simple to play even our 3 year old can have a go at it.

My brother was telling me today about a mate of his who still gets ribbed by his family for an I Spy match held on a road trip some twenty years ago, when he was five. His older brother had just won a round with the letter L.

“It’s for Loser,” he’d said, pointing at the younger brother, who was not impressed.

“Alright, well I spy with my little eye something beginning with E,” he’d said spitefully.

A little time passed and the family finally gave up.

“It’s Ediot!” he announced, pointing at his brother, with a big dose of ‘up yours’ in his tone..

Yep, twenty years and it’s still getting a laugh.

So I was interested to hear all the other games people were phoning in to the radio station about when the station opened the lines up and took calls from listeners.

Some games I knew, like Punch Buggy and various license plate games. But some, like Cricket or Hi Cow, were news to me.

With Cricket you get so many ‘runs’ for different coloured cars or for trucks, and a red car means you’re out. Simple, but the maths involved might be a problem with the kids arguing about the scores.

With Hi Cow, which the caller suggested might not work so well in a city, when you come across a field with cows in it someone rolls down the window, yells ‘Hi Cow!’ out the window, and everyone else counts how many cows turn to look. Brilliant! I mean this game has everything you need to ensure an exciting trip – yelling and cows.

It was a fun segment. And then we got to the I Spy story where the family was looking for something starting with W and W.

Now apparently these were not the sort of people to give up quickly and the occupants of the car beat their heads against the windows for half an hour trying to come up with the answer. Finally they had to admit defeat.

“Woof Wacks!” the kid announced excitedly, and another story was added to that family’s folk lore.

What car games do you play?

When not over here, Bruce Devereaux hangs out at his Big Family Little Income Facebook Page. Come join us 🙂

 ”Raising a family on little more than laughs.”