Games people play

Road signs, car tag can help steer spring break road trips in the right direction

With the arrival of spring break, many students are gearing up for the vacation that accompanies it. However, with the mounting expenses that spring break trips run up, various measures must be resorted to in order not to break the ever-so-fragile bank of a college student.

One of the more conventional methods of saving a few dollars on your excursion is to throw on some shades, gas up the tank and hit the highway to spread mayhem through parts of this land you've never set foot in before.

Some may see these extended drives as reinventing nightmares from their youth (at least anyone with relatives in a distant state), but a proper attitude coupled with a little ingenuity can help mold the road trip into one of the more memorable parts of the vacation.

The key to entertainment on the road is simplicity.

Create a game that everyone can play even if they're half asleep from driving 20 hours straight. Using your surroundings is often quality fare for entertainment.

Classic examples of road games are seeing who can spot license plates from the widest variety of states or trying to count the most something peculiar, such as Volkswagen Bugs on the road.

Some other games veterans of the car-game circuit suggest:

Road Sign game

One way to melt some time away is using the first letter on road signs in order to find representatives from each letter of the alphabet. It may start out easy, but getting to the lower tiers of the alphabet may prove problematic.

Radio game

Besides using sight, sound can also be amusing.

If all the passengers are bored of having heard the same tapes ad nauseam, flip on the radio. Scan through the various channels and see who can name the most songs.

The randomness this game creates can many times lead to a sing-a-long, a sure-fire way to put smile on anyone's face.

Eric Malinowski (junior-sociology) said he has resorted to playing this game during trips.

"Usually we get a lot of '80s and country music flying around, but it's fun," he said.

If looking out the window isn't your thing, there are always word games.

Who would have thought the alphabet was such a resource?

Some time-honored games are:

Ghost

In order to play, all the participants say a letter. These letters are strung together in order to form a word, and whoever ends up finishing a word with their letter gets a point. Whoever finishes with least points wins.

I'm Going To a Picnic

Here, starting with the letter "A," players name an object one would bring to a picnic, and continue through the rest of the alphabet.

Each person must recite what was previously said. Levels of wackiness will vary depending on the objects named.

Then, of course, there are parts of the drive where things are going nowhere fast, namely traffic. However, there are ways to get things moving during a standstill.

Car Tag

Nicole Myers (junior-environmental resource management) said it is not always necessary to stay in the car to have fun.

"My friends and I have played car tag," she said. "When you're stuck in traffic, you run out and touch another car and they become 'it.' "

And, thanks to the infinite number system, if none of these games work, there will always be enough bottles of beer on the wall to be passed around until the destination is reached.