The State License Plate Game: Collect Them All!

"Vermont!" I called out. We were driving down E Street.

"Missed it. I'll drive around the block."

We cruised to the next intersection, then rolled around to the right. Two more right turns and we were back on E Street again, looking for the parked car with the Vermont plates. I pulled out the map and the highlighter.

"Vermont: The Green Mountain State. Got it." And another state got highlighted on the map.
   

Last summer our summer Driving Distraction Game was "Box Car." (Remember "Punch Buggy" or "Slug Bug"?) Each time we saw a Scion XB we'd call "Scion!" and "box" the other person. We decided it was potentially fatal to punch the driver, so we changed that rule to only poking or tapping the other party. This summer we decided to collect sightings of state license plates.

Here are the rules to our Summer Driving Distraction State License Plate Game:

1. Game period is from Summer Solstice (June 20) through Autumn Equinox (Sept. 20). Or thereabouts.

2. Both of us need to be present in the car and see the license plate at the same time.

That's it, although we've begun to take note of handicapped plates and possibly might keep a tally of vanity plates. It could get out of hand.

We keep a map of the U.S. and a highlighter in the car. As we see new state license plates we highlight them on the map. A little less dangerous that hitting the driver, and a lot more exercise for our geography-related gray matter.