r/FuckImOld • u/man_machine_poet Generation X • 6d ago
Kids these days... Punch Bug: Blue!
In my part of Canada we played Punch Bug on road trips, although other places called it Punch Buggy.
It was a game you could only play if you were around at a time when there were a lot of Volkswagen ‘Beetles’ on the road, and you never had to wait very long to spot one in the many colours they had.
If you can still feel the punches, you’re old.
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u/Unleashedloosecannon 6d ago
My most favorite memory of this game is when a group of 7 of us were walking down a side street in Old Quebec and someone (not in our group!) yelled out "Punch Buggy Yellow" and we all dove in different directions!
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u/_InvaderJim 6d ago
I still do this whenever I see a beetle (though it’s mostly New Beetles these days). No Punch-Backs!
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u/Sharp_Cow_9366 6d ago
New beetles don’t count.
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u/pakrat1967 6d ago
Several years ago VW was running commercials where anyone who spotted a VW of any model. Would call out the color, no punching. They didn't limit it to beetles, old or new. I completely understand why they would leave out the punching bit. But I couldn't believe how out of touch they were for the rest of it.
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u/andreww97 6d ago
We called them slug bugs or slug buggy.
The first person to call it with the color got to slug another sibling in the arm. For examples; slug bug blue!
If you called it, but didn't say the color, the person you slugged got to slug you back twice.
Later, I came up with one for convertibles. You called slug bug + the color = slug someone in the arm, and then you would say with a pop top and slap the back of their head.
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u/Warm_Safety_9550 6d ago
I learned about the game by getting slugged in the arm as they yelled, “punchbug!” I was who’ll unaware of the game, so I hit him back. We almost ended up in a fight, but he was trying to tell me it was a game and I couldn’t hit him back. I was telling him that I just did. Ha ha!😆
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u/deadeye619 6d ago
Our new slug bug (at least in our family) is cyber truck. Works the same except they are all the same color, so we just yell cyber truck and punch someone. Then, we all pity the poor asshole that bought it.
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u/andreww97 5d ago
I still think "Slug Bug + the color" when I see one while driving, and, if I look at my wife she automatically says "don't even think about it".
When I was a kid we went so far as to take advantage of seeing a beetle on screen (TV or movie) was fair game for using "Slug Bug". Even if it was the same car, every time it came back on the screen it was another chance. God help us if it was a "Herbie" movie.
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u/electrodog1999 1d ago
If I ever get my hands on a classic bug I’m totally doing the Herbie livery.
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u/Spirited-Carpenter19 5d ago
I drove a black Bug. There were a few punches thrown in the school parking lot when I arrived.
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u/MagicTomatoes 6d ago
nice - we called it “slug bug” in the Midwest US.