Before Screens, Oklahoma Kids Played Slug Bug

So I had a pretty weird experience with some of my younger coworkers yesterday on the way to our normal Thursday lunch. Cruising through Lawton, I saw an old VW Beetle coming the other way, and instinctively shouted "Slug Bug" and gently punched my work bestie... but he, and the others in the car who are somewhat younger than me, gave me this bewildered look like I had assault-Tourrettes.

They Have No Idea What Slug Bug Is

Now, if you grew up taking road trips, and this happened everywhere, there’s a good chance you played this game. We didn't have apps to keep us distracted from the drive, you just had to have sharp eyes and faster reflexes to play.

The only rule - spot a Volkswagen Beetle, yell “Slug Bug,” and punch the person who was sitting next to you.

Pain was part of the game. Complaints were ignored.

Back then, Oklahoma highways were prime Slug Bug territory. Long stretches of road and wheat fields, tons of old cars passing both ways, and when a Beetle finally showed up, it was like spotting wildlife.

Rare. Exciting. Violent.

@fivebren Punch your buddy = LEGAL back then 👀🐞 #slugbug #beetle #vwbeetle #cartok ♬ original sound - fivebren

Road trips gave Slug Bug staying power. Trips to Grandma’s house, summer vacations, or just a family drive through places where the radio barely came in, and the only entertainment was counting silos and trying not to get punched.

Over the last twenty years, the game has really faded. Cash for Clunkers meant fewer Beetles on the road. Now we have screens in the backseat and limitless entertainment. Progress, I guess.

But every now and then, you’ll see one. A classic Beetle cruising through Oklahoma, probably heading to a car show or just surviving on nostalgia alone. And for a split second, your brain does the thing.

Slug Bug

HR departments may frown on that, but the instinct is still there. It's just muscle memory from childhood road trips when the biggest problem you had was calling it fast enough.

Oklahoma roads have changed, cars have changed, and families have changed. But that feeling hasn’t. The joy of spotting something unexpected on a long stretch of highway never really goes away. You just keep your hands to yourself now.

In the spirit of teaching these youngins a little something-something about life before the internet, I'm going to teach them about AppleCore the moment I finish my apple.