I understand the concept of the “shogun” game. Basically, it’s a battle to see who gets to ride in the passenger seat. And who wants to be squished in the back seat with 3 other mates, really?
Anyway, I want to know what the accepted rules for shotgun are. Can you call shotgun before you get outside? Is there really a “girlfriend rule”? What happens in a tie? What if you own the car in question but are not the driver? Can you get automatic shotgun if you have REALLY long legs? (I have a friend who is 6’5" who tries this all the time)
I’ve seen a few web sites on this subject, but they always leave a bit to be desired.
Any thoughts?
OK, here is the way “shotgun” has always worked with my friends:
1- You have to call it outside, within sight of the car.
2- Girlfriends / Boyfriends get automatic shotgun (if you know whats good for you)
3- A tie has always been settled by violence, usually ending in the loser getting multiple charley horses.
4- The owner who is not driving gets shotgun if they want it.
5- There is no such thing as automatic shotgun for tall people.
according to FRIENDS you can only call Shotgun when you are in site of the car (in there case Joey called Monica’s room when they traded apartments.) Chandler had to agree.
But if you own the car, you can do what you want on the theory that if you don’t like what they’re doing, you’ll take your car and go home.
hmmmm, if it’s a tie I’d say the driver should be judge.
My darling husband just added to the “girlfriend” rule. He said that in the way he plays it it is the duty of those who are relegated to the back seat (when the girlfriend rule is exersised) to make fun of the driver and call him/her pussy whipped.
Pretty good.
They might make fun of you for the “girlfriend rule”, but thats only cause they are jealous that they aren’t with a girl at the time.
Isn’t that where the loser has to perform ritual suicide in the parking lot?
“Shotgun” Rules:
Gotta be in eyeshot of the car.
Girlfriend rule always applies.
The Owner decides all ties.
The Driver chooses the radio station.
No Tall People rule.
No All Night Shotgun.
Drunks get window seats.
I believe there is an adendum to the “girlfriend rule”.
“–the girlfriend rule may be revoked by the driver if: 1) There are four people traveling in the car, and half those people are of the opposite sex, and they are traveling to a sporting event. 2.) There are four people traveling in the car and half those people are of the opposite sex and either of the couples in the car have been together more than three years.”
In the case of a tie, the first person to yell shotgun again would get the seat. Most people weren’t quick enough on the draw to chant “shotgun” over and over again. Otherwise, we always settled the tie by whoever was bigger.
You are only partially correct.
If traveling with couples the girls can sit in the back and the guys can sit in the front. Allowing some other girl to ride shotgun instead of your girl (especially if you don’t really know the other dude’s girl, or if she is a ho) will likely result in you riding solo.
Some other “shotgun” rules we follow.
-Proximity Rule - If Joe is in arms reach of the door and Mark call “shotgun” from across the parking lot, it doesn’t count. Presumably because Joe can simply take his seat, lock the door and tell Mark to get bent.
-3 Man Rule - If three dudes (no girlfriend) are going somewhere, whoever sat in the back on the way down has automatic shotgun on the way back, provided the same people are in the ride back.
-No “bitch” rule - If you have already lost “shotgun” you can call “no bitch” so you don’t have to ride on top of center hump or “bitch” seat.
-Copilot or navigator rule - The “shotgun” passenger has responsibility for navigating, finding shit on the radio, holding the tickets, distributing 40s, loading the gats and otherwise assisting the driver.
Resolving a tie - When I’m the driver and there’s a tie, I usually just get in the car and start the engine. The tie resolves itself as the passengers figure out whether walking home is better than riding “bitch”.
There are lots of web sites for this. Here’s one,http://members.aol.com/JGRUF/shotgun.html
However if a person actually has a shotgun then they get the automatic ‘shotgun’ seat.
Can you identify this quote?
“Never thought I’d ride shotgun on a hearse.”
Easy one. Steve McQueen–“Magnificant Seven.”
(watch me be wrong after saying it was an, “easy one”)
And, as you get older, you may find yourself adding to the rules. I just spent the weekend with 5 women friends, during which we gave automatic shotgun privileges to the pregnant one.
My personal shotgun rules for travelling in my car when I am the driver:
- Must be within eyesight of the car.
- Boyfriend rule would apply if I had one who was likely to be riding with me at any point…
- In the case of 4 people in car, two of whom are a couple, the unattached person gets automatic shotgun under the assumption that the couple will want to sit together.
- Anyone who whines too much gets to ride in the trunk.
- If you call shotgun early, you will automatically get the bitch seat for the entire trip, both ways and with as many stops as we have, because that’s just damned annoying.
- Shotgun picks the radio station, but driver has veto power. (For instance, if the shotgun person wants to listen to the hip-hop station, I say no, but I’ll let them pick a different station rather than, say, arbitrarily changing it to country.)
Yup, my pregnant friend has to drive (she can’t ride shotgun) or else she gets motion sickness. Yikes.
My shotgun rule when I drive: I don’t care who the hell gets shotgun, but if you argue about it too long, everyone sits in the back. And I decide how long is “too long”.
I usually just start the engine, and let them fend for themselves. My sister’s really good about giving up shotgun to everyone else, because hse gets it all the time when it’s just us driving. Scott hasn’t caught on to that yet…he still insists on calling shotgun when we so much as open the door.
Hell no! They already get all the girls as it is. 
Peace,
mangeorge
mangeorge wrote:
<Qui-Gong Jinn>
I wish that were so.
</Qui-Gong Jinn>
P.S. – “automatic shotgun” would be a really really good weapon to have in Doom or Quake.
Another important rule:
If the winner of shotgun pulls on the door handle while the driver is unlocking the doors and thereby prevents his door from unlocking, he forfeits his spot and shotgun is again up for grabs.
I play it as
1 Must be outside, but not necessarily in sight of the car
2 GF/BF rule applies
3 Guests (such as relatives) or owners get priority (overrules rule 2)
4 Extreme differences in height are grounds for tall people getting priority (but not overruling rules 2 or 3)
5 If the door handle is pulled, thus leaving the door locked, rules 2 and 3 are in place, but the battle for shotgun becomes physical, not verbal.
6 Ties refer to rules 2-5 and are usually settled with bargains.
PS: Tall guys deserve more chicks.