No one plays Wood Chuck? Person who spots a car with wood paneling gets to hit another occupant.
We play it like home does, with the no slug bugs back rule… except we count the new ones… on a long family trip with my younger brother I caught two dealerships on the way… that really makes em made. Red, blue, yellow, green, red, red yellow slug bugs no slug bugs back! WIth a punch punctuating each color.
Oh, by the way, bump, SqrlCub is male.
Musta been the “Hugs!” bit that threw me off.
In France we played a variant of Punch Bug where we had to look for Citroen 2CVs that were painted neon green (actually kinda common). The spotter would shout “deux-chevaux vert!” and got to pinch the other occupants of the car.
–sublight.
In high school, we played “punch bug” and “pediddle”–except that we didn’t hit each other, we tried to be first to punch the roof of the car. Tough on your car and knuckles.
That changed in college when I met my wife (she’s from Pittsburgh, I’m from Philly), and it turned into the bruising slugfest that so many others here describe.
In Massachusetts/New Hampshire, I’ve only heard it called “punch buggy” and you need to call a color (punch buggy green!). No multiple hits. No second hits on the same car. Violations of these rules (or mistaken calls) gives the other person a free punch.
padittle (or however it’s spelled)…
My mother said that when she was a teen (60s), this game was for kissing, not punching.
My friends play a variation on padiddle- strip padiddle.
-Neil
My friend used to play this, but it was for when he ran a yellow (once) and a red (three times), then he broke his cieling and it fell in on him…that ended the game
Yes, I would have to say the proper name of the game is ‘punch buggy.’ (I am in Vermont (well, New York right now (blech!)) The proper syntax is:
color of bug ‘punch buggy’ [punch other person] ‘no punch backs.’
I have played since the ‘new’ bugs came out. I say that, since 1) the new bugs aren’t really bugs and 2) There are an abundance of them, they don’t count. My sister seems to think they do, and consequently punches me when she sees one. (yes, we are both adults and immature on this subject matter, so what?)
Well, that’s it.
P.S.: I will now bew officially known as CaptainSarcasm
Well, maybe since we always had a beetle when we were kids, we only played the ‘pediddle’ headlight-out variant.
I drove an old VW up until 3 years ago, and it kind of bothered me to occasionally see kids whacking each other as I drove by.
In the morning, school bus stops would erupt into pandemonium.
That was actually sort of funny…
My kids acquired ‘Slug Bug’ when we moved to Cleveland from Indy. I’d never heard of it before then.
I played ‘Padiddle’ as a teen: spot a car with one headlight and get a kiss from the driver (or whomever). Lots of fun out driving around with my boyfriend. Almost wreaked the car once… 
MomCat
We called it slug bug as a kid in Oklahoma. I don’t recall any special rules - basically whoever spotted a bug first got to punch someone.
As to the missing headlights, the tradition is to tap the roof of the car and say ‘Beer!’. If you do it first everybody else in the car owes you a beer.
In Biloxi, MS it was called “Punch Buggy” and there were no color rules.
We had the ultimate abuse game, though: “B-Knuckle”
The person who initiates the game is designated the “Key Lord” of “Key Master” (after Ghostbusters came out =D ) and anyone wishing to play must give their key to the “Key Lord/Master.” This is done by extending your pinky finger and hooking it with the other persons extended pinky. Now you are ready for some full-on childhood brutality!!! Anytime anyone says ANY word that begins with the letter B you have the right to punch him/her mercilessly in the arm until they say “B-Knuckle” The appropriate punching technique invovled jutting your middle-finger’s knuckle out (sometimes reffered to as a “frog”) so as to leave a bruise if done correctly. If you were to leave the game, you had to reclaim you “key” from the “Key Lord/Master” (simply hook pinkies again) and then be ridiculed by the other players.
Try it at work with your co-workers! Your boss with love it!!!
Well, I’m immature and I still play this game, just to annoy my friends mostly.
Punch Buggy [insert color here]!! – punch
Dealerships don’t count.
New Beetles count, but you can’t call “no punch backs”, so if you have the nerve to use a New Beetle you’ll probably get the hell whapped out of you.
We also play Cruiser Bruiser for the PT Cruisers. Unfortuneately, this is becoming about as much fun as New Beetle Punch-Buggy because they’re taking over the New York Capital District.
I hadn’t played this game since I was a kid in the '70s, when a coworker sprang it on me recently, on a long drive in between job-sites.
And it weren’t no kiddie-punch either; he left a knot on my arm for days.
But the Tank always gets his evens: on the next one I damned near rendered him impotent for life (I was sportin’ a knuckle-to-midarm cast).
And you’d better believe I caught hell for that from his wife.
At least he stopped changing the radio station away from NPR for a while.
ExTank
“Mostly Harmless :wally”