Padiddle

Padiddle is a nighttime travel game whose objective is to earn points by spotting vehicles with a burned-out headlight. Depending on where you are from, the game might have a slightly different variation of the name. For example in Western New York the correct name is 'Perdiddle'.

In the basic game, the first person to spot a vehicle with only one operational headlight, foglight, or tailight shouts "Padiddle!", and the winner is the one who, by the end of the trip, has spotted the most vehicles. The game may also be played by giving extra points for vehicles such as semitrailers or police cars. In some variations, people punch the roof, kiss their neighbor, honk the horn, or punch the person next to them in the arm. The most provocative versions require the losers to remove an article of clothing each time they miss a "padiddle", or all the males to remove an article of clothing if a female spots a "Padiddle" first and vice versa. Some who play these versions use the term "Sex" or other more explicit words in favor of "Padiddle." In another variant, popular in the Midwest, if the girl on a date spotted a car with one headlight first, she would say "Padiddle" and slap the boy's face, while if the boy spotted it first, he would say "curdiddle" and kiss the girl.

The origin of the term is unknown. It was widely used in New Jersey, New York and other eastern states in the 1950s to refer to cars with one headlight outFact|date=March 2007. For couples, the person who spotted the car and said "Padiddle" received a kiss. It is possible that the term goes back as far as the 1940s.

The game made it to the West Coast by the late 1950s. In Southern California, the rules were simple: The spotter would say "Padiddle" and start counting. When the second person spotted the target car and said "padiddle," he or she would have to buy the first spotter one Coke for each second taken.

Rules may include:

# Only headlights count. No tail lights.
# Headlights are called with the traditional "padiddle" while taillights are called with "padonkle."
# If the driver sees a Padiddle in the rear window, he can call it, while passengers can't. This is known as the "driver's handicap", as they have to pay attention to driving.
# If someone is seen driving with their indicator still on, that counts as a Padiddle.
# Calling a false Padiddle will incur a penalty of one point, item of clothing, etc (for aggressive games, players lose all points).
# If a Padiddle is called which no one else can see (eg. through a median, fence or trees), then it can be challenged within 3 seconds for dismissal. If no one challenges it, then it counts.
# If there is a tie at the end of the night, the rule states, that the driver, if involved, always wins. Like in blackjack, dealer always wins. Driver reserves the right to throw anyone out of the car.
# If you find special vehicles with one light out, (emergency vehicles, semi traliers etc), they are special and double the reward.
# An additional rule to Padiddle (not noted above), is that if somebody in the car sees a car with no headlights then that person shouts 'suicide' and hits the roof. the last person to shout suicide and hit the roof must remove all articles of clothing.
# If one doesn't want to follow the rules, they can ask to owe a certain amount of 'padiddles' or 'suicides' next time the game is played
# 'Permanent' Padiddles are padiddles that occur when the vehicle has been crashed at the headlight, rendering the headlight house unable to hold a replacement headlight. These padiddles can be called during daylight hours.
# Players may modify the word "padiddle" using the type of vehicle in question, ie. "bus-diddle" or "truck-diddle". This is only to occur with rare vehicles and must never be used for "car-diddles".

VARIATION:Instead of calling "Padiddle" when a broken light is seen, the viewer of the broken light is to shout a color. That person receives a point. You are not allowed to repeat the same color twice in a row.

Trivia

*The film "Black Dog" refers to the game at multiple times during the movie, as well as the main character's vehicle becoming afflicted with a 'Permanent' Padiddle for the remainder of the film.
*In the animated show King of the Hill Hank's father refers to a variant of the game called 'Pee-diddle'.

External links

* [http://www.allthatstuff.net/thereyet.htm Allthatstuff Car Game]
*Evans, Story and Lise O'Haire. "Padiddle." "TravelMates: Fun Games Kids Can Play in the Car or on the Go--No Materials Needed". Three Rivers Press, 1997. ISBN 0517887606.
* [http://www.mtannoyances.com/?p=575 Mother Tongue Annoyances: Padiddle]
* [http://www.padiddle.8k.com The Home of Padiddle]