Submitted by: Somewhere in WY, near yellowstone via Oddly Specific
How many road trip arguments could have been averted if there were more of these signs?
Alphabet Game
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Oddly Specific - Funny Signs 
It’s five letters short of being the alphabet game in one sign. They just need to put d, f, j, p, and v in there somewhere.
Only four letter, “D, F, J and V” are missing in the sign.
There’s a P in “alphabet”
WTF???? I wish we had these signs! Then the kids wouldn’t always be fighting in the back of the car.
They could have been more helpful by giving people “J Q X Z”. I’m sure everybody would find a “Y” not long after the bonus letters anyway. (Plus, how hard is it to find a “Y” in WY, near Yellowstone?)
or….a Yield sign maybe?
don’t get it…what is Q X Y Z?
Must not have ever played the game. Look for letters, in order, on signs, car-tags, etc while traveling. First to find hem all wins. And QXZ are hard to find. For Q, I look for antique and bbq signs! J is also very hard to find.
Yes but the way I play is that the letter you need is the first letter of a word.
That is awesome.
they dont even know the alphabet its W X Y Z
You handicapped?
Look at the bottom of the sign, it says ‘Welcome’.
I may be new to the whole “spelling” thing, but i’m pretty sure the first letter in welcome is a “w”
He was being funny. I don’t know about the “spelling” thing but clearly you’re new at the “humour” thing.
For that matter, “You’re” starts with a “y”. But who cares? I have vivid memories of waiting for Quaker State Motor Oil signs when I traveled with my sisters and brother — and each of us had to make our own alphabet and no one was allowed to use a letter that someone else had claimed.
J was (and still is) another difficult letter to find.
HAHAHA. Dr. Boobhead – the Alphabet game is who can find the letters on signs or license plates, etc… while on the road. Those letters are harder to find. A sign like this helps a LOT 🙂
This sign is eight kinds of awesome. I’m calling my brother and claiming victory right now.
I don’t get this sign.
Play the alphabet game
when you play the game you can never find a sign with these letters in it. For instance you cound find a sign that says “stop” so you have an “s” but you can never find one with these letters. I wish they had this when we were traveling.
This sign is sheer epic awesome! So many many road trips without seeing these letters!!
And for those of you who do not get this sign:
On roadtrips that lasted a good while, there is the Alphabet travel game – Start with the letter ‘A’ and try to find a sign that had a word, starting with ‘A’. Then on to ‘B’ and so on. Q, X,Y,Z are the hardest to find and many a time, the game would lull to an end because we couldn’t complete the Alphabet.
This is a great way to keep kids occupied in the car. =)
wtf i dont get it
Try reading the other comments on here explaining it.
Way awesome! WIN!!
For those of you who don’t get it – When you go on a long road trip you encourage the kids to find letters of the alphabet used in road signs. For an extra challenge – find them in order. Anyway, Q, X, Y, and Z are always the hardest to find, so here is a gimme sign. [Alternatives are to find the alphabet using licence plates, etc.]
LOVE IT, we’re going to yellowstone this summer, so whomever posted it, please indicate a more precise location!
In the US, where many families take long road trips, kids often entertain themselves by playing a game called the Alphabet Game. You have to find all the letters of the alphabet, in order, on roadsigns and license plates. Q X Y and Z are the least frequently used letters in English. So it’s easy to get stuck on these letters, because they’re hard to find. J can also be tough, unless you’re in the west where there are many Spanish place names.
The makers of this sign are trying to help kids find these elusive letters, thus averting many uncomfortable arguments and life long sibling rivalries.
We love this game! X is not that hard actually, unless you are driving on a road with out Exits. Personally, “J ” always challenged us.
X would be REALLY hard in the UK – we don’t label exits! On Motorways they’re labelled as “Junctions” (or usually just J with a number) and have countdown bars – “///” at 300 yards, “//” at 200 and “/” at 100 yards to tell you the exit is coming up.
That is /fantastic/.
“The alphabet game” is played on a road trip by finding the letters of the alphabet, IN ORDER, on road signs, license plates, billboards and anything outside of the vehicle. Obviously some letters are harder than other (I usually have more problem with J than with X, especially when traveling on interstates. It could also be that I live in Texas.). So, for the frustrated player who has been stuck on Q for the last 20 miles while everyone else speeds through the easy stretch from R to U, this sign is like gift from heaven.
I never got stuck on the “X”. There’s one at every EXIT offramp.
Our tax dollars at work…
Tax dollars don’t pay for the blue informational road signs. Those are paid for by local businesses, since that’s the kind of information they provide.
Green signs are paid for with tax dollars, as they provide info about towns being X miles away, etc.
Hmh. Here in Finland we have a (in my opinion) better game for children to play during car trips. I don’t know if this is played all over the world, but as I said, at least in Finland. It doesn’t have a name I know of, but the idea of the game is the following: Whenever you see a yellow car, you can slap someone. Depending on the players, of course, the slap can be either hard of a more tender one. Then, when you see a yellow Volkswagen Beetle, you can punch your fellow travelers. They’re hard to find, naturally, those Beetles, but every now and then you can see them. Some people play with punching from yellow cars and kicking from yellow Beetles, and acting similarly when seeing a blue van as when seeing a yellow Beetle, but in my opinion the purest form of the game is the one I described first. Do try this sometime.
I’ve not been familiar with it until relatively recently. Volkswagen commercials here in the US display that game often. Most people around here probably don’t realize it’s a game and not a random activity, though.
My older sister and I played that as a child, but as she was a whiney little turd and I bruise very easily, my parents made us switch to the alphabet game. Living in Texas makes W, Q and J all fairly easy to spot. Whataburgers, Dairy Queens and Flying J stations everywhere! Y was the kicker. Still love this sign.
As children* sorry.
Well, I know we (at least around here) play something similar whenever a Volkswagen Beetle shows up the first person to notice can call “punch buggy” or “punch buggy [color]” and punch whoever’s closest to them. Optional rules include adding “no punch back” at the end to prevent retaliation.
My uncle also did something where if you see a car with one headlight you hit the roof of the car and say something. You lose points if you make a mistake. At the end of the trip the person with the most points gets to punch everyone else.
Isn’t funny how many kids games involve hitting each other? But Mooooom, it’s part of the game, I have to!
@Humm, I can’t believe you play that in Finland too! We call it punchbuggy. 🙂
This sign should be crossposted on EpicWinFTW. It’s too awesome.
Okay, three things:
1. That’s just awesome!
2. Why Y and X? Y is quite common and X appears in every exit sign.
3. Another fun long car trip game is seeing who can find lisence plates from the greatest number of states.
The nice thing about living in Arizona: It’s easy to find “Z” (even if its abbreviated, it’s “AZ”).
Yeah, X is completely not necessary. But I’d kill for this sign… somewhere between Vermont and Cleveland would be the ideal placement.
Even worse is doing the alphabet with license plates. That takes FOREVER.
I was the poster…for the people asking for more precise location, I took this photo 4 years ago….so my memory may be off. But I am pretty sure it was going westbound on US 20/14 probably 10-30 miles outside the east entrance of yellowstone park. Except I was going eastbound when i saw the sign…so maybe its eastbound or somebody in the back saw it the other way, i dont remember (but we did turn around to get the picture).
Actually asked my wife, she is convinced we got the photo on US 26/287 going westbound into the Grand Tetons. So there you go, its either one or the other….but US 26 makes more sense because I remember we saw it westbound….
just pure win
Note my screen name here for the inevitable question ‘why’…
I love this game! On a recent ten hour drive, I managed to find all the letters of the elements of the periodic table in order. Makes one truly appreciate speed limit signs, what with the word ‘maximum’ and the number of elements ending in’-ium’.
Is this real? I so want this to be real.
OMG THANK YOU SIGN!
i alwais forget
I get it, but when I was younger going for trips from Eastern PA to Michigan, I would play the license plate game, and just try to find as many states as possible.
@humm I live in california. I called that game slugbug. Funny that the same game is played all over the world. I played the alphabet game as well, but we did it in order, since the game is already easy enough. Sometimes I played it where you can only get the letters from license plates. The game I played most often though is where you go in alphabetical order naming geographic locations that start with that letter. But that game doesn’t have to be in the car, I just found it more interesting.
While looking for the letter “P” and a “Squirt” sign goes by!!!
Kids, schmids! I play this game when I’m driving the 600 miles between home and parent’s. A true QXYZen master, I play again starting with Z! (BTW, “J” is harder to find than “X” in “Exit)
Wait, I bow to the Periodic Table!
For the people asking “Why the X”?
Every version of the game I ever played as a kid, or bored adult on a group trip, had as rule #1: “You cannot use the words ‘Exit’, ‘Mile’ or ‘interstate’ for letters (or their plurals).”
The reason is simple.
Exit is found on every exit (multiple times) and most billboards.
Mile is found on every mile marker, and most billboards.
Similarly, every Interstate sign has the word interstate on it.
Rule #2 was usually “You can’t use the name of the state you’re currently in”. Hence, why one couldn’t use the “Y” in Wyoming.
Rule #3 was often “one letter per sign/plate, per person, though different people can use different letters from the same sign.”
These rules are fairly common, and are especially prevalent in states like Kentucky where there are 120 counties (and each county has its own assigned block of plate numbers, for example ADA-xxx to AFZ-xxx, with the change every new plate type swapping whether numbers or letters come first, and usually a different letter block assigned) meaning that it would be easily possible to get 22-25 letters before you left TOWN, just from plates.
Only in states like California, where the plates are permanent assignments, with jumbles of letters and numbers with no discernible pattern, do you see people doing anything goes.
Humm,
I love that you play the game in Finland. I’ve been playing “punchbuggy” for almost 50 years!
But why yellow cars? Is that a rare color in Finland?
I recommend the use of technology on long road trips! Flip-down DVD players, Nintendo DSi, portable gaming stations, books and Sirius Radio! The kids can get creative with drawing pads and coloring books and the bickering is happily left to a minimum!
That wouldn’t help me much because of the way my family plays it. The letters have to be at the beginning of a complete word, no abbreviations, with some exceptions like X and Z. That sign would just taunt me.
Yes, Highway 26 is correct (heading west towards the Tetons and Jackson after the town of Dubois) that sign is still there last i knew. Being a Wyoming-ite I see it every time we travel to the Jackson area. I have a few pictures of it myself!
@TomCatBklyn
Well, if it’s just Beetles you’re hitting for in America, I’d guess it’ll take quite a while to punch again? At least here in Finland, Beetle cars are quite rare. And yeah, yellow cars are quite rare in Finland, probably the rarest color of cars, though green might be around as rare. Well, anyway, yeah, since if it was just Beetles, there’d be no hitting at all during most car trips.
If most taxis in America are yellow, as in New York, I do understand why Americans don’t hit for the yellow cars… Otherwise people might really get hurt in that game, as it’d be just a punching all the time.
We call it “slug bug” in my family. Maybe because I am from the Pacific NW?
Anyone else think the sign maker goes on 4chan because “The Game” is marblecaked in the top right corner
We call them ‘slug bugs’ here in the Midwest US (Ohio) too. Beetles are pretty common, especially since they came out with the “New Beetle”.
And cars with one headlight out are called “pididdles” (not sure about the spelling) and they’re worth a punch, too.
I had no idea the slug bug was an international phenomenon in any form, that’s funny! Around here, yellow cars are not unusual and green cars are very common (usually a very dark green).
Silver or white seem to be the most common (and boring) colors these days…
Ha this sign made me have to explain the game to my husband. Rock.
As for punchbuggy and the prevalence of certain car colors, I actually did a science project a few years back cataloguing colors of cars by popularity (1000 cars seen from a set vantage point on a specific day). White and silver won out by a mile.
Boring!
We call it Slug Bug too! I’m not sure about what the Slug Bug rules are, but when my son was little, we did, “Slug, Slug, Beetle Bug, Red (or whatever color), No Return”. Although, I modified it to no hitting the driver.
In our version of the Alphabet Game, the word Exit wouldn’t count for an X it would count for E. We only use the first letter of a word. People wonder why my kids get excited when they see a dirty book/video store…but that’s usually where we find all the X’s! Or Pedestrian X-ings!
Thanks to Quiznos, Quality Inn and Quinto lottery game, Q isn’t that hard anymore.
For those that do not know:
The Alphabet game is a game where you are supposed to find the letter in some writing, shape or something along those lines.
@Modern Mom – I think those electronic devices take away half the fun of the road trip…singing songs and playing games is what I always remember about those family vacations. We had books for when we wanted a little quiet time, but mostly we talked and laughed played games. Alphabet game, slugbug, license plate bingo (Mom would make the boards with different states), license plate word game (when the plate were in the format of XXX ###, you tried to make the most words with the 3 letters in order), Botticelli (like 20 questions, but no limit on the number of questions) and probably many more I’ve forgotten. I think if we were just watching movies or the game screen the trip would have lost some of wonderful family moments.
WTF?
This is the best sign ever. Long rides to Vermont always were hard when you’d gone by the Quebec signs before you hit Q…
ROFL!!!! LMAO!!! Ah, the road trip memories….. Bless the inspired soul who created this!
It is missing an F, D, J, and V if you wanted to win with one sign.
There is a P in Alphabet, however it is still missing the letters D, F, J, and V
I’ve needed this sign so many times.
They always forget “J”. It is the top two or three hardest letters to get in the road game.
This is sweet…. except X is like the easiest letter in the alphabet game. All you have to do is see a sign for an exit number from the highway.
soooooooo
q is a line?
My grandparents lived in Queens, so I knew I’d always get a Q before we arrived!
Very cute! Thanks for posting this. Made my day.
I don’t get it..
OMG! that must have saved lives:0
I always wanted to do something like this 😛
The best one was the Quaker State Oil signs. You got “Q R S T & U”
That is so very much win. =)
Hahaha this is so cool!! I want to put 1 up in atlanta
We always played the game where you had to find a word that began with the letter, and in order of the alphabet. The letter couldn’t simply be apart of the word (as in “X” in “EXIT”). You could use acronyms and such. For X, there really were only signs advertising for adult stores.
This sign would have saved me so many times.
What an uplifting sign! I love things that make me smile and this one certainly did that.
About the Volkswagon game, I also am from the Pacific Northwest (US) and the kids call out “Slug Bug!” as they punch the shoulder of whoever is the closest. Generally not a punch meant to cause pain, but you know kids…
Quick! eXamine Your Zipper!
I wonder how many wrecks this sign has caused while the driver followed roadside directives? 🙂
Loved it. Even now as an adult I still play it on long car trips when I get bored. My kids won’t let me start to play now until they get Q.
XD LAWLZ!!! That was totally my idea!
the road games were great, but my fondest memory was Dad singing in elmer fudd’s voice, “when da wed, wed wobin goes bob, bob, bobbin awong, awong…
J isn’t hard. JCT.
I see somebody mentioned the game “Slug Bug”. On the East Coast we call the same game “Punch Buggy” Someone would call out the color of the VW Bug as well if there was more than one sighted. Hopefully everyone wouldn’t call out the same color because only the first person who called the color could give the punch. Funny when my husband and I drive the east coast from Massachusetts to Florida, we still play some of those road games, but never Punch Buggy. LOL
Let’s make a sign just for the alphabet game and post it everywhere. “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” Then where’s the challenge?
Ever play the “poop” game? You change one word on a sign to “poop”, such as “Poop at Moody’s” or “Speed Poop”. I dare you not to giggle!
@duni
I can probably speak for a good number of people when I say that I am glad that you and the rest of the Brady Bunch had such a cheery time on your travels but the rest of us would more than likely rather have a root canal via our rectums than spend a long period of time in close quarters with our relatives. Without digital distractions I would NEVER put my kids in a vehicle for prolonged periods of time. It’s cruel. If I had them when I was a child I MIGHT be on speaking terms with my siblings.
End it before it starts post this sign.
“The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”
Awesome. Your only hope for a Q used to be a sign for Dairy Queen or an Antiques store. But yes, as for the sign above, I hope you only needed X,Y, and Z to win, or you’d still be on R. You definitely have to go in alphabetical order, but we allowed the letter to be anywhere in the word.
being a military family we traveled cross country many time…first with 1 child, then 2 then 2 children and a dog …then 3 children a dog and a cat (California to Virginia) …in a ford taurus no less…all my children learned the aphabet playing this game…my daughter could recognize the letters before she was three….I wouldn’t have traded those road trips for anything….even now when we went to Georgia last summer from Texas (think 16 hours in a truck) we still played….and they’re 25, 22 and 19…add in my new son-in-law at 21 and we had 5 adults in a truck….nothing beats spending time with my kids…its why I had them….to watch them turn into the wonderful adults they are.
Great Debbie,
I have great memories of long car trips. I was able keep a 3 year old and a 8 year old happy for 2 weeks on the road from Alberta to Quebec and then back through northern states when we went to my brother’s wedding 19 years ago. Our problem was grumpy 50 year old in the back of the van who refused to play with the rest of us including the 64 and 71 year old drivers.
The way we play this game is that the word has to START with the letter, or it’s over too quickly. 🙂
SOOO EPIC!
As for “punch buggy,” there is also the add-on, “cruiser bruiser,” where you punch someone when you see a PT Cruiser.
I think the X is very important. I’ve always played the game where you can’t reuse a word that was used earlier, so someone using Exit in the car for E X I or T would disqualify it for the rest of the trip.
Road games and singing, awesome ways to build family.
Anyone else know the following 2 songs??
SONG 1
verse 1
Oh the deacon went down
To the cellar to pray
He found some beer
So he stayed all day – (echo each line then sing all the way through)
chorus Ain’ta gonna grief my Lord no more (3 times)
verse 2
Oh you can’t get to heaven
On rollerskates
Cuz you’ll roll right past
St Peter’s gates (echo each line and then sing right through)
Verses 3 to 999 are in the you can’t get to heaven rhyming pattern
SONG 2
Chorus
There’s a hole
There’s a hole
There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea
few verses in
There’s a frog on the bump on the branch
on the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea,
There’s a frog on the bump on the branch
few verses later
There’s a fleck on the speck on the tail
On the frog on the bump on the branch
On the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea,
There’s a fleck on the speck on the tail
On the frog on the bump On the branch
On the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea,
on the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea
Someone mentioned a game where they hit the roof of the car when they saw a car with a headlight out.
Its called pididdle around here (yell it while you are hitting the roof), and some people play a strip variant.
I never really could get into the alphabet game.. like someone stated before, it always lulled out after a bit of not being able to find said letters.
This sign would have been WONDERFUL on so many road trips.
I normally play the “punch game” for sightings of VW Bugs, PT Cruisers, Cadillacs, Yellow cars, out of state license plates, paper tags (temp plates) and Personalized license plates. Certainly keeps you on your toes. =P
I love this!
The Y’s unneccesary, though, since there’s a Y in “You’re welcome”.
We always played the game by using only the first letter of a word and they had to be alphabetical. Because of the way we played, only ‘X’ was exempt. We used the ‘X’ at railroad crossings.
Am I the only one who played this game where you had to find each letter (with the exception of X) at the BEGINNING of the word? On the way to my grandparents, my brother and I had to race through the alphabet so we could both get Q from the sign that read “Quaker State Quality.”
Still there.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Dubois,+WY,+United+States&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=47.167389,77.783203&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Dubois,+Fremont,+Wyoming&ll=43.656711,-109.939992&spn=0.004782,0.01899&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=43.656711,-109.939999&panoid=Y9lgKu0gsmykIhJ_hqNtKw&cbp=12,345.78,,0,7.72
That is the best sign I’ve ever seen. I wish there was one by our house! 🙂