This is one of the most common driving games ever, but I record it just to have it documented for those who may have never played it.
This is a great driving game for the whole family. The kids have to be old enough to read and see out the windows, but that's about it.
Everyone who wants to play tries to find "A" as the first letter of a word on a sign (or anywhere else outside the car). The first one to find it says, "A, Anaheim!" (or whatever word it was that they found), and no one else can claim an "A" from that particular instance of the word. If the sign is two sided, for instance, someone else can get the one on the back side, though.
The key is that it has to be the first letter of the word, not just anywhere in the word. The person who got the "A" can now move on to the next letter of the alphabet and try to find it. A Holiday Inn sign is great because you can get "H" and "I" in one sign. And with a speedy eye, you can sometimes get four or more letters from one billboard.
You may also claim letters that exist as the first character on cars or trucks that pass (you see, they are outside the car ;-). License plate letters count if the letter you need is the first letter of the group of letters (even though it may appear after the group of numbers).
And of course the object of the game is to get a "Z" before anyone else does.
"X" is such a hard letter to find as the first letter of a word, that it may be claimed anywhere in the word, not just the first letter. This makes it easy pickins, because "Exit" signs abound on the highways.
You'll find there are some bottlenecks around rare letters where some of the slower players may catch up with even the fastest of letter-spotters. This makes for an interesting game, because it gives the underdogs a fighting chance. A speedy player can get to "Q" while everyone else is not doing as well, but we've seen it where everyone else catches up because "Q" is such a rare letter.
We've found that "J" is the first one of these bottlenecks. Then "Q", then the few weird letters just before "Z" usually help it to be a very close game.
It's not a rare occurence for us all to be on "Z" at the end of the game. All our eyes are frantically searching for the on letter to claim victory and glory! And oh, the anticipation builds when one of us sees in the distance that we're coming up to a work Zone!
You may also form teams, so that play may be more fair. The driver usually needs "help" because he must always make safe driving the number one priority.
This game is especially useful to keep you awake while driving.