Car cricket, also known as pub cricket, is a car game

Car game

Car games are games played to pass the time on long car journeys, often started by parents to amuse restless children. They generally require little or no equipment or playing space. Some such games are designed specifically to be played while traveling Car games are games played to pass the time...

 which is played in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and other countries with a sufficient number of suitably named pub

Public house

A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...

s. The game's popularity has declined with the increase in motorway travel, where long car journeys typically bypass towns, hardly ever passing a public house.

Rules

There are several variations of the rules. A basic version is described in the AA Book of the Road (circa 1970). Taking it in turns during a journey, one player bats. This means he looks for pubs which the car passes. When one is found he gets a run (point) for each physical leg possessed by the subject of the title of the pub. Thus "The Jolly Sailor", a biped, gets 2 points whilst "The White Horse", a quadruped, gets 4. If a pub's name is that of an object or concept with no legs, it scores no points. A player is out if the pub name includes the word "arms" or "head" (e.g. "The King's Head", "The Baker's Arms"), and it is the next player's turn. The game ends at the end of the journey. The player with the highest score wins.

Variations

There are many variations that can be invented, to make scoring faster or fairer and to make players be out more or less often.

Scoring: (1) Limit the maximum score to six, as in true cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

. (2) Inanimate objects score one point each (e.g. "The Oak Tree" (one point), "The Rose and Crown" (two points)). (3) A pub with the word "arms" in the name scores two points.

Out: (0) The batsman is out if the pub name contains "arms" or "head". (1) The batsman is out if the sign has no legs. (2) The batsman is out if the name of the pub references royalty (e.g. "The Queen's Head", "King Henry IV").

Simultaneous car cricket: Two players sitting on either side of the car play simultaneously scoring runs for the pubs passed on their side of the road.

Disputes

Disputes can occur with many pub signs. For example, is "Hogshead" out (the head of a hog) or no points (the type of barrel known as a hogshead)? Does the "Highwayman's Arms" get a player out, referring to the things the highwayman's hands are attached to, or two points, referring to the Highwayman's weapons? Is "King Henry's Rest" two points because of the King or no points because the "Rest" is an inanimate object?; how many horses are there in "Coach and Horses"? Does the slug in "The Slug and Lettuce" have one leg or no legs?

These disputes can be resolved by mutual agreement as they arise but players may prefer to agree house rules in advance. There are three ways to handle signs with plural nouns such as "The Coach and Horses": (1) agree that any ill-defined plural noun counts as two of that object (so two horses, for eight points); (2) count the horses on the picture outside the pub (e.g. four horses get 16 points); or (3) agree in advance that ill defined groups such as "The Coach and Horses" or "The Cavaliers" count a certain number of runs (e.g. six or ten).

Car cricket

One popular variation on this game scores 'runs' based on car number plates. When the driver gets behind another car, the number plate is examined, and the number plate either scores runs or wickets. The numbers in the plate are added together and multiplied by the number of vowels in the plate. If the answer is 0, then a wicket falls. For example:

• AB02XYZ - numbers added together = 2, x 1 vowel = 2 runs
• A999EOU = 9+9+9 (27) x 4 = 108
• FG04SDF = 4 x 0, = 0 (wicket)

Play continues until the batter loses 10 wickets, then the next player plays

High scoring pubs

Of commonly occurring pub signs, amongst the best are "The Seven Swans" (14 points) and "Fox and Hounds" (12 points). The highest-scoring pub known in Britain is "The Million Hare", in Plumstead

Plumstead

Plumstead is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich. Plumstead is a multi cultural area with large Asian and Afro-Caribbean communities, in similarity to local areas such as Woolwich and Thamesmead...

, scoring 4 million points in the basic version of the game. "The Twenty Church Wardens", in Cockley Clay, Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

, scores 40 points.

"The Cricketers" scores four points (the number of cricketers is unspecified, so assume two) but "The Cricket Team", if it existed, would score twenty two (there are eleven cricketers on a cricket team). "The Eleven Cricketers" at Storrington

Storrington

Storrington is a village in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England, and one of two in the civil parish of Storrington and Sullington. Storrington lies at the foot of the north side of the South Downs. As of 2006 the village has a population of around 4,600. It has one main shopping street...

 in Sussex, now closed, was the closest example of this and scored 22 runs since the number of cricketers was specified.

The "Duke of York's Men" can be argued to fetch 20,000 points, by reference to the nursery rhyme

The Grand Old Duke of York

‘The Grand Old Duke of York’ is an English children's nursery rhyme, often performed as an action song. The Duke of the title has been argued to be a number of the holders of that office, particularly Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany and its lyrics have become proverbial for futile action...

, but can also be argued to score only four points as the name does not specify how many men. Similarly, "The Beehive" could be argued to equal 60000 points as there would be at least ten thousand bees in a beehive conversely it could be argued to gain twelve points as the number of bees aren't specified. it could also be argued that the beehive is the hive itself and therefore scores no points.

Example game

Alice and Bob play the game using the basic version and handling plurals using method (1). Alice is in.

• The Fox - 4 points (4)
• Henry IV - 2 points (6)
• The Oak Tree - 0 points (6)
• Coach and Horses - 8 points, because we assume two horses and no passengers (14)
• King's Head - Alice is out with 14 points, Bob is in
• The Crown and Anchor - 0 points (0)
• The Red Lion - 4 points (4)
• The Three Horseshoes - 0 points (4)
• The Carpenter's Arms - Bob is out with 4 points, Alice is back in
• The Pig and Rooster - 6 points (20)
• The Baker's Arms - Alice is out with 20 points, Bob is back in
• The Zebra - 4 points (8)
• The Fox and Hounds - 12 points, because we assume one fox and two hounds (20)
• The Silver Star - 0 points (20)
• The Wrestlers - 4 points, because we assume two wrestlers (24)
• The County Arms - Bob is out with 4 points, Alice is back in
• Sir Isaac Newton - 2 points (22)

The journey ends. Bob wins with 24 points to Alice's 22.