Old-school Screen Time

T minus 33 hours until we leave for our roadtrip. (Give or take thirty minutes.) I have, of course, been prepping food for over a week now, because I once again intend to cross the country without needing to stop at a restaurant.

I started gathering children's clothing today, as well, and I got the van all cleaned out in anticipation of stuffing it full of crap once again.

Ah, but what crap will I stuff in it to entertain the children during the 28 hours we will be driving?

That, I'm afraid, was not so carefully considered this time around.

I did buy some new books for Cubby, because he is lucky enough to be able to read in a moving car without getting sick. Charlie is not so lucky.

I found some activity books and sticker books we already had on hand that may work for a short amount of time to keep Jack and Charlie distracted.

I found some board books for Poppy, and I'll throw in some random toys.

But my ace in the hole, my extra-special secret weapon is a twenty-year-old Game Boy.

The boys don't know I have this. I actually don't know why I do still have it. It was given to me by my parents when I went away to college twenty years ago--I think--and in the intervening years it has apparently moved with me to the many places I've lived since. I do not know why, because I definitely have a tendency to chuck anything that I consider extraneous. An electronic game that I haven't played in 15 years definitely qualifies, and yet, there it is in my closet.

When I realized I was facing a roundtrip distance of approximately 2,500 miles with four bored children, I pulled out the ancient Game Boy, put in new batteries, and flipped the power switch.

To my astonishment, it turned on.

The only game I have for it is Tetris, and it's a small, old, black-and-white video game system that would look hopelessly primitive to children accustomed to modern gaming systems.

Luckily, those are not my children. The only video games they have ever played have been on the computer at school. They're not picky. I confidently expect incredulity at their great good fortune when I get desperate and pull out the screen on our drive.

I don't expect it will keep any of them but Cubby entertained for very long, but even an hour would be helpful. We'll see, I guess.

And if that fails, there's always the rhyming game.

Any other suggestions for non-electronic car games? I could use all the help I can get.