Padiddle

A typical padiddle

Padiddle is a night time travel game with the objective of earning points by spotting vehicles with a burnt-out headlight. You must say "Padiddle" and hit the ceiling of the car as fast as you can, while driving. Also, you earn points by calling a burnt-out brake light. These are the lights on the rear of the car. Whoever calls it first gets a point. The person with the highest score is the winner.

The game is sometimes known as kadiddle, and is sometimes associated with punching another passenger in the car, rather than hitting the roof. However, punching usually occurs when a padiddle (or kadiddle) is seen outside of a vehicle (such as when walking around at night).

There is also a racier version of the game where the last person to hit the ceiling is supposed to take off an article of clothing. The first person naked loses, and the game is reset, however the loser must remain naked until the end of the car ride. An instant way to win the game is to call padiddle on vehicles that are constantly inspected, such as police cars, ambulances, and semis; rather than a loser taking off just 1 article per-padiddle, these vehicles require the loss of all articles.

A player may only win back their article of clothing once they are fully naked. If a person is to call a headlight out when they are fully nude, they may take back one piece of clothing, but are allowed no more. Clothing may only be put back on when the destination is reached.

Calling a false-padiddle(call pididdle but then seeing it does not, in fact, have anything burned out) or lying about a padiddle will result in the person losing an article of clothing who called it incorrectly.

The word "padiddle" first appeared in print in a 1948 B. Montana Archie comic strip, published in the Nevada State Journal on 23 May (Comics section). The girl in the comic said, "Let's play ‘padiddle’.‥ When a car goes by with one headlight if I say padiddle you have to give me a kiss!" This became a flirting game in the 1950s (attested in Allentown, Pennsylvania and other nearby places.) The person calling "padiddle" was entitled to kiss their partner. A variant developed in which if the boy said "padiddle" first, he kissed the girl, but if the girl said "padiddle" first, she could either kiss or slap the boy. Later variants include those listed above, in which the car ceiling is hit, another person in the car is hit, or the last to react has to remove an article of clothing.

Natives of Oklahoma City, specifically the areas of Moore, Norman, and Noble, sometimes erroneously refer to the game as "Spadoodle." However, this is incorrect. Moreover, the spelling padiddle is correct. Those referring to the game as 'spadoodle' are generally seeking attention from significant others or trying, in jest, to make themselves look superior in one way or another. Leading scientists refer to this phenomenon as Pirkle Syndrome.

In popular culture

• 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'.
• In Kimya Dawson's song, "The Beer", she corrects her friend when he says "punch buggy red", saying "don't you mean padiddle?"
• Jack Johnson's song "Mudfootball" talks about Jack's experiences driving to school with friends in a padiddle car.
• In the NBC police drama, Prime Suspect, references are made to the punching version of the game, as the detectives attempt to locate a suspect's vehicle, identified as having had a burned out headlight during the commission of a crime.