Exciting CarGames for Musicians include "Nest!", "Hide and Seek" and "Curling".

"Nest!" is a game widely known amongst travelling musicians and has been played for many years. However it was only recently patented by Oonagh Ryder on her way to Snitterfield Primary School in 1995.

How to play nest: You must be travelling in a vehicle to a gig. If anyone sees a nest they shout Nest!.

You can't say Nests! - you must say Nest! for each individual nest you see. This means you must say Nest! Nest! Nest! Nest! etc.

You can't say Nest! if someone else has already said Nest! for that particular nest.

You can't say Nest! if there isn't a nest there.

You should try to point to the nest when you shout Nest!

A nest doesn't have to be in a tree - it can be on a house or roof, on a person's head or even on the top of a statue!

Usually the person with the most nests is usually the winner usually but this is not always the case and you must never write down or remember in any way the number of nests spotted.

The game of nest continues even if the participants are having a serious conversation about something completely else. If someone spots a nest they must shout Nest! even if they are in the middle of saying something. E.g. "I have Nest! just dropped my Nest! chocolate buttons Nest! down between the front Nest! seats."

There are many ways of playing nest even when you are not with the people you are playing nest with.

TEXT NEST
E.g. you could see a nest and then text a message on your phone to other people playing nest far away which says Nest! Usually the person receiving the message will answer Where? And then you could answer back There! In this way people who are hundreds of miles apart can enjoy a game of nest together whenever they are travelling even if they are on their own.

SIGN NEST
If you are alone in your car and are playing nest with say two other people in another car you could all write nest in large black letters (using your gig sharpie) on preferably a white piece of paper or card. When you see a nest you could hold the sign up which says nest. This nest sign can be used over and over again and bring lots of enjoyment and merriment to the participants. You could even laminate your nest sign and keep it in the car enabling any occupants to enjoy a game of nest.

FAX NEST
You may also fax Nest! to people who are faraway but usually you have to be at home to do this and so it has to take the form of 'Static' nest which means you can only see nests which are in your garden or wherever you have faxed from so this game of nest doesn't last very long. Or it can be quite predictable and repetitive unless you often move house.

EMAIL NEST
You may also email Nest! to each other. This is another form of static nest although you can spot nests on the internet. This is sometimes referred to as 'Internest.' Then you can either email the word nest or you could email a picture of a nest to several people and see who replies with Nest! first. This can produce hours of fun-filled nest-playing and if you are not careful you will become deranged.

INTERESTING HISTORICAL FACT
The first recorded instance of this game was in 1762 when the 6 year old Mozart was on his way to a piano recital in Munich with his dad Leopold. The account describes how the young Wolfgang was influenced by the many exposed nests he saw on his autumn journey. He later went on to compose Le Nest di Figaro and Eine Kleine Nestmusik.

The driver is always the seeker. The driver counts to 10 or however much they can manage to count to in the language or accent of the place they are travelling in. The seeker must not look at his/her passengers at the same time as not not looking at the road (could be dangerous). The best way to do this is if the car is a right-hand drive the seeker to look slightly to the right but at the same time looking through the front but not on any account looking to the left. If the car is a left-hand drive the seeker to look slightly to the left but at the same time looking through the front but not on any account looking to the right. If it is a motorbike this task is easier for the seeker.

Meanwhile, the hiders must hide while staying where they are unless there is room to find somewhere else to hide. E.g. in big van with seats spare or if the people are very small they might hide in glove compartment and suchlike. Hiders if remain in same place may find something with which to cover themselves so that the seeker will not be able to find them. E.g. put a blanket over themselves or a cushion over their face. If musical instruments are in the car with them, they might be able to hide amongst them or even pretend to be one. If hiders can't find such things to hide amongst or under then hiders may look the other way because everyone knows that if you cannot see the seeker the seeker cannot see you. Hiders must then keep very quiet or they might give themselves away.

Once the seeker has finished counting, the seeker says Ready or not! and starts to look for the hiding people. The seeker should look in the obvious places like the glove compartment, behind the sun-visors, in the passenger well and under the seats. The seeker must remember that he/she is also the driver and must keep his/her eye on the road ocassionally. The seeker can also use the mirrors to see if he/she can spot people. If the seeker finds someone (which can take a long time), he/she must say Found you! And the hider could say something like Doh!

This game has been known to last for up to 4 hours and can bring many moments of pleasure to the players.

This is actually better played on a train in Italy (as done by the famous train-curling expert Ulla Hilger in 2002) or in a dressing-room....

...and is not easy to play in a car but worth a try.

You must chose something to be the thing you get the other things nearest to and make some other things which you push towards it. These preferably should be quite heavy. However they should not be so heavy that they might hurt someone if you missed the thing you were aiming at and accidentally hit say the driver for instances. You will also need some things for polishing the way for the throwing devices like toothbrushes or something. You will also need to have on one shoe which has a slippery bottom and one shoe which has a rubbery bottom even if you are sitting down. Divide yourselves into 2 teams and commence.

In the past, scrumpled up crisp packets have been used for the 'stones' (heavy things which you shove) and a handbag has been used for the thing you aim at. Or you could just use chalk for the target thing. In a car, the rear view mirror is a quite good target and chocolate wrappers can be used for the stones. This is the expert on Travelling Curling is Ulla (my German promoter)

This is a game which actually is played by musicians and non-musicians alike. It is actually a very serious past-time rather than a game and involves spotting various types and sizes of shed and marking them off in a special shed-spotting book which is obtainable through the Shed-Spotting Society. If you are interested in this activity you should be able to obtain further information from: www.paulandglenelliott.com where there are some glorious and most riveting pictures of sheds and comments, reviews and other details about sheds and related activities. There is also a most interesting section on celebrity sheds.