Swift Counting

Inspired by the counting horses game from Eagle vs Shark, Claire and I have developed the Swift Counting Game. It's essentially very simple, if you spot a Suzuki Swift call out, and whoever has the highest total at the end wins.

The natural habitat of the Swift is the urban road environment, where they have been proliferating wildly of late, particularly in the Wellington region. Although they have been known to migrate as far as the Desert road on long holiday weekends. They come in a variety of colours, generally reflecting the obnoxiousness of the driver, ranging from bumblebee black and yellow, soft metallic pink and racy red. They are not to be confused with similar species of small car such as the Honda Jazz and Mitsubishi Colt.

The rules of the game are:
1) If you see a Suzuki Swift, call out "Swift!" quickly for your opponent. The first person to call it out claims the point.
2) The opponent then has a chance to challenge your action. If it is decided by mutual agreement that the subject of the Swift call is not in fact a Suzuki Swift, rather than gaining a point the calling player loses a point.
3) When all playing parties are travelling on foot, any visible Swift is eligible to be scored on.
4) When playing the game whilst travelling in your own car, only Swifts parked on the road you are travelling on, or Swifts moving on your road or immediate side roads are eligible. This encourages the driver to keep their eyes on the road rather than obscure Swift hiding places.


Claire and I had an epic battle over Queen's birthday. We drove all the way up to Opotiki to visit Claire's parents Jeff and Julie. It was a good weekend, the weather up there was pleasant, and I always look forward to Julie's roasts.

On the way up, I was winning with the Swift Counting, with some great spotting through Taupo and Rotorua. Claire on the other hand was tripped up by a number of evil Suzuki SX4s, which look much too similar from some angles. The game continued during an excursion to Whakatane, where car parks became very popular spotting locations. Neither side really gained the upper hand here, and I managed to maintain my slim 2 point lead.

My game fell apart on the drive home though. Claire, throwing caution to the wind was almost always the first to spot the Swifts in the oncoming traffic, whereas in my strategy I tended to wait till I could see the pointy S badge before calling them out. Travelling through Waiouru we found the road blocked by police performing breath alcohol tests. This was fine, Claire easily remembering her name and address and passing the test. The real bonus was that they were also giving out vouchers for free coffee at the Army Museum Cafe. So Claire and I stopped, and found nice seats with an excellent view of passing traffic. In my excitement, I incorrectly identified two Mitsubishi Colts, handing Claire an unassailable lead. As poor light brought the day's play to a close, Claire was up 11-9, and claimed the title of Swifting Champion for Queen's birthday 2008.