"Punch Buggy <Insert Color Here>!" Is VW ruining the game???
 

I'm sure many of you grew up playing "Punch Buggy" or "Slug Bug" where the first person to spot a VW Beetle would shout those fateful words plus the color and give his/her sibling, friend, cousin, (maybe if you were brave) parent a good punch in the arm. Never having fully matured, I still play the game with my kids. Of course my daughter has the ability to pick them out behind 75 cars and/or buildings so needless to say a trip to ME rendered a pretty good black and blue on my arm. :) (And yes, I allow her to use the new Beetle. OK with some, not with others.) But I digress.

Volkswagen's recent "Punch Dub" campaign *ahem* bugs me since it completely bastardizes the original game by opening it up to the entire VW line. Who am I kidding, it annoys the heck out of me.

Am I the only one who has a problem with it? :o

Probably.

This is like a funny game kids used to play when I was growing up. If we were in a school bus and someone saw a guy with a turban, you grabbed the guy's ear next to you and pulled and he had to guess what color the turban was. He'd let go when you guessed what it was.

It annoys the heck out of me also. VW give me a break. If they were going to get it going again they should of done it with the new bug only.

Maybe it is a sinister German plot to get Americans to beat up each other?

OTOH, maybe they don't sell enough bugs for that game to work so they extend it to the others in hopes that people will buy a VW, any VW so others will punch others?

"Bugs" me too! :D

Our family chooses to play the "Slug Bug" game in its original "purist" mode, where only "vintage" Beetles count!

Although the lack of air-cooled Beetle sightings has forced the game to evolve into "Cadillac Smack" and PT "Cruiser Bruiser"...:rolleyes:

Yes, they are ruining the game. But I understand their concept- I want to punch myself everytime I look at all the broken parts of my Golf :eek:

I like it. I love the ending with Ray Charles. The Amish guys are pretty funny as well. I get a good chuckle off each time I see it.

We played the old slug bug as well but my wife and I have change the rules a bit for today's car market. Original bugs are worth two points and new bugs are worth one. When we go to CA to visit my dad we go back to the original version as CA still has a fair amount of originals.

VW is a bastardized company. I will never own a newer one after seeing how they treated their ROOTS (the Aircooled community). Basically when new management came in during the 80's, they wanted to get away from the "Aircooled" side. Which was fine, but they did so at the cost of the people who helped them build their empire. All dealerships were ordered to toss/destroy all NOS Aircooled parts on the shelves to make room for new, and special tools/diagnostic machines were tossed in dumpsters. Now some dealers had workers who actually cared, and some parts/tools were saved. But there was no doubt tons of parts wasted/lost across the country.

So you cant really buy anything for your simple aircooled VW at your VW dealership. Well, maybe if a later model Rabbit/Golf used the same part. Which was rare, but some relay boxes and such are still available at the dealer.

Also VW corporate goes around bullying people on the internet who use the VW logo (even the period correct one) on their website. I'm talking about individual people who put up a website with pictures of their Beetle, they aren't even selling anything. Some people didn't respond and VW got the site taken down until the "copyright infringement" was changed/removed.

The fact that they completely shunned the AC'ed crowd and continue to be *******s astonishes me. And what astonished me more is that they started using the original Beetle in all their new advertisements. VW needs a swift kick in the nads. They may make OK cars now, but their previous actions don't make up for the fact.

I personally have owned 4 VWs since 1985 - 85 GTI, 86 Jetta Coupe, 2001 Passat GLX and 2003 Passat W8. Others in the family include(d) 74 Ghia, 97 Jetta and 2005 Jetta. I never even heard of the "Punch Buggie" thing until my first dealership advisor position in 2000. It was at a VW dealer and I took a loaner - Black Beetle - home for a weekend. I had to take my god-daughter for a ride and she did the punch buggie thing to me.. I promptly turned her seat heater to 5 and fried her short-wearing a$$ :D
The punch buggie thing has annoyed me since.

Driving the old VW around last week and out of the corner of my eye I caught a road constuction guy belt his coworker in the arm but good.

The kid who lives across the street has been banned from playing since fall of 2001 as he would wake up and promptly hit his sister twice.

My kids and I play but only beetles qualify, and the known local ones are only good for a tap on the arm, since we know where they are usually parked. VW dealer drivebys also dont qualify

I think the ads are kinda funny but the campaign on the whole pretty sad.
I'm in the market for a car and will not be looking at ANY recent VW's.

does this count?

Hey Swampyankee, when I was a kid my friends and I use to play a game called "Punch a Kojac", but after a few rounds of the game my friends and I got got tired of getting our asses kicked by bald people including old bald women. :eek:

If you only knew how much my arm hurt from Drezzells constant punch buggying.....

Duly noted. Looking for one more @$$ kicking? ;) :D

If you think you can "Kojac". :cool:

You had me cracking up for 10 minutes here. Where the crap did you live when you were growing up, man????!!! How many people had turbans?

It's Drezell, thank-you-very-much!

Anyway, I will admit I enjoy the new commercial, but I agree with Mr. SwampYankee. You can't do that for just every VW! It's not right!

Also...everyone on this forum is gonna hate me...but man do I want a VW bug...and not one of the originals either...but not the newest one. That looks like :puke:

I don't think it's that bad a car...............*scared of everyone suddenly* I'm livin' the college life. It actually works as a good car for people on my campus. ...ghaaa....I just dug myself a huge hole didn't I? *runs for her life*

Oh and I forgot to mention how often I am kicked ;)

Our version in Manila was, instead of punching in the arm, you'd slap the head "pendong PEACE" - so when you say peace they can't slap your head back.

You think you guys are annoyed? :D:D:D

In asia there were many people of the Sikh groups http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dastar

You lived in Asia??!!

I am going to deny all these punching and kicking abuse things you say I do, Fulcrum! I don't want you going after me for all my money! *stares at her poor college student budget* ...Do you want my $5?

I wouldn't mind punching a VW because I hate them, but yeah they are kind of killing the game with that.

If you punched a VW, which would be damaged more? Your hand or the car?

My sister and I had a history of beating on one another. my parents out lawed the Slug Bug game... Now that we are adults VW over rules our parents and reintroduced the Punch Dub game. Since she drives a VW I told her that VW is permitting me to hit her, and if she didn't like it she would have to sue VW because I've been brainwashed by their marketing.

Yeah that would hurt!


Now that I think about it pushing one off a cliff would acheive better results!:D

You are racist! ...Car-ist! Haha Just kidding. But that poor VW...

Hahha. Actually, is there any car out there made so poorly that you can actually punch it and it will indent before you really hurt yourself? I guess it depends on how strong you are...:)

Saturn, they are plastic!:D

Oh ho! Really??? I'd like to see this! :D Anybody got a video of someone punching a saturn??? Haha.

Remember these two? I bet someones hand would win vs them....


http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/3...imvnyias09.jpg

http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/6889/gemcar.jpg

Oh no! Don't punch EVE! Hahaha. >_< But yeah...maybe the 2nd one.

For those who have no idea what that means....

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/3...imvnyias09.jpg

http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/7236/walleevej.jpg