‘Yee-hah yellow car!’: how a simply car game led to a spiritual practice

The game began on a particularly long car journey with fractious kids in the back.

Fobbing off with “Not long now!” was not working and we’d run out of snacks 40 minutes ago. “Let’s play a game!” I said brightly, my mind instantly going blank; I couldn’t think of a single game to play. “Who has a good one?”

My eldest daughter came to the rescue with a game a friend taught her on a school-trip coach. Yee-ha Yellow Car was born. The premise was simple, you had to be the first to spot a yellow car before anyone else and claim it by saying “Yee-ha Yellow car”. You’d have thought this game would not entertain a car of three teenagers and an eight year old, you’d think it would soon get old… but my family is competitive. And this game became the fiercest grudge match you can imagine. It extended far beyond that single journey and became something that took over our lives. The family Whats-app group would have pictures of yellow cars with bold captions; we’d be having a perfectly civilised conversation and it would be punctuated with loud “YEE-HA YELLOW CAR! New rules were invented, scores were kept, sightings had to be officiated and verified, and rules were taught to anyone who we gave a lift to. Soon we were hard wired to spot yellow cars. I would be on the phone to my husband and, in the middle of a serious conversation, one of us would say” Yee-ha Yellow car!” having spotted one passing. I’d be driving on my own and I would find myself saying it out loud to myself! It got ridiculous. It became our default. Before this game entered our lives, I didn’t pay attention to the colours of cars!