Game

The Cow Game is a fun and addictive game that you can play with others whilst traveling. There are surprisingly more cows around than you’d expect!

The aim of the game is simple – The first person to spot a cow (or herd of cows) and that yells out “I Win The Cow Game!”, wins!

There are some rules to how The Cow Game is played and they can be found in the rules section.

History

The exact origins of The Cow Game are a bit hazy, but some time in the late 1990’s, The Cow Game was invented (and/or refined) by a group of friends that were travelling across the US and who worked at Nature’s Classroom. It is a bit unclear who exactly started the game, but it may have been Claire and Alice (Both Australian), Linda (English) or Jean (American).

Whatever its exact origins, The Cow Game has since been passed onto many friends and families, who’ve played this game, on countless road trips and across all continents of the world!

The Cow Game can become quite competitive and can really brighten up a long boring trip. Some people however don’t like playing The Cow Game, as they feel it is too restrictive, as it focusses only on cows. They are those type of people who yell out “I won the horse game“. Everyone knows there is no horse game!

Love it or hate it though, it always generates laughter and stimulates conversation!

Controversy: It is important to initiate new players into The Cow Game (see Rule 6). When initiating new players into The Cow Game, they must lose their first game. This loss is achieved by the element of surprise! It is important to refrain from teaching new players of The Cow Game’s existence, or its rules, prior to their first loss. New players often feel that it is unfair that they lost at a game, that they hadn’t had the opportunity to compete at. This spurs them on to become more competitive at subsequent Cow Game opportunities!

Rules

The rules of The Cow Game are as follows:

Rule 1) The winner of The Cow Game is the first person to spot a cow (or herd of cows) and yell out “I Win The Cow Game!”.

Rule 2) The Cow Game cannot be won if anything other than “I Win The Cow Game!” is yelled out. Eg: You can’t win by yelling “I saw a cow!” or “There’s a cow!“.

Rule 3) The Cow Game may only be won once per day.

Rule 4) The Cow Game may only be won by spotting a real, live cow/herd. Images, photos, billboards, stickers, toys or any other likeness of a cow may not be used to win The Cow Game.

Rule 5) If a player incorrectly spots a cow/herd or misidentifies the animal (Eg: Horse, Alpaca, etc) and yells out “I Win The Cow Game!”, then that player is excluded from playing The Cow Game for the rest of that day. In this instance, The Cow Game has not ended and may continue to be played by the remaining players.

Rule 6) The Cow Game is taught to new players by having them lose The Cow Game  initially – New players must not be told of The Cow Game, or its rules, prior to their first loss. (See Controversy section here).

Rule 7) The winner of The Cow Game for that day, tops the wins from any other game played that day.

Rule 8) A draw occurs when more than one person simultaneous calls out “I Win The Cow Game”. When a draw occurs, The Cow Game has ended for that day.

Rule 9) The Cow Game may only be played in the physical presence of other players. The Cow Game cannot be won via electronic means, or remotely to other players. Eg: text, phone call, email, messenger, photos, streaming, broadcast, website, etc.

Rule 10) The Cow Game may be played anywhere or at any time of the day.

Rule 11) The Cow Game win can only be granted, if at least one other player validates the spotted cow/herd.

Optional Rule 1) Prior to a win, existing players of The Cow Game may alert each other that The Cow Game is currently being played. This can lead to a more competitive game!