The license plate game is played by choosing 3 random letters (conveniently generated by most US license plates), and then naming as many words and phrases that can be made out of those letters in that order, consecutively or nonconsecutively. This is a way to pass the time in traffic or walking through parking lots. It may help to think of the letters with a space before and after each of them ( _V_G_N_) to visualize your options. Break them up into separate words or squish them together, do what you like as long as they stay in that order.

If you get stuck, you can ‘cheat’ by using wildcards on OneLook.com (e.g., *v*g*n*). Warning: those results are often very NSFW. When you play, you’ll likely personalize the length and goal of the game. Shortest word, longest word, name of a person or place, idiom, best invented compound, your victory conditions are your own.

If you come up with some particularly good ones, leave a comment or tweet them using #_V_G_N_ in the next week, and they’ll be added to the master list here. No points, no prizes, just a warm-up exercise for your brain before games of Scrabble, crossword puzzles, anagrams, and any other word-based fun you plan on having today. There will be a new License Plate Game next week on Wednesday. Follow @E_Briannica for  future prompts.