There is nothing like spending quality time with friends or family on the open road for a scenic road trip. However, doing just that in one spot for hours on end is bound to get boring eventually. Luckily, there are unique and entertaining road trip games that make the potentially miserable parts of road trips, like being stuck in a car with the same people, into something fun and exciting. Even if your road trip is on the shorter end, games like this are a great way to take a break from screens and take in the scenes around you. They are also perfect for bonding and quality time.
All of these road trip games can be played with two players or more, including the driver (as long as someone else is in charge of everything so the driver can still concentrate). They range from simple classics like “20 Questions” and “Never Have I Ever” to more thought-provoking games or classics with a twist. Have fun with them and create your own rules to make the games more enjoyable for you and everyone else you are traveling with.
20 Questions
Rules: One person thinks of any person, place or thing, and the other players have 20 questions to guess what it is. The answerer can only respond with “yes” or “no.”
Example: Player A thinks of “Eiffel Tower.” Player B asks, “Is it a man-made object?” Player A responds, “Yes.” Player C asks, “Is it located in Europe?” Player A responds, “Yes.” And so on until someone guesses the correct answer.
The License Plate Game
Rules: Players try to spot license plates from different states or countries and keep a running list. You can also give half or full points for finding license plates with special/interesting tag numbers. The player who spots the most unique plates wins.
Example: Player A spots a license plate from Texas and gets one point. Player B spots one from California and gets another point. Half or whole points can be given if a player spots a special tag number like “1L0V3Y0U.” The player with the most points at the end of the trip wins.
Would You Rather?
Rules: Players take turns asking each other “Would you rather” questions, presenting two equally challenging or absurd scenarios. If a simple game that can entertain you for a long time with hard-hitting and difficult to choose decisions.
Example: “Would you rather have the ability to fly but only at walking speed or teleport, but only to places you’ve been before?”
Song Association
Rules: Song association is a popular game where a word is given to each player during their turn and they have 10 seconds to sing a song that says that word. Or you can have a person give all players the same word and whoever sings lyrics from a song that includes that word first wins a point.
Example: Player A is given the word “night,” so they sing the lyrics “We be all night” from “Drunk in Love” by Beyonce within 10 seconds to receive a point.
Categories/Concentration
Rules: Players choose a category (e.g., types of food, cities, animals) and take turns naming items in that category without repeating or hesitating. Whoever stutters or repeats a world is out and the rest can either start a new category or continue the original one and lay until one person wins.
Example: Category: Countries. Player A starts with “France,” Player B says “Italy,” Player C says “Japan,” and so on.
Trivia Quiz
Rules: Players take turns asking each other trivia questions. The person who answers correctly earns a point. Someone other than the driver can also look up trivia questions and read them aloud to the others playing. Rotate who reads the question if everyone in the car wants to participate in guessing.
Storytelling Relay
Rules: Players start a story, and each person adds a sentence to continue the narrative. The story can take unexpected turns and get quite entertaining. This game can go on as long as you want or you can set a limit to how many sentences are added.
Example: Player A starts with “Once upon a time, in a faraway kingdom, there lived a talking squirrel.” Player B adds, “The squirrel had a magical acorn that granted wishes.” And so on.
The Alphabet Game
There are many ways to play road trip games like this one but here is a spin on it that makes the alphabet game perfect for being on the road.
Rules: Players take turns finding words that start with consecutive letters of the alphabet, beginning with “A” and going all the way to “Z.” The words can be spotted on road signs, billboards, or anything else visible outside the car. It can be an object you actually see or words you see written on something.
Example: Player 1 spots “Apple” on a billboard, then Player 2 sees “Banana” on a poster outside a store, then Player 3 sees a “Car,” and so on.
The Name Game
The name game is another addition to the simple but surprisingly entertaining road trip games. Rules: Players take turns naming a celebrity whose name starts with the last letter of the previous answer.
Example: Player 1 says “Alicia Keys,” so Player 2 says “SZA,” then Player 3 says “Ariana Grande,” and so on.
Word Association
This one is similar to categories/concentration but involves a little more thinking.
Rules: One player starts with a word, and the next player says a word that is associated with it. This continues until someone hesitates or repeats a word.
Example: “Sun” – “Beach” – “Sand” – “Castle”.
The Movie Game
Rules: One player names an actor, and the next player names a movie they’ve been in. Players continue naming movies from that actor’s filmography until someone can’t think of one. Or player A can name an actor, and after player B names a movie they were in, player C (or back to player A if only two players) must name another actor that was in that movie. Once player C names a new actor, player D (or whoever is next) must name a separate movie with that actor, and the game continues until someone is stumped.
Example: Player A says “Viola Davis,” then player B says “The Help,” so player C says “Octavia Spencer,” then player D says “Hidden Figures,” and so on.
Never Have I Ever
You know of this one, it’s a classic. Play this game with your travel partners to get to know them better or expose any crazy or funny situations they have been in.
Rules: Players take turns making statements starting with “Never have I ever…”. If other players have done what the person said they haven’t, they lose a point. The player with the most points at the end wins.
Road Trip Bingo
Rules: Buy road trip bingo cards or create your own bingo cards with items you might see on the road (e.g., a cow, a red car, a billboard for a restaurant). Players mark off items as they see them, and the first to get a bingo wins.
Example: Bingo card with squares for “State trooper car,” “Rest stop,” “airport,” etc.
The Memory Game
Rules: The first player names an object they saw on the road (e.g., a red truck). The next player repeats the first object and adds a new one, and the sequence continues, with each player reciting the growing list of objects in order.
Example: Player 1: “I saw a red truck.” Player 2: “I saw a red truck and a green billboard.” Player 3: “I saw a red truck, a green billboard, and a yellow street sign.”
The Question Game
Rules: Players take turns asking each other questions, but they can only respond with another question, not a statement. The goal is to keep the conversation going by asking thought-provoking or silly questions.
Example: Player 1: “Have you ever been to the moon?” Player 2: “Why, do you have a spaceship?” Player 1: “Would you like to come with me?” Player 2: “What about our road trip?”
