AI Summary
There’s no getting bored in the car when you’ve got a good set of road trip games up your sleeve. Because while music sets the vibe and a good book takes you somewhere else, road trip games are awesome since everyone on the trip gets involved and has fun together.
Everyone loves a good laugh, whether it’s kids playing ‘who am I?’ with their parents, the whole family puzzling over word games, or friends messing around with silly ‘would you rather’ questions. We’ve listed fun road trip games you can play in the car or with your RV Rental for all kinds of travelers. We shared 13 different games to help pass the time in the car and make your road trip way more fun.
5 best road trip games for kids
“Let’s see who can stay quiet the longest!” Parents, don’t try to trick your kids with ‘the quiet game’. Kids love to laugh and enjoy games that keep their brains active.
If you’re going camping with kids, keeping them entertained on the road is super important. A good road trip game keeps their minds busy and it’s also a super fun way for parents and kids to solve riddles and share jokes!
I spy
This has to be the ultimate classic car game for kids. We all remember spying something with our little eyes that our siblings just couldn’t guess.
Quick rules refresher: the player who’s ‘it’ secretly chooses something everyone can see but won’t guess easily. Keep in mind the object must stay in sight for a bit. Then the player says “I spy with my little eye, something that is…” and gives a hint — could be the colour, first letter, general direction, or any clue.
The others ask yes-or-no questions until someone guesses right. That person then spies something new with their little eye.
Who am I
Another all-time fave, ‘who am I’ has kids acting like detectives using their logic skills.
The first player (decided by rock-paper-scissors usually) thinks of an animal or person. Everyone else takes turns asking yes/no questions to figure out who or what it is. They can only guess the identity on their turn.
A fun twist is having everyone team up with a limited number of questions and max three guesses. This makes it harder and helps kids learn teamwork.
Don’t say it
Here’s a way to keep a long ride interesting. ‘Don’t say it’ is a road trip game for kids that lasts for the entire trip and keeps them on their toes.
At the start, players (or sneakily the parents) choose 3-5 forbidden words for the trip or until the next pit stop. The player with the fewest slips wins at the end.
I packed my bag
Whether or not your kids actually pack their own bags, this game gets them pretending to pack, with anything they want.
A memory game: players pick a pretend holiday spot and take turns saying “I packed my bag and in it is…” adding a new item after listing what’s already been said, in order. Good luck lugging that bag!
Scavenger hunt
A game you can keep going for a long time that doesn’t need much from the grown-ups once the kids agree to play. Sounds good, right?
Like ‘I spy’, this game is about spotting things. Make a list of things the kids have to spot along the way. The first to see all items wins. Maybe keep score on paper.
5 Road trip games for the whole family
With a few tweaks or simplifying the rules, most road trip games can be played by the whole family. But somehow word games always get everyone around the table trying to lay down eight-letter words on a Scrabble board or keep their stick figure from being hanged.
Same goes for word games on a road trip. You might not have a table, but you still need everyone on board for a fun family game while traveling.
License plate game
Let’s kick things off with the best family word game you probably thought couldn’t be played in the car. Well, scrabble goes mobile with this car version.
‘The License plate game’ is about spotting a license plate and either memorizing or writing down the letters, then making as many words as possible. One license plate per player each round.
Besides the license plate letters, every round you pick two vowels (can be the same or different) to add to everyone’s letter pool. The player with the most words after a set number of rounds wins.
The infinite word game
A fun word challenge where everyone tries to build longer and longer words. But it’s trickier than it sounds.
Start with one player saying a word. Players after that name a new word starting with the first letter of the last word. Here’s the catch: each time a player names a word, a letter is added to the starting sequence. You can’t reuse words already said.
Work as a team and see how far you get! (Pro tip: avoid long words at the beginning.)
Word Trail
This game is all about compound words. The rules are simple: take turns saying a compound word that starts with the last word of the previous compound word.
For example: “animal barn – barnyard – yardstick – stick figure… and so on”.
Hangman
Being on the road doesn’t mean you can’t play hangman. All you need is a pen and paper. Or maybe a foggy window.
We all know how to play hangman, right?
Mastermind
One player thinks of a secret word with a set number of letters, like 6.
The other player guesses words of the same length and is told how many letters are correct and in the right spot, and how many letters are correct but in the wrong spot.
They keep guessing until they figure out the secret word!
3 Great car games to play with friends
Traveling with your best friends? These games are perfect for bringing up old memories and having fun. Or if you’re newly friends, these road trip games are a great way to break the ice and get to know each other better.
Two truths and a lie
This is great for both old and new friends depending on what you pick to share.
One player says three statements, but one is a lie. The others guess which one. Pretty simple, right? The fun is mixing facts with fiction in tricky ways.
Try retelling a shared past event but sneak in one tiny lie. Or show off a bit by revealing yourself through two truths and one lie.
Never have I ever
This might be the most revealing road trip game. Players take turns saying “never have I ever…” then others guess if it’s true or false.
The longer you play, the more embarrassing the statements get. Or maybe that just happens when you played this game back in college with some drinks on the side.
While you were sleeping
Play this funny game when someone dozes off, which will totally happen on a long trip.
Once you’re sure they’re out cold, the rest of you make up a story about what supposedly happened while they were asleep. Everyone takes turns adding to the story. When they wake up, you try to convince them your made-up story is true. Whoever cracks first or gets caught lying has to do the dishes later.
If you manage to fool the sleeper (everyone has to tell their part convincingly), the one who fell for it does the dishes later.
Hope this list of Indie’s favorite road trip games makes your travels fun and playful for everyone, young and old.
And don’t forget George Bernard Shaw’s wise words: “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”
