Whether you’re heading off on an epic road trip across the States, or you’re simply hiring a car to see more on your holiday, check out our favourite road trip games to brighten up your next drive.
1. Number plate stories
Giggles galore
The best car trip games don’t need any equipment and this one is no different. Simply call out the letters from a number plate and everyone in the car has to make up a short sentence where each word starts with those letters.
For example, a number plate with WOH could be ‘We’re on holiday’ or OTR could be ‘On the road’. Be funny, clever or topical to earn cool points in the car.
2. Rainbow cars
Inspired by Bluey
Inspired by one of the car journey games the Heeler family plays in Bluey, the rules to rainbow cars is simple. As you drive, you need to point out cars that match the colours of the rainbow. Start with red, then go through orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and pink (because there will be too many arguments over what indigo and violet really look like).
3. 20 questions
This game is fun to play on a loop and a great one when you’re travelling with kids. Depending on where you are in the world, you’ll find that different colours are very rare. Orange, pink and purple are generally the hardest to find. If you can arrange to pick up one of these colours from your car hire company, you’ll have a failsafe every game.
Fun for all the family
This is one of the classic car travel games. Players simply pick a person, animal or mineral and their fellow passengers have to guess what they’re thinking of using only 20 questions.
If you’re playing with children you can be a bit more lax with the rules, but generally only yes/no questions are allowed. For families, the answers are normally fairly simple or familiar, but if you’re on the road with mates then you can throw in some curve balls with some Z-list celebs or that guy you met at that party one time.
4. The ‘I Spy’ road trip game
A road trip classic
It doesn’t matter if you’re travelling with babies, toddlers or teenagers: the key thing is to keep everybody entertained. One of the most loved games for a car trip, I Spy, is a great way to get children interested in the scenery and the route. The classic version is simply to find an item, tell everyone it’s starting letter and let the guessing commence. With young children, you can change it to the colour of the thing you’ve spied.
Items such as ‘road’, ‘clouds’ and ‘sky’ are all predictable choices, but the chances of success can be increased by opting for more unusual options, such as unique landscape characteristics, like ‘glacier’, ‘valley’ and ‘pasture’. This is a great game to play not just in the car but during all your outdoor adventures.
5. Car bingo
Road trip hide-and-seek
This one needs a bit of planning before you go, but car bingo is a great way to keep kids engaged on a long journey.
Simply make a list of things you’re likely to see on the trip and every time someone spots one, they tick it off their list. Think things like car tunnels, cows in a field or your favourite fast food spot.
You can play it as a group or individually with unique items to spot. To make it harder you can make people spot multiples of certain things or put modifiers on them. For example, a cow has to be sitting down in a field or it has to be white with black splodges.
6. Consecutive number plate spotting
Can you spot them all?
If the first item on this list has run its course, fret not because number plates are a source of endless fun.
Championed by comedian Richard Herring, consecutive number plate spotting is a game long enough to last several road trips. The concept is easy: starting at 1, you need to spot every single number — in order — up to 999.
There are a few important rules. If you spot a 14, that has to be a 14. It can’t be a 1 or a 4. Also, you can’t ‘save numbers’ that you’ll need later. If you don’t see a number at the right time then it can’t be used.
You can adjust the difficulty with rules like banning/allowing custom numbers plates, too. For an extensive list of rules, consult Herring’s site here.
7. The memory game
Childhood memory unlocked
There are a few names for this one (including The Picnic Game and the Casserole Game) but they all start in a similar fashion. One passengers says, “I’m going out on a picnic and I’m bringing…” followed by whatever item comes to mind. The next player has to remember that item and add something else to the story. Getting a part of the story wrong results in instant expulsion.
8. The quiet game
From chaos to calm
This is a true trump card in attempting to restore order in a car full of squabbling siblings. You’ve ignored the incessant arguing over whose turn it is to play Candy Crush on the iPad for the past 80 miles, but no more. How about a game of ‘Let’s see who can stay quiet the longest?’ Hey presto, an instant end to moaning. It’s a great way to shoehorn in some time to enjoy the open road in blissful silence.
9. Would you rather?
Road trip dilemmas
Would you rather put your hand in a bowl of electric eels or dance naked while cockroaches are poured over your head? Neither option is particularly pleasing, but you’ve got to pick one: that’s the premise of this travel game. Everyone takes a turn choosing between a rock and a hard place. This game works equally well for adults and children.
10. The alphabet game
This one never gets old
This road trip game is great for all ages. Just pick a topic and try to name something that fits for each letter of the alphabet. Some starter topics could be countries of the world (eg Albania, Belgium, Cambodia), Premiership footballers (eg Almiron, Burn, Calvert-Lewin) or animals (eg antelope, baboon, capybara).
When travelling with young children, this game is best played as a collective, but as passengers get older, you can go round in a circle for each letter or even get everyone in the car to give a different answer for each letter. Just be wary of J, Q, X and Z.
Skyscanner is the world’s travel search engine, helping your money go further on flights, hotels and car hire.
