Fresh air, a full tank of gas, and the open road in front of you—venturing to a new place (or an old favorite) is exciting and exhilarating. But while road trips do bring some wonderful views, driving long distances occasionally requires some fun to break up the drive. In classic road trip style, we’re talking about road trip games—namely those that don’t include a screen, smartphone, or anything else that wasn’t around in the 70s.Below are a few games that will help pass the time. Pack your bags (and our road trip games list!)—it’s time to hit the road.
First on our list is the TheMovie Game, which starts with a player stating a famous actor or actress. From there, the next player has to name a movie that the actor or actress has been in. The next person up continues the pattern until someone stumbles.
Players: 2-6
The rules: Players should go in order. First person to mess up gets a strike. Once a player accumulates three strikes, they are eliminated. Last player standing wins the game.
Example:
“Benedict Cumberbatch”
“The Imitation Game”
“Keira Knightley”
“Pirates of the Caribbean”
“Johnny Depp”
It’s a classic for a reason. One player thinks about, well, pretty much anything. The other players then ask the first player 21 yes or no questions (that includes the last question to win the game). If they can guess what the thing is, they win. Play as many rounds as you’d like, and give players points for stumping the rest of the group.
Players: 2-6
The rules: Questions must be yes or no.
Example:
“Is it a person?”
“No”
“Is it a physical object”
“Yes”
“Do people use it in an office?”
“Yes”
You’ll need to be able to think on your feet for this road trip (and popular improv) game. If you aren’t familiar with improv, read these 10 rules or just go for it (it’s all for fun, anyway)! The game starts with two players, who will have a conversation with each other. The other players will pick a letter of the alphabet and a relationship for the two players (if you only have two people in the car, you can pick these on your own).
Once the letter of the alphabet and relationship are determined, the first player starts the conversation using the letter of the alphabet. The second player must respond with the next letter of the alphabet. Continue until you’ve gone through the entire alphabet.
Players: 2
The rules: There are no rules!
Example:
“Man, everyone seems to love that Justin Bieber kid. I’m thinking about getting my haircut like him.”
“Naturally. But if you really want to be like him, you’ll have to get some tattoos, too.”
“Oh man. I forgot he had those.”
“Paul, I think you could pull it off.”
Similar to the previous road trip game, Fortunately / Unfortunately is a story-building game. The first player starts by saying “fortunately” and then adding something fortunate. The next player has to build off of that sentence, starting with “unfortunately.” If a player can’t think of anything, they’re out. Keep eliminating players until one person wins!
Players: 2-6
The rules: If the sentence doesn’t make sense or they don’t build off the previous statement, you’re out!
Example:
“Fortunately, we’re going to the beach and I can finally get a tan.”
“Unfortunately, we forgot to pack sunscreen and you might turn red instead.”
“Fortunately, there are tons of places we could pick up sunscreen so I’ll be fine.”
“Unfortunately, the FDA got rid of all sunscreen and told people to stay indoors forever.”
Players in the car guess a franchise that will be on the next food sign on the side of the highway. For each franchise guessed correctly, the person gets a point. As you progress to different regions of the country, you’ll end up guessing different franchises! To make it more challenging, eliminate McDonalds as an option.
Players: 2-6
The rules: One point for every franchise guessed correctly. Play until someone gets to 10 points!
There are a ton of license plate games out there. This version is all about using the license plate letters to create a real word. You can add additional letters to create the word, but the word must contain the letters in the license plate in the order they appear. Whoever can think a word first gets a point.
Players: 2-6
The rules: You can either play that the first person to create a word gets a point, or the person who can come up with the longest word earns a point.
Example:
592-LSK… “lovesickness!”
If you’ve ever been on a road trip, you’ll know that some of the best memories happen in the car. These road trip games will entertain and provide an abundance of laughs for your next adventure!
If you’re looking for ideas to get out there, check out our list of top 10 can’t-miss hall of fame and museum locations or head over to our RV Resorts Guide.