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Are you looking for some fun games to play in the car during a road trip? You’ve come to the right place!
Of all the types of travel available, road tripping is one of my favourites and after doing road trips in loads of countries, including a 35,000-kilometre one in Australia, I now have a lot of games that I can play in the car.
In this article, you will find my full list of road trip games. This includes some that you can buy online but also others that are free and don’t require any equipment.
Best Games to Play in the Car
Let’s get started with some fun road trip games that everyone in the car can play safely.
1. Shotgun! Road Trip Game
This is the ultimate road trip game. It was specifically designed for road trips.
You’ll find in the box many cards to use during your road trip. The driver will be able to play as you only need one person to read the cards.
Each card has a question or a challenge that is doable in the car (for instance: “first person to say the word “car” loses a point”).
Each player will be able to score points but be careful with these challenges as you may lose some points there.
Not only is this game affordable, good for all ages but it also gathers a bit of all the other games mentioned in this article.
2. So…Cards
It can be difficult to find topic of conversation sometimes. So…Cards will solve the problem very quickly! This travel game is ideal for long road trips.
Basically, you’ll get loads of cards with conversation starters. They can be about anything. It’s a great way to talk about things we don’t usually think of in our daily life and get some very interesting discussion going.
The pack of card is travel sized so you can take it anywhere with you.
If you are in the car, one of the passengers can read the cards and you can all start discussing it from there. Obviously, the driver won’t read any cards but will be able to participate as there is nothing but talking involved.
3. Mini-Mysteries
If you love game nights and murder mysteries, you will be happy to know that you can also do that on a road trip! You can easily buy a book with plenty of 5-min mysteries and try to solve them during your trip.
One of the passenger can read the mysteries and you can all work as a team to solve them. The clues and puzzles vary and can include a bit of maths, logic and confusing facts.
The great thing about this is that it’s very entertaining and will get everyone in the car involved. The driver can play as well as he won’t need to look at anything. He just needs to listen to the stories and try to figure it out.
Each mystery take 5 to 10 minutes to solve which means you can do a few in a row or just stop after one if you had enough.
You can get one of the books before the trip or, if you are already in the car, get the ebook version and have it on your phone.
4. Road trip Trivia
Nothing better than a good trivia quiz on a road trip! Not only is that entertaining but it will also be a good opportunity to learn new things!
You can find many quizzes online or print them in advance. For more fun, think about getting a quiz about the destination you’re heading to.
To make it even easier for you, we created the ultimate travel trivia quiz!
If you are interesting in more road trip trivias, make sure to check all of our quizzes!
5. 21 Questions
21 Questions is a classic conversation starter game. You only need two people to play but can also play with more.
It’s very simple. Basically, you ask a total of 21 questions to the others. You can do one question each and the others answer. Altogether, each player will ask 21 questions.
It’s a great way to start some interesting conversations and get to know the people you’re travelling with.
Here are some examples of questions that you can ask:
- “What is your best childhood memory?”
- “What is your best travel memory?”
- “Who is your celebrity crush?”
6. Don’t say it
This is a simple but very fun game! Basically, you need to pick 5 common words (not each, 5 in total) and the passengers in the car are not allowed to say them during the road trip.
To make it more fun, try to think of words that you would usually use a lot during a car journey such as “arrive,” “car,” “look,” and “see,” for example.
If someone says one of those words, then they have to be ‘punished’ in some way. This can be by doing a dare after the trip or put a coin in a jar.
The coin idea is quite good because you can use the money to buy a round of drinks or something similar when you arrive.
7. Never have I ever
This is a classic and while it has been categorised as a drinking game, it really doesn’t have to be.
It starts with one person saying a statement “never have I ever” and then following it up with something they have never done.
If you (or someone else in the car) have done it, then you would have to do something in exchange. Usually it’s a drink but since we are on a road trip, I recommend using the money pot system and use the money for a common activity then.
8. Would you rather
This is when you think of two strange things such as “would you rather have hands for feet or feet for hands” or strange activities.
You can make this as gruesome or as wholesome as you want it to be, just know your audience when it comes to some of the things you say.
9. The movie game
This is a great game for movie lovers. It starts with someone naming an actor or actress, the next person then has to name a film they starred in.
The next person will name another actor or actress in that film, and so it continues. You carry on until you can no longer think of anything.
So for example, Leonardo Dicaprio, Titanic, Kate Winslet, The Holiday, Cameron Diaz, and so on.
10. Post it Game (without the post it)
Do you know the post it game where you write the name of someone famous on a post it and stick it on the forehead of someone and they have to guess who they are?
Well this is basically a car version of this. One passenger think of a famous person or character and the others have to guess who it is.
To get more information, they can ask any yes or no question such as ‘Are you a man?’ or ‘Are you a singer?’…
The games goes on until someone guessed and then another passenger can be the one answering questions.
Hopefully, that has given you some inspiration for some of the games and activities you can enjoy on your next road trip.
