Whether on the road for college tours or just to escape daily life, summer journeys often entail road trips. As fun as sitting cooped up in a car with your family for seven hours may already be, road trip games can help break up the monotony of Netflix and family fights.
Road Sign Game
If you’re searching for a competitive road trip game, look no further. It’s every man for himself in this game. The objective of the game is to be the first person to finish the alphabet with letters found in road signs (truck letters, billboards and license plates are also acceptable). Once a player finds “A,” they continue to look for a sign with “B” in it, and so on.
(Photo/Getty Images)
50 State License Plate Game
One of the most straightforward games to play, the 50 State License Plate Game is a fun and easy game that can last an entire road trip. Make a list on paper or your notes app. When a player sees a license plate, cross the state the license plate is from off your list. See if you can reach all 50 states (or at least 48 without Alaska and Hawaii).
(Photo/Rene Mensen)
20 Questions
To begin, the first player thinks of any person, place or thing in their head. From there, the other players ask one question each turn, narrowing down the possibilities. The main player should keep track of the total number of questions asked. Whoever guesses the right answer before the limit of 20 questions is reached wins a point. The round ends once 20 questions are asked in total. You can either set a number of points to win the game or play for fun with no points.
(Photo/Professional Grant Writers)
Atlas
To start, the first player states any country. The next player has to then name a country that begins with the last letter of the country the previous player named. Continue playing in your chosen direction. If a player cannot name a country, they are eliminated. Different elements can be added into the game to spice things up. For instance, you can add a “Google search” lifeline one-time option or other tools such as that. Additionally, players can expand (ex. continents, countries and states) or shrink (ex. cities) the game to any scale they wish for their game.
(Photo/Mexico Institute)
Alphabet Game
The easiest way to explain this game is start with the structure. For example, if I were the first player, I would start with the letter “A” and say “My name is Ashley, my husband’s name is Al, we live in Arkansas, and we sell apples.” Follow this format for all letters: “My name is _____, my spouse’s name is _____, we live in _____, and we sell _____,” with all the blanks beginning with the letter you are on. The first player starts with “A” and the game continues in a clockwise direction with the next player using “B,” and so on.
(Photo/Mattox Shuler)
Name A Song
This game was made by yours truly on the way back from newsmagazine’s annual journalism convention. Whoever goes first has to say any word of their choosing, as long as the player knows that word exists in a song. The other participants have to name any song with that word in the lyrics. First person to correctly name a song wins the round and earns a point. Continue the game in a clockwise direction. Set a point limit, and the first player to reach that limit wins the game.
(Photo/Apple Music)
