Make the long journey memorable with these fun and entertaining road trip games for adults! Playing road trip games is a great way to bond with friends and family during those long car rides.
1. State License Plates
Keep track of the various state plates you see during the ride. The player who finds the most state plates wins!
Keep track of the various state plates you see during the ride. The player who finds the most state plates wins!
Alternatively, you could play that once someone claims a state, no one else can add it to their list.
Or, if you’re not a competitive bunch, work together to create a list of all the license plates you discover on the ride.
Use a pen and some paper or your note-taking app to record the plates you spot. You could also print a few maps and cross them off that way.
2. Road Sign Alphabet Game
Find all 26 letters of the alphabet on road signs, billboards, businesses, etc. Even license plates count! This one makes a great 2 player road trip game! You could even play it by yourself!
Start with the letter A and work your way through the entire alphabet. Gets more challenging when you get to letters like X and Z.
A couple of rules:
- You can only use 1 letter per word. For example, you might see a street sign that includes the letters A and B. But you can only use it for the letter A and must find another sign for the letter B.
- Words on and inside your car do not count! So anything written on the car seats, on the passengers’ clothing, etc., is off limits.
There’s also a variation of the game in which the word must start with the letter you’re looking for.
As with most games, you can turn this into a competion and race to get to the letter Z, or you can join forces in the search for the letters. Especially the tricky ones like Q, X, and Z. Time yourself to see how long it takes to make it to the end.
And if you still have some car ride left, play it again and try to beat your high score!
3. The Story Game
Put your creative minds to work in this entertaining story game!
The goal is to tell a story one word at a time. Each person takes a turn adding a word. You never know what wacky direction the story will take!
You could change it to sentences if doing it one word at a time gets a little boring.
Be a good hostess: simple road trip tips.
Free printable road trip games. (In that same post.)
4. Sing the Next Line
This game is as simple as the title. Someone plays part of a song and then pauses it. The others race to correctly sing the rest of the line. Whoever gets it right earns a point.
This kind of game works best if you choose songs most of the players might have heard.
5. Guess the Quote
One player says a quote and everyone else tries to guess who said the quote. It could be from a movie, book, song, or person. Perhaps even someone you know…
Whoever guesses correctly can say the next quote! Make it extra fun by doing impressions of the person you’re quoting.
6. The Name Game
Players take turns saying a name. The last letter of the previous name must be the first letter of the next name. e.g., Player one says, “Matt,” player two says, “Tara,” player three says, “Aaron,” and so on.
No repeats or long pauses. You get to determine what counts as a long pause.
7. Never Have I Ever
Each player gets 5 lives. Use your fingers to keep track of your lives. Players take turns saying, “Never have I ever,” and then say what they’ve never done.
If anyone’s done it, they put one finger down. When you run out of lives, you’re out of the game.
Some ideas for never have I ever statements:
- Disliked pizza
- Been out of the country
- Liked coffee
- Seen the Northern Lights
- Played video games
You can be really mean and target people by saying you’ve never done something, and they have.
Keep making never-have-ever statements until there’s only one player left.
8. Three Things
One player lists three words, which could be a noun, verb, adjective, etc. They can all be in the same category (color: blue, green, purple), or they can be completely unrelated (cat, pizza, house.)
The Lister mentally chooses one of the words. The rest of the passengers select a word and say it out loud. Once everyone else has revealed their answer, the Lister says their answer.
If your answer matches the Lister’s answer, you get to make a new list of words, and play begins again. Keep going until you reach your next stop or until everyone’s brains are dry from coming up with words to say.
9. 20 Questions
Another classic guessing game for adults. Players have 20 chances (20 questions) to figure out what the object is. It could be anything, a dog, a movie, an actor, maybe someone in the car…
One player chooses an object, and the rest of the players ask yes/no questions to guess what it is.
Choose your questions wisely! You only have 20, so make them all count!
When you’re confident that you’ve figured out the correct answer, you can make your guess. If you guess incorrectly, it counts as a question, and you can keep going.
10. Name the Song
Sing part of the lyrics to a song, and the rest of the passengers must guess what song it’s from. Make it more challenging by singing the more obscure / unknown parts of the song.
11. Sweet or Sour
Take turns waving at pedestrians and passengers in other cars. If they wave back, they’re sweet; if they don’t, they’re sour. Earn a point for every “sweet” person you waved at.
The passenger with the most points wins! A prize could be something sweet at your next stop.
12. Punch Buggy
Punch Buggy is a classic car-spotting game that’s perfect for long car rides and road trips. Traditionally, you try to spot a Volkswagen Beetle, but you may choose whatever car you wish so long everyone participating is aware of what you’re looking for.
When you spot the car, shout, “Punch buggy!” and lightly punch the player closest to you. You don’t have to shout, but it’s fun to add the jarring effect of an unexpected shout to the game.
You’re not allowed to punch someone back if they’ve said punch buggy and punched you first.
Have someone keep track of points. Or you can ignore the scorekeeping aspect and call them out for fun.
13. The Grocery Game
A player thinks of an item they’d buy at the store. The rest of the players take turns asking questions to guess what the item is.
14. I Spy
The classic guessing game every kid played growing up. The player gives a clue by saying, “I spy with my little eye something…” and then states the color, shape, first letter, or sound of the object.
Example: I spy with my little eye something blue.
Everyone else makes a guess as to what the object is. The winner gets to name the next object.
If saying the entire phrase gets a little tedious, you can simply say, “I spy,” and then describe the object.
15. Guess the Song
Have a passenger play the first few seconds of a song, and whoever guesses the name of the song and the artist earns a point. The player with the most points wins the game!
Raise the stakes by giving the winner control of the music for the next hour.
16. The Forbidden Word
Choose 5 words that your group might say a lot during a car ride, such as “car,” “ride,” or “there.”
None of the passengers are permitted to say these words for the entire drive until you get to the destination.
Players receive a demerit every time they say one of the forbidden words.
17. The Singing Game
A game that’s perfect for those who love to sing their hearts out on car rides! Decide the order of players so everyone knows when it’s their turn.
Start off with a word, for example, tonight. The starting player has 10 seconds to think of a song lyric that contains the word tonight and sing it. Then, the next player must think of another song that has the chosen word.
Players cannot use the same song for the selected word, even if they use another part of it.
If someone can’t think of a song in time or sings one that another player has done, they’re out. Gameplay continues until there’s only one player left.
Alternatively, you could race against the clock and see how many words you can get through.
18. Word Trail
Players take turns saying compound words and linking the first word of their compound to the last word of the preceding compound word.
For example, the first player might start with the word “sunlight,” the next player can say “lighthouse,” and the next might say “housefly,” and so on.
Everyone can have a few seconds to think of a word, but if they take too long or say a word that is not a compound word, they’re out. The game continues until there’s only one player left.
19. Silly Car Rules
Everyone gets to make up a rule for the car ride, such as clapping their hands whenever a yellow car drives by or saying, “We’re not in Kansas anymore,” when you enter a different city. The last player to obey the rule gets a point.
The player with the most points loses and has to buy everyone a snack at the next stop!
20. Categories
Players choose a category, and everyone must take turns naming something within that category in alphabetical order.
For example, the category is animals. The first player starts with the letter A and says alligator, the next player has B and says bears, and so on.
If anyone gets stumped, they’re out. Keep playing until there’s only one player left.
21. Two Truths and a Lie
This game is one of the most fun ways to get to know people in your group. The more you know the other players, the harder it is to fool them, but it’s still worth a shot.
One person makes three statements about themselves. Two are true, and one is a lie. The rest of the players guess which one is the lie. Players who guess correctly are awarded a point.
Decide how many points you want to play to. 5, 10, etc. The first player to reach the designated amount wins the game!
22. The Counting Game
This is the type of game that can be hilarious and frustrating at the same time.
Try to reach the highest number without two people saying the number at the same time.
The first player says “one,” another player has to say “two,” but if more than one player speaks, you have to start over.
Make a goal to reach a certain number, like 20 or 30. See how far you’re able to go and try to beat that high score.
23. The Compliment Game
A unique way to make someone’s day while playing a game! Players take turns complimenting other passengers by going through the alphabet.
For example, one player might say, “A is for how Awesome Mary is,” the next player can now say, “B is for Sammi’s Beautiful hair,” and so on.
Make your compliments funny or sincere! Just try not to insult anyone while you’re at it, okay? This is supposed to be a fun game after all.
Games for the Destination
These road trip games for adults bring laughter and a bit of competition for the trip. I’m sure you’ll have all kinds of fun things planned for the destination, but just in case, bring along some card games.
Explore some 2-player games for adults.
Bring along card games for adults.