A family road trip can get long and boring for teens without something to keep everyone occupied in the car. Although the destination is the best part of a vacation, the travel can be fun too! This is where road trip games for teens and families come in handy. If you don’t keep your teens engaged in a discussion or game, they’ll likely just focus on their phone the whole time. The entire point of a road trip is to have a fun time as a family, and road trip games are an amazing way to bond.
The best games to play on a road trip are fun and easy to stop and restart when you have to make stops. Here are some games to play on your next family road trip.
Road Trip Games
Here are some road trip games that will help pass the travel time more quickly.
I Spy
The way I Spy works is that everyone takes turns describing something they can see while the others try to guess what it is. For instance, “I spy something blue,” and it’s a travel mug in the car. Everyone keeps guessing until they get it right or give up.
The Alphabet Game
Find words on road signs that start with each letter, starting at A and going in order until you reach Z. You can’t move on until you find the current letter. The Alphabet Game is also fun for categories like movie titles, grocery store items, or any other subject.
21 Questions
When playing 21 Questions, you’ll decide on a category, and everyone takes turns picking something, keeping it in their mind. The others in the car have to guess it within 21 yes-or-no questions. This is a good way for everyone to get to know each other better. Although you’re probably driving with people you know well already, there are likely some answers that will surprise you!
Who Am I?
One person thinks of someone famous, and the other family members guess who it is. This is a twist on 21 Questions, celebrity style. You can also replace the famous person with a family member.
Categories / Scattergories
When playing Scattergories, you’ll pick a category (animals, foods, holidays, etc.), and take turns naming items alphabetically. When someone can’t come up with an answer right away on their turn, they are out of the game.
Fortunately, Unfortunately
Family members take turns creating a collaborative story, alternating between sentences, starting with “fortunately” and “unfortunately”. For example: “fortunately, you won tickets your favorite band’s concert! Unfortunately, it’s when you’re out of town.”
Fictional Biography
When you spot someone in another car, work together to create a backstory for them. The crazier and funnier, the better. It can be based on some of the car’s features, such as bumper stickers and accessories.
Road Trip Trivia
Before your road trip, search online for ‘road trip trivia questions for families’ and compile a list that a teen can relate to. Include things like pop culture, landmarks, or geography in your trivia car game.
Name the Artist
Each time a new song comes on, try to guess who sings it. The first person to guess correctly wins a point. You can come up with creative prizes for winners, like a treat of their choice, extra spending on souvenirs, or just bragging rights. Whoever makes the playlist should not be able to play!
Mad Libs
Take a Mad Libs book or some printables, and work together to fill in the spots for nouns, adjectives, and verbs. Once it’s complete, you can laugh together as you read the story aloud. If you don’t have a physical version of Mad Libs, you can also find them online.
This or That
For the game This or That, you’ll take turns choosing the best of two comparable times, like chocolate vs fruity candy. You could also choose between basketball and football, or ice cream and brownies. This would be a good time to make someone choose between their two favorite artists, like Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter.
Would You Rather
Would Your Rather is a fun game for all ages. You’ll take turns offering two hilarious, thought-provoking, or hard-to-choose choices.
Each person in the vehicle has to choose one before moving on to the next person and a new choice dilemma. One example is, “Would you rather give up TikTok for a year or YouTube for a year?”
License Plate Game
There are many variations of the license plate game, as it is one of the most iconic road trip games. Essentially, you each look at license plates to spot as many different states as you can. You don’t need any materials, but it might be helpful to have paper and a pen to keep track of which ones you’ve spotted. You can choose to compete against each other and see who sees the most states. Alternatively, you can all work together and see how many different states you see while you drive!
Road Trip Bingo
Bingo is always fun, but it’s even better in the car on a road trip. If you’re wondering how to set up road-trip bingo, you can start by making or printing a bingo card and filling each square with something you might see on a road trip. Use markers, pens, or stickers to mark the cards, and have prizes handy for the winners.
Instead of a Game, Try Conversation Starters
You can take a break from games and try road trip conversation starters. Search online for good conversation starters, or come up with some of your own before leaving on your road trip. You can also encourage your teen to come up with some in the car.
Fun Road Trip Games Conclusion
You don’t need materials for some of these road trip games, but it could be handy to have paper, pencils, and something to write on. Your destination might be what you’re looking forward to most, but the hours spent together in the car can be a teen’s most memorable parts of the trip. These road trip games for teens and families will make the time in the car meaningful and memorable.