What are the Top Games to Play on Long Road Trips?

Summer is here and it is road trip season! While everyone is excited about reaching the family resort or grandma’s house, getting there can be filled with boredom. Keep everyone entertained and away from doom-scrolling with these fun interactive games that require no technology and are designed to make the miles fly by.

1. What is the license plate game?

As long as we have been taking summer road trips, we have been playing the license plate game. Each player keeps an eye out for license plates from different states or even countries! The kids may fill up their list in a few hours, or they could keep looking for the whole week for those elusive Alaska plates.

2. What is involved in playing road trip bingo?

This is a little bit like the license plate game. Download some road trip bingo cards and print them out before you hit the road. Players get to fill in a space when they find a stop sign, fast food restaurant, motel, or amusement park as you drive by. The bingo cards are loaded with common and rare sights. Do simple bingo or complete the entire card for longer rides.

3. Cows on My Side!

No paper is required! This is an especially awesome game while traveling through farm country. It’s simple! See a cow and yell out, “Cow on my side!” It’s easy to change it up to work with wherever you might be roaming. 

“Boat on my side!”

“Fire truck on my side!”

“Windmill on my side!”

The more cows that you see, the more points you get. It keeps the kids engaged with the scenery, so they actually get to see America this summer.

4. You won’t guess what happened while you were sleeping!

When joining friends for a ride out to the desert or up to the mountains, nothing beats “While You Were Sleeping.” Once somebody nods off for at least five minutes, the rest of the crew gets together to create a tale about something that most certainly did not happen while they were snoring. When they wake up, each person takes a turn elaborating on the fake story.

How long can you keep the sleeper believing? One minute? Two? Ten? Laughter is guaranteed.

5. Road Trip Name that Tune

Are the kids budding music buffs? Decide on a playlist and turn it on. Take turns guessing the song title and artist. For the young ones, focus on tunes from their favorite shows. For adults, crank up some oldies! You can sing along, too.

6. Do they still make Mad Libs?

These fun short stories can still be found at your local bookstore. The one-page tales have words missing in each sentence. The reader asks another person for a noun, verb, adverb etc. without telling the guesser what the story is about, and they fill in the blanks.

The more outrageous the added words, the sillier the tale becomes when read aloud.

The Mad Lib book has enough pages to keep the little ones laughing for the entire vacation.

7. How does the Alphabet Game work?

Even your pre-schoolers can play along with this one. Find a sign that starts with the letter A. The next sign must start with B.

Everyone keeps going while using the next letter in the alphabet. And there’s no need to stop when you reach Z. Just start over at A.

8. The Grocery Game

What did I buy at the grocery store? That’s what the first person asks. All the other passengers have to ask a question like:

“Is it a fruit?”

“Is it green?”

“Is it good to grill?”

Eventually, somebody will guess what came home in the shopping bag.

Ensure a Fun and Worry-free Ride with Road Trip Maintenance

Before you pack the kids up and head away from Huntington Beach this year, make sure that the minivan, car, truck, or SUV is also ready for the ride. Call the service department at Beach Boulevard of Cars and schedule a multi-point inspection. We can check the tire pressure, top up the windshield fluid, check the brakes, and help you stock up your roadside assistance toolkit.