Are you heading away somewhere for a getaway? Are you anticipating a long car trip, or have kids who won’t stop asking “are we there yet?” To lessen the boredom, and keep your kids (or yourself) occupied, try one of these car ride games to keep you entertained on your journey.
Find ways to entertain yourself and your family or friends on your next car ride.
The Alphabet Game
Objective: Find all the letters of the Alphabet on signs or places seen while traveling in the car, in order
How to play: This game is for two or more players. You must start at the beginning of the alphabet, and find letters of the alphabet on things you see while on your trip. You can use signs, buildings, or anything besides a license plate. When you see a letter, you must call it out with alliteration, i.e. “A as in Apple!” The first person to make it to “z” by the end of the car ride wins.
The Geography Game
Objective: To be the last person to name a place anywhere in the world
How to play: One person starts off by naming any city, country, state, or province, anywhere in the world. The next person has to think of a place that starts with the last letter of the previous place. For example, the first person starts off by saying “Arkansas” and the next person says “Shanghai” and the third person says “Ireland” and so on. There are no duplicates allowed, and every place named has to be a real place. Play continues on until everyone is stumped, or the car ride is over.
Try one of these games for your next boring car ride.
While You Were Sleeping
Objective: To convince someone to believe your lies
How to play: For this game, someone first has to fall asleep. Much like the first person to fall asleep at the sleepover party gets things drawn on them, this game too capitalizes on one’s exhaustion. When the person falls asleep, the rest of the car comes up with an outrageous story of something that happened while the person was sleeping. If you’d like to keep score, you can assign each member a portion of the story and award points based on how believable each individual storyteller is. Mostly though, the fun lies in getting your friend or family member to believe your lies.
The License Plate Game
Objective: To spot the most states
How to play: This ages-old car trip game is pretty easy. You try to spot the most out of state license plates seen while on your trip. You can keep score by writing a list and
tallying at the end how many states each player saw first.
The Sign Game
Objective: To get some laughs
How to play: All you need is a fertile imagination and some pen and paper. You create signs for the cars that pass you on the road and see if you can get any reactions. For example “I’m naked from the waist down” on a sign will get you some pretty funny looks. Depending on the actual sign subject, this game may be more suitable for adults. And as a safety precaution, make sure to never hold up signs to drivers, only to other passengers.
Punch Buggy
Objective: To be the first person to spot a buggy (aka a Volkswagen Beetle)
How to play: The first person to see a buggy while on the road yells out the color of the vehicle and punch buggy, as in “green punch buggy, no punch backs!” They then get to punch everyone in the car, without being in danger of getting hit themselves. This game may be best avoided if the car has some overzealous punchers.
Padiddle
Objective: To be the first person to see a car with one headlight out
How to play: Keep your eyes on the road and scan all around the vehicle while on the car ride. You want to be the first person to spot a car with only one headlight. Once you spot it, you need to simultaneously touch the roof and yell out “padiddle.” Each of these actions awards you one point each, so if you don’t complete them both, you only get one point for the activity completed. The game continues until you reach a pre-determined score.
Twenty Questions
Objective: To guess the subject the person designated “it” has come up with
How to play: One person is selected to be “it.” They then have to think of a noun (aka a person, place or thing) that the other players try to guess.The other players only have 20 questions before they have to guess the secret subject. The questions can only be yes or no questions, and no repeat questions are allowed. If you guess correctly, you win, and then you are the next person to be “it.”
These are just a few classic selections from the time before cell phones (or BC). Maybe you remember playing some of these games as a little kid, or maybe you are trying to teach some car ride games to your own kids. Do you have any other ideas that haven’t graced the list? Let us know on our Facebook page or tag us on Instagram at @effective.coverage. Or perhaps you are in need of an insurance policy for your car? We can help you with that, along with any questions or needs you have regarding your insurance. Feel free to contact us anytime at (800)892-4308 or click to get covered - whether you need renters insurance quotes online or coverage anywhere else!
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