We recently asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell us their favorite road trip games to play on long car rides. Here are some of the most fun ones.
1. Sorry I'm Late
"It starts off with one person saying, “Sorry I’m late.” Then that person proceeds to give a reason to why they were late, but the reason is them giving a description of a movie.
Ex: Sorry I’m late, I had to help this guy find his son, but I kept forgetting where I saw him.
Answer: Finding Nemo.
It’s up to everybody in the car to find out what that movie is."
2. The Cow Game
"This one's good if you live in the Midwest. Whenever you see cows out your side of the car, you have to be the first to shout 'I have 10 cows!' or whatever number of cows you see. If you drive past a cemetery on your side, all of your cows die. The person with the most cows at the end of the ride is the winner. You can add other rules with each road trip, like if there’s a roadside memorial, only 10 cows die, or that horses are worth 1/10 a cow."
3. Three Words
"Everyone takes turns saying three words to make a common story. It sounds kind of dry and like it would get boring, but with interesting people in the car, it can entertain you for HOURS on end. It can lead to some arguing and frustration for sure, but definitely passes the time."
4. That's Where You Were Born
"This is a good one for siblings. When you pass a rundown house or shack or outhouse, one of the older siblings nudges a younger one and says, 'That’s where you were born.' You then compete to find worst place to be born at."
5. State Trooper Bingo
"You look for state troopers or other police cars. The first person to spot five of them wins, and the prize is not getting a speeding ticket! It’s great because it keeps you awake and alert and constantly on the lookout for cops."
6. Ice Cream Sundae
"You start by looking for a vanilla (white) car, then a chocolate (brown) car, then a sprinkle (Bright pink, purple, or green) car, then to top off your sundae, a red car. It’s super fun! Whoever completes their sundae first wins."
7. The Letter Game
"It’s pretty simple, the way it works is someone picks a number between 1-26 and whichever letter coincides with that number is the one you look for. For example: If I pick the number seven, that means the letter for that round is G. The first person to find five words that start with G wins! The only other rule is that someone else has to also see the word for it to count, and there's no repeat of words."
8. Hey, Cow
"You slow down by a cow pasture and bellow (like a cow) the words “Hey, cow”. You get a point for every cow that turns and looks at you, and half a point for any critter that isn’t a cow (like a horse, donkey, etc). For some reason, it never fails to put us all in a fit of giggles."
9. Fake Facts
"You literally just make up the most outlandish facts you can, like that trees are actually mimes doing their job very well, or that the last pope lived in the house out in the middle of nowhere."
10. Car Baseball
"You keep score through nine 'innings', and the first car to pass on the opposing road’s color dictates the call. Red cars are strikes, black cars are singles, blue cars are doubles, white cars are triples, and gold cars are home runs!"
11. The Song Game
"Each person takes a turn humming a song and the other people have to guess what it is. Whoever guesses first gets a point. Whoever has the most points at the end of the game wins. If a person knows the artist and not the song, they get half a point."
12. Horse, Tractor, Cemetery
"You call out when you see one. The first person to call horse or tractor gets points (10 and 20 respectively), and the first person to call cemetery when they see one makes everyone else lose 15 points. You can change what you’re looking for depending on where you’re driving."
13. Padiddle
"It's a night car ride game. When you see a car with one headlight out, you yell padiddle and slap the ceiling of the car. The last person to slap doesn’t get a point — but a dirtier version is to lose an article of clothing."
14. Waffle House
"If you're driving through certain parts of the country, you can count the Waffle Houses along the way. If one of us fell asleep, the other person assumed all counting responsibilities and updated the sleeper on the number we were up to when they woke up."
—Ginamarie Helene, Facebook
15. The Name Game
"One person starts by naming a celebrity, fictional character, sports icon etc. (no personal or friend names). So if it's Miley Cyrus, for example, the next person has to think of another celebrity, fictional character, sports icon etc. whose name starts with the first letter of the last name just listed. The next person could say Charlie Sheen, and then the person after has to come up with someone whose name begins with S, and so on and so forth. If someone drops a name with the same letter for the first and last name, like Kim Kardashian, the player rotation reverses."
16. Score
"You yell out 'Score!' when you see any type of vehicle (bike, motorcycle, van, car, etc.) that is yellow. School buses and taxis don’t count. Highest score wins!"
17. Movie Connections
"One person says a movie, then the next person has to name another movie that is somehow connected to the previous one (an actor, director, producer, etc. in common). You can’t name the same movie twice, and you have to know your connection — so you can’t take a wild guess and hope there’s some obscure actor connection. You can use the same connection over and over to different movies.
For example: Forrest Gump > Saving Private Ryan (Tom Hanks) > Ocean's Eleven (Matt Damon) > Good Will Hunting (Matt Damon) > Hook (Robin Williams). It goes on like this until someone can’t make a connection or makes an incorrect connection., like going from Good Will Hunting to Titanic.
18. Shuffle
"Put someone's playlist on shuffle. The first person to guess the song wins, and their music playlist is next."
19. Anal
"Just put the word 'anal' in front of the different car models you see on the road. 'Anal Explorer' is a classic example."
Submissions have been lightly edited for length/clarity.