Dreading that long, boring family road trip that seems to drag on for forever and a day? The time spent in the car does not have to be so painfully monotonous… Play a game! It does not matter how old you are, a good car game will help to pass the time and make a long drive more bearable.

License Plate Game
The rules for the License Plate Game are simple. Everybody keeps of how many different states license plates they have seen. Only one person can account for each state. To make the game a little more interesting, you can offer a prize to the person with the most states spotted. A great, yet simple prize would be buying the winner the drink and snack of their choice on the next pit-stop.

20 Questions
The object of 20 Questions is to stump your opponent. You think of any person, place, or thing and then the opponent will ask a series of 20 yes-or-no questions that help them narrow down what you have in mind. If they guess it correctly, it is then his turn. If not, you get to come up with another person, place or thing. There are two possibilities for determining the winner of this game: 1) the person who stumps the most people or 2) the person who guessed the most correctly.

Alphabet Game
A personal favorite of mine is the Alphabet Game, and I still play it to this day. Starting with the letter “A” you sing a little song  about who you are, who you are with, where you are from, and what you are bringing on the trip while trying to pick pick names that begin with the letter.

Here is the basic song while using the letter “A” as an example: “A my name is Anna, my husband’s name is Al. We come from Alabama and we bring along some apples.“

The further in the alphabet you get, the harder it is to think of names, places, and objects. You have to use real names, places, and objects as well. The winner is determined by whoever gets the furthest along through the alphabet without making up names.

Song Title and Band Game
The Song Title and Band game is another great travel game and it definitely puts your music knowledge to the test! You start off with any band or song title, then using the last letter in the title or band name you think of another name or title starting with that letter. To make it harder, try guessing only song titles or only band names. There is no real winner in this game, but it is something fun to do in order to pass some time.

Aside from playing games, other ways for passengers to keep themselves entertained on long trips is by bringing along a book to read, a portable CD player or mp3 player, a pen or pencil and a journal, or even colored pencils/crayons and a coloring book. There are also all kinds of travel-sized boards games that you can find at your local toy store to take on long trips. Whatever you decide to do to bide you time, remember that you aren’t the only one in the car. Try to be considerate to others while having your fun. With that in mind, happy driving!

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