Road Trip Car Games

According to the United States Department of Transportation, the Christmas/New Year's holiday period is one of the busiest travel periods of the year for automobiles. If you're loading up the car and traveling to see family and friends, we've compiled a list of the top 10 road trip car games to keep passengers entertained and make time fly. Rule #1 for all these games is for the driver to keep his/her eyes on the road — let the passengers enjoy the games!

1. Scramble – Challenge other passengers by scrambling a word and telling them the mixed-up letters that they have to try to unscramble into the original word!


2. Trivia – We all know some random facts that we can use as trivia for the rest of the car. Don't worry if you don't — we live in the world of smartphones! Come up with categories or just random questions to get other passengers thinking and learn new things!


3. 20 Questions – This classic game could go on and on! Choose a category and think of an object or person. Then challenge someone else to guess what you're thinking by the end of 20 questions. The catch? They have to be yes-or-no questions!


4. GHOST – In this word game, one player chooses a letter of the alphabet. Then, players take turns adding one letter at a time to create a word that has four or more letters. The last player to add a letter — and complete the word — gets a G (and then an H, an O, and so on). Whichever player gets G-H-O-S-T first loses!


5. Word Stretch – Challenge other passengers to create as many legitimate words they can from another word or phrase, such as "Are we there yet?" The player that is able to come up with the most words wins!


6. I Spy – This classic game hardly needs explaining. One person sees an object such as a black water bottle and says, "I spy something black." Then, other passengers take guesses to try to find the correct object first!


7. Alphabet Game – Everyone tries to find the letters of the alphabet, in order, outside of the car (on road signs, nearby buildings, etc.). Once a player spots it, he shouts out the letter and a word that starts with it, such as "B as in Bingo!" Then players begin looking for the next letter in the alphabet. Feel free to make your own rules!


8. License Plates – This game allows for personalization. You can search for out-of-state license plates, license plates with certain letters or sequences, or turn random letter sequences into funny phrases!


9. 2 Truths and a Lie – This game can be a true test of how well other people know you. Each player takes turns saying three sentences as if they are fact — either about themselves or some other topic. Two of those sentences must be truth and one, as the name suggests, must be a lie. Other players then guess to see which one was false!


10. First Person – In this customizable game, one person in the car is designated to make the rules, such as "first person in the car to find a yellow minivan wins!" The rest of the players then hunt for the object and the first person to spot it wins!