Car Games For Long Journeys

Finally getting outside and going for a holiday this summer? Taking a long journey, either as a group or with your kids? Don’t worry. We’ve been scouring the internet for some great ideas to keep both you and your passengers entertained for majority of your ride. So, explore our list below and don’t let the road trip get you down this summer.

Never Miss A Beat / Name That Tune / Battle Of The Bands

This selection of games are for those who have developed an affinity for music. All three of these games use music to entertain you in your car journey and each are as fun as the last.

Never Miss A Beat is a challenge for all car passengers to have a go at. With this you need to choose a selection of songs that you are all familiar with and play it through the car stereo. Everyone starts singing along to the song and then someone turns down the volume to mute for ten seconds. This is a game of timing, when the volume is turned back up, are you in time or are you all over the show? The winner of this little game is the person who carries on the beat perfectly in time!

Name That Tune is quite self-explanatory. You can either play this through the radio or through someone’s online playlist. Every time a new tune comes on, test your knowledge and be the first to call out the song’s artist and the song’s title. Get ready to name the ultimate champ at the end of the journey!

Battle of the Bands is a game for those car journeys where song choice is always contested. Sick of the squabbles while you’re driving? Try this game. Select a person who will become the judge of your music tastes. This person then gives a category, like “love song” or “song from a movie”. The contestants then provide a song each to suit that category. Your judge decides a winner from the selection given and that song gets played in full. Take turns being the judge and keep changing up the categories – no more arguments!

Road Trip Bingo

This game requires a bit of preparation beforehand, but it is great fun for all the family. Before your journey, create a selection of bingo cards of things that you may come across in your journey: “Cow”, “Yellow Mini”, “Costa/Starbucks” etc. Everyone in the car gets their own bingo card and the winner is the first spot all the items on their list. A classic game of bingo rolled into a long car journey. Prepare multiple cards for multiple hours of fun!

The A to Z Game

The A to Z Game can provide hours of fun, or distraction if needed. This game starts with a category: for example, car manufacturers or car models. Once a category has been selected, you take turns going from A to Z to come up with something within that category that begins with your given letter: A = Audi, B = BMW, C = Citroen etc. When you come to the last three letters, I always group them together so that you have an easier selection to choose from. If someone cannot come up with something for their letter and others can, they lose a point. If you cannot come up with something and others can’t then no point is lost.

Keep score throughout your journey and crown whomever has the lowest amount of points as your car journey winner!

Car Colour/Make Race

Got a car full of betting people? Then this may be the game for you. You can either play this for car colours or car makes. For example, everyone in the car chooses a manufacturer: Nissan, Volvo, Vauxhall, Peugeot etc.

From that point it becomes a race to spot their choice ten to twenty times. The winner is the person to get there first! You can mix it up by choosing both a colour and model and increase the amount of points to get - it's a simple but exciting game!

The Word Association Game

Test yourself in a face-paced game which is designed to catch you out. The Word Association Game is a quite quick word-based game aimed to keep you on your toes. Someone starts by providing a starting word, for example “fruit”, then the next person gives a word that is linked to that one: “vegetables”. Sounds simple enough but there are a few rules in there to make it a little bit harder.

Rules:

  1. You cannot say any words beginning with “p” or “s”.
  2. You cannot take more than five seconds to come up with your word.
  3. You cannot repeat words or use plurals.

These seem simple enough but mix them all together and you get a game that is there to test your cognitive abilities to the max.

I Spy

A classic game that is sure to keep little ones entertained but is also a great suggestion for the older ones as well. To make the game a little harder, introduce two words instead and focus on the minute details of the car: “CB = Car Bonnet”, “LI = Leather Interior”. It will keep you busy for hours!

Tell Us About Your Trip!

We hope you found some useful ideas on our list and if you do decide they are a needed requirement for your journey, make sure to tell us on our social media. We’d love to hear from you!