Some of the best memories of camping can be made with the simplest of traditions. One of them is gathering around the picnic table or fire for a friendly game of chance and skill. Having a game night with friends and family is a great way to wind down after a day of adventure.
Similarly, a simple card or dice game can be the perfect boredom buster when you’re on the road in between locations. Also great for those rainy days where there’s just nothing else to do. We’ve gathered the best travel games for the road, so give these tried-and-tested games a whirl!
Best Travel Games for Kids in the Car or RV
Kids always seem to need to be entertained. When you are on those long road trips in the vehicle, games are a welcome distraction for both parent and child! These fun games will teach your kiddos that the journey can be just as fun as the destination.
Spot It! Test the kids’ perception and focus by picking out matching pairs in a travel-friendly canister of 55 cards specially designed for younger players. Each pair has subtle differences that will test their powers of observation.
Travel Scavenger Hunt. You can keep everyone busy with a scavenger hunt of 54 objects typically found along the highway. Take turns drawing cards and matching what’s on the card, such as a yellow car or a roadside restaurant. Players cannot discard a card until they’ve found a match. The first person to discard all of their cards wins.
License Plate Game. With several variations to this game, give your kids a piece of paper and pencil. One version is for them to write down the alphabet and cross off or circle the letters as they see them on passing license plates. The first one to tick off all letters wins. A second variation is to search for different states, with the ultimate goal of finding all 50. If you are traveling to a popular location, you may just find all 50! Whoever finds the most states by the end of your trip, wins.
20 Questions. We all know kids love to ask questions, especially when they’re bored. This game can be played without a board, cards, or app. Decide on a subject; person, place, or thing (don’t tell them, obviously.) Then have them ask up to 20 yes-or-no questions about what the subject might be. The first one who guesses correctly, wins.
Stack the States. This is a wonderful learning app to download on your smartphone. It makes for a great car ride game to get them interested in exploring the world around them. The app teaches them about the geography of the U.S. with fun and interactive displays. As they advance the levels of the game, map challenges will load up to test their memory and enable them to build geographic knowledge.
Travel Games for Older Kids and Adults
Snip, Snap, Snorem. With a regular deck of cards, deal out the entire deck to all players. Starting to the left of the dealer, the first player turns any card face up on the table. Other players must try to match the card’s rank (such as all 5s or all queens). If a player cannot match the rank, they have to pass. Once all four cards in the rank of been played, the next person plays a card with a new rank to match, and so on. The first person to play all of their cards wins.
Mad Libs. This classic fill-in-the-blank word game has been around since the 1950s, and with good reason. Now, Mad Libs has evolved into a travel-friendly app to download on any smartphone for hours of hilarious word play on the road or at your campsite.
Story Time. A great one to play around the campfire, someone starts telling a random story, saying a few lines, then each player takes a turn adding a line or two. This one is best played in rapid-fire mode, when the object of the game is to talk immediately when it is your turn without thinking about it too much (or at all). This can last as little or as long as you like.
Exploding Kittens. Even lovers of cats will enjoy this quirky card game. Each player takes turns drawing from the deck with the hope they do not get the game-ending Exploding Kitten card. If they do, they can play other cards in their hand, or pass the offending card to another player. The illustrations on the cards alone are enough to let hilarity ensue, but there is serious strategy to this game!