Word games to play in the car, from the driveway to the motel

Every game below has three little labels: the age it works from, whether the driver can join in, and what you need. For most of them the answer to the last one is “nothing but your voice.”

1. The alphabet game

Ages 5 and up · driver can play · needs nothing

Find the letters of the alphabet in order, A to Z, on signs, license plates and the sides of trucks outside. Call each one out as you spot it. You can play as a team or race each other, one side of the car each. Q and Z will test everyone, which is half the fun.

2. The license plate game

Ages 6 and up · passengers · a pencil helps

Spot license plates from as many different states as you can over the whole trip. Keep a list on the back of a receipt. Long drives across the country can fill a surprising number of states, and the rare ones become legends. A word twist: take the letters on the plate in front of you and make a sentence out of them. KTB becomes “Kittens Take Baths.”

3. I spy

Ages 3 and up · driver can play · needs nothing

“I spy with my little eye something that is… green.” The classic. In a moving car, choose things that will stay in view: something inside the car, a water tower in the distance, the color of a cloud. Otherwise the answer is three miles back before anyone guesses.

4. Word ladder

Ages 9 and up · driver can play · needs nothing

A spelling puzzle for older kids and adults. Pick two words of the same length and turn the first into the second by changing one letter at a time, with a real word at every step. COLD, CORD, CARD, WARD, WARM. Say each step out loud, and let everyone shout suggestions. Short words are easy; five-letter ladders will keep a car busy for miles.

5. Geography

Ages 7 and up · driver can play · needs nothing

Name a place. The next player names a place that starts with the last letter of yours: Texas, Seattle, Edinburgh, Houston. No repeats. You’ll soon discover how many places end in A, and how few start with Q.

6. Fortunately, unfortunately

Ages 6 and up · driver can play · needs nothing

A storytelling game. The first player says a sentence that starts with “Fortunately.” The next adds one that starts with “Unfortunately.” “Fortunately, we found a gas station. Unfortunately, it only sold pickles.” Keep going until someone can’t stop laughing.

7. I’m going on a picnic

Ages 5 and up · driver can play · needs nothing

A memory game. The first player says: “I’m going on a picnic and I’m bringing avocados.” The next repeats the list and adds something with B: “…avocados and bagels.” Then C, then D. The list gets longer and sillier, and the youngest players are often the best at remembering it.

8. Categories

Ages 7 and up · driver can play · needs nothing

Pick a category and a letter. Flowers with B, cities with M, things in a toolbox with S. Go around the car, each player naming one, until someone runs dry. That player picks the next category.

9. The one-word story

Ages 5 and up · driver can play · needs nothing

Each person adds exactly one word to a story. “Once… upon… a… banjo…” It never goes where you expect, and that’s the point. The youngest passenger usually ends up steering the plot.

10. Twenty questions

Ages 5 and up · driver can play · needs nothing

One player thinks of something, and the others have twenty yes-or-no questions to figure out what it is. It deserves more than a paragraph, so it has its own article, with rules and ideas.

11. Hot and cold with words

Ages 8 and up · driver can play · needs nothing

One player thinks of a word. Everyone else guesses words, and the thinker answers only with a temperature: cold, cool, warm, hot, “you’re burning up!” Whoever guesses the word picks the next one. It’s the old hiding game, but the hiding place is language. The full rules and a few tips are in the hot and cold word game.

At the rest stop: the daily word

When the car finally stops for gas and a stretch, passengers can try the online version of hot and cold. Warmer Warmer has one secret word a day, the same for everyone. Each person guesses on their own phone, and the game tells you how close each word is in meaning, from freezing to scorching. Then compare at the picnic table: who needed the fewest guesses? The driver gets their turn at the motel, phone in hand and feet up.

Here’s what a game looks like. Fittingly, the secret word is billboard:

1. cow43 °FFreezing: lots of those out the window, but no
2. road117 °FLukewarm: we’re on the right road, literally
3. sign160 °FHot: something you read while driving past
4. poster176 °FHot: a big picture with words
5. advertisement190 °FScorching: that’s what it’s for
6. billboardFound it!

Road was the first real sign of life. Sign jumped to hot, poster said it was big and printed, and advertisement said what it was for. One more guess, and done.

Try it now: what’s your first guess?

Guess

Your word goes straight into today’s game.

A few rules for a happy car

• The driver can always pass. Driving comes first, every time.
• Keep rounds short. Ten minutes of one game, then switch.
• Let the youngest choose. It keeps them in the game much longer.
• No spoilers. If someone has already found the daily word, they keep it to themselves until everyone has.

If your trip ends at a big family table, there are more ideas in word games for family night. And if you’re driving to Grandma’s for the holiday, try Thanksgiving word games. Safe travels, and here’s today’s word for the next stop.