19 Fun Road Trip Games for Adults

Never Have I Ever…

This classic game of “Never have I ever” also works well for car trips. A person in the car makes a simple statement starting with “Never have I ever…” and anyone who has ever done that action in their life must put a finger down or take a bite of a donut. Play continues around the car in a clockwise direction until only one person has fingers or donuts left, they’re the winner!

Six Degrees of Separation

Six degrees of separation is a theory that everyone in the world is connected via six or fewer relationships.  In this game, one person names two different film or television stars, and the other people in the car must try to find a link between the two in six steps or less.  For example, you might say William Shatner and Hale Berry.

They are linked by:

William Shatner starred in Miss Congeniality with Sandra Bullock

Sandra Bullock starred in Practical Magic with Nicole Kidman

Nicole Kidman starred in Australia with Hugh Jackman

Hugh Jackman starred in X-Men with Halle Berry!

See where this is going? You can take either two celebrities you like and then link them as fast as you can. Just don’t pick two stars that have starred in the same movie. That would ruin the game in most scenarios unless it’s something very obscure and forgotten by most of the population.

21 Questions

This game is great fun for people of all ages. Have a passenger think of a person, place, or object. The other passengers then have 21 questions to find out what they are thinking of. Questions should only be asked once. The questioner who correctly guesses what the person thought of gets to start the next round. You can try all sorts of characters, objects, and places. The more obscure it is, the more frustrating or pleasant the game can be (depending on the person).

Don’t Say It!

This is a simple game that tests the memory of players during a long car ride. Pick 5 common words that passengers are not allowed to say during the journey.  They should be common words used when traveling like “arrive”, “look” or “car”.  Whenever a person says one of the five words, they are penalized in some way — either they donate a coin to the “road trip snacks fund” or they have to perform an annoying task like filling the car with petrol or running an errand.

Fictional Families

This is a great game to get your imagination going during the car ride. Simply pick out a vehicle that is sharing the road with you and have everyone take a good look at the occupants. Everyone should then collaborate to give these people an imaginary back story based on how they look, what kind of car they drive, and how they are dressed. Some really funny backstories can be invented if you’re creative enough.

Human Jukeboxes

This is a great game if everyone in the car loves music.  It is started by one passenger singing a line from a well-known song.  The second person must connect the last word from that song lyric to another song. For example:

“Love, love me do, you know I love you…”  (The Beatles)

“…Give love a bad name…” (Bon Jovi)

“…That’s not my name, that’s not my name!” (The Ting Tings)

Would You Rather

This is another simple and funny road trip game that will help the time go faster. Simply think of two strange or disgusting activities and ask your fellow passengers which one they would prefer to perform. For example, “Would you rather have no arms or no legs?” Everyone should put some thought into their responses and have a couple of funny reasons why they made the choice.

The Movie Game

This is a great game for people who love movie trivia.  It starts with a person mentioning the name of a random actor.  The next person has to answer with a film that this actor starred in.  The next person has to answer with the name of another actor who starred in the film and so on.  The key to winning is thinking of obscure movies and actors.  If someone gets an answer wrong, they are out of the game until the next round.  For example: “Sean Bean” — “Game of Thrones” — “Lena Headley” — “Judge Dredd” — “Karl Urban” — “Star Trek”.

Fortunately/Unfortunately

This game requires a bit of creativity, but it can be quite fun for adults to play.  The first person thinks of something fortunate about the trips or what has happened that day.  It can be something true or something fictional.  The next player must follow it up with some unfortunate event tied to the first event.  For example:

“Fortunately, we are going to arrive at our destination sooner than expected!”

“Unfortunately, it has been invaded by the Chinese military”

“Fortunately, we all like Chinese food!”

“Unfortunately, they have no fortune cookies”

Padiddle

In this game, participants have to call out “Padiddle” every time they see a vehicle with a headlight out.  The one who fails to say padiddle has to do something for the other person.  In the couples version of the game, this might be to give them a kiss or give them a neck massage.

Hot Seat

This game involves one person in the group being asked five questions by anyone else in the car.  The person in the hot seat has to answer at least 4 out of the 5 questions. We like this game because it can be as wholesome or as roast-like as anyone wants it to become. Again, depending on the type of people you’re playing with, you can go over the limit or play it safe. It’s up to you and the others in the car how much you’ll be laughing during such a bout of banter.

Radio Roulette

As you drive across the country, you will keep finding new (and unusual) radio stations with some interesting and entertaining content. Radio roulette involves randomly choosing a new radio station every 10 minutes so you get to hear what is out there.  You might find yourself listening to everything from smooth 80s jazz to evangelical Christian radio!

Explain a film plot badly

This is another fun game for film buffs!  In this game, one person explains the plot of a film very badly and the other passengers attempt to guess which film it is.  For example “A boy befriends a bearded hermit and two gay robots, goes into space, snogs his sister and kills his dad”.  Know the answer?  Star Wars!  Here’s another one — “Bloke punches himself. Encourages others to punch him. Leaves his job. Shaves his head. Bad influence on Meatloaf”.  That’s right, it is Fight Club!