Car games

Driving in our car

Dwindling resources and high gas prices are beginning to make long road trips seem frivolous at best, but most Boomers can remember a time when “seeing the USA in a Chevrolet” (or Buick or Olds) was the preferred vacation. For a kid, however, the on-the-road part could become tedious just a few miles from the driveway.

My parents learned quickly that part of car trip preparation was to make sure we kids were armed with all sorts of distractions including Etch-a-sketch or its precursor, those “magic picture” drawing pads with drawing surfaces that could be lifted to make the picture disappear; crayons and coloring books; playing cards; reading books and, my favorite, Wooly Willy cards in which you could add mustaches, beards and hair to Willy using a wand and magnetic shavings.

Despite the gear, however, it wasn’t long before my brother was sneaking over to “my side” of the car and a fight would break out. It was at this point my mother would pull out her bag of tricks and offer us a variety of car games to pass the time.

Even if we aren’t car traveling so much these days, some car games, or variations of them, can be played in the air, on a train, while waiting in long lines or at home on a rainy day. Here’s a short list of some of the games we played:

20 Questions
Although there are many variations, the object of the game is the same. A group of players has to guess what another player is thinking about by asking “yes-no” questions. In the game we played, there were three categories: animal, vegetable or mineral. The chooser would tell the other players which category their object was in but beyond that could only answer yes or no. The classic game says players have 20 questions only and after that each must make a final guess.

I Spy (or Eye Spy)
The first player would pick out an object inside the car and give one or two hints as to what it was saying something such as “I spy something round and red.” The rest of the players tried to guess what that was by asking “yes-no” questions. Taken from hiding games, our version also included “hot-cold” hints to guide the other players whether they were close or far from the object.

Who Am I?
The first player would select a person known to all in the car. Then he or she would make an “I” statement such as “I wear glasses.” Other players try to guess who it was by asking “yes-no” questions. Another variation forbids the question-asking part and allows the first player to drop another hint with each round until players guess the name.

A to Z
This game is challenging when you come to “q,” “x” and “z.” First, we’d pick a general category such as “fruits and vegetables,” or “boys’ names” or “colors.” The first person must say a word in the category beginning with the letter “a.” The next person had to come up with something from the category that began with “b” and so on until someone is stumped. For little kids, a good variation is to forego the category and just have them come up with things that start with each letter.

Counting game
Choose a common object you will pass on the highway such as red cars, blue trucks, police cars, barns, cows, horses, gas stations. Try to see if you can count 10 or 20 before moving onto the next object. You can make this competitive if players select to look on one side of the road or the other and see who gets to the magic number first.

Finding game
Players would take turns choosing an object they would likely pass on the highway, especially vehicles. The first one to spot one wins each round. Depending on the collective knowledge base, this can be as simple as “red truck” or as hard as “Ford Woody Wagon.”

License Plates
Having a US (or Canadian) map or a list of states (or provinces) really helps with this one, and it usually carries over from car trip to car trip. Try to find license plates for all the states or provinces. It’s not easy and can keep you going all summer. We’d also vary this by selecting a state within the general region and trying to see who could be the first to see one. We got extra points for out-of-region plates.

We also used to try to find words or phrases to match the letters on license plates. Another variation is to see who can add up the numbers on a plate. You have to be quick to write the plates down so it helps to have a designated spotter and designated writer.

Rock-Paper-Scissors 
Players clench one fist and pound it into their other hand on a count “1, 2, 3.” On “3” they open their fist in one of three positions: rock (a closed fist), paper (an open palm) or scissors (two fingers in a sideways V shape). A rock wins by crushing scissors, paper wins by covering the rock, and scissors win by cutting paper. In a tie, the players go again.

Some links for more games:

Activities for Kids has a solid travel game section.

Moms Minivan is another great car game site.

Games Kids Play also is the repository for games, car (and otherwise).

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