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59 Insanely Fun Road Trip Games for Adults (Car Trivia Games)

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So you’re on a long journey and looking for some games to play in the car for adults?

This article has the most comprehensive collection of road trip games for adults on the internet and will keep you entertained for hours!

Here you’ll discover step-by-step info on how to play a whopping 59 car trivia games, so you can laugh (and cry) all the way to your final destination.

One thing’s for sure:

You’ll NEVER be bored in your vehicle again.

These insanely fun road trip trivia games might just keep you sane on your journey.

Ready to pit yourselves against each other with some tough questions?

Let’s jump into this extensive list of the 59 best car games for adults!

road trip trivia

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Road Trip Games For Adults – Best Of

Here is a selection of our favorite road trip games for adults to get you started. All of them are quick and easy to play and there are step-by-step guides, so you know all the rules.

They are all word games for adults, so you don’t need any equipment to play!

The Categories Game

One of the most simple but fun road trip games for adults.

This awesome word game tests your knowledge against your friends by trying to recall the most items from a chosen category.

How To Play

  1. Choose a category of things such as movies from the 1990s or car models
  2. Take turns naming an item from that category
  3. If you cannot think of an answer on your turn you are out. Usually, it’s good to have a 15-second time limit per turn.
  4. Example – Fruit and Veg. Answers would be “carrot”, “apple”, “orange” and so on…..
  5. As a twist to this game, you can set a category and try to think of answers in the same order as the alphabet. So, the first answer needs to begin with “a”, the second with “b” and so on…

Two Truths and a Lie

How to Play

  1. Take turns playing this game.
  2. Think of two true statements and a lie
  3. Tell them to the group
  4. The group must identify which is the lie within the three statements.

Would You Rather

classic road trip game of answering questions that pose a serious dilemma. All questions begin with “Would you rather…”.

Try these examples or make up your own and find the funniest ones you can. This is absolutely one of my favorite car games for adults.

  1. Would you rather be the most intelligent person in the group or the funniest?
  2. Would you rather only eat chicken for a year or eat no chicken for a year?
  3. Would you rather be stuck in prison or be stuck homeless on the street?

Enjoy asking each other questions? If you are in a couple feel free to check out our Road Trip Conversation Starters.

Counting Game

Try to count to the highest number possible as a group without ever saying a number at the same time.

  1. The first person starts by saying the number one.
  2. The group then has 5 seconds for someone to say the number two
  3. If two or more people speak at once, then the game is over and you have to start again.
  4. Try to get to number 20….. or higher!

Listen To An Audiobook Or Podcast

Audible Free Trial

If you are bored of the usual games and have a long car journey. You could consider this free trial to Audible Plus!

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You might also like:

  1. Road Trip Conversation Starters
  2. Road Trip Jokes
  3. Podcasts For Road Trips

road trip games for adults
Road Trip Games For Adults!

Classic Car Trivia Games

Here are a few classic, well-known car trivia games for adults. Let us know if you can suggest any others for this article. Some of my favorite classics are in our article 12 Amazing Road Trip Games for Two People

20 Questions

The classic deduction game in which a player has 20 questions to identify what the person, place, or thing that the player being questioned is thinking about using questions that have a yes or no answer. It’s a great adaption of a road trip quiz.

How to Play

  1. The player thinks of a person, place, or thing. I personally think this game is best just asking them to pick a person.
  2. The other player(s) has 20 questions to guess what the person, place, or thing is.
  3. The player must tell the truth using yes or no answers when asked questions. It’s one of the best car games!

Truth or Dare

Play a simple game of truth or dare that is either confined to within the car or involves you doing stop-offs along the way to enact the dares! This can keep the trip spontaneous and interesting.

Let us know in the comments which game you think provides the best trivia for car rides 

Road Trip Trivia Games For Adults

road trip trivia

Road trip quiz apps are a great choice so here are a few examples of ones you can download and play together in the car. Apps are a great way to inject a bit of technology into your hunt for the best road trip games for adults.

What better than a road trip trivia quiz to keep you busy. 

We’ve got an entire article on the best road trip game apps with all the download links! 

Enjoy these perfect examples of road trip trivia games!

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

who wants to be a millionaire app

See if you can get to the million-dollar question in this popular road trip quiz game. Use lifelines and see how far you can get as you play in cities around the world in this free app. Solid reviews in the app store, give it a try.

iOS Download

Quiz Up

quiz up app

This is a fun, addictive, challenging road trip trivia app. Great for some quick quiz action in the car whilst on the road with your companions. Take part in a head-to-head battle on topics for every possible interest.

iOS Download

HQ Trivia

hq trivia app

You can win real money as you play in live game shows and quizzes in this free app. Solve puzzles or answer road trip trivia questions. Play with friends in the car. Good graphics and interactive design. Highly recommended.

In this app you will find a large variety of road trip trivia questions.

iOS Download

Road Trip Trivia Games For Adults – Music Orientated

Here is a selection of games to test your music knowledge and inspire a good old-fashioned sing-along. They are easy to play road trip trivia games to get the conversation flowing!

There is nothing like a bit of car ride trivia to keep you busy!

The Song Lyric Game

If any passenger can sing the full lyrics of a song that is playing for one minute, then they get control of the music for the car until another passenger can do the same on a different song.

Name That Tune

This simple game is one of my favorite road trip trivia games.

Use a music streaming app like Spotify and open up a popular playlist. The aim is to be the first person to identify a song from the first few seconds.

How To Play

  1. Open up a playlist of popular fairly well know tunes.
  2. Play the first 5-10 seconds of a song, or a snippet from it
  3. Players must guess what the song is.
  4. You can consider setting a time limit for each player and see how many they can get, using the word “pass” to skip to the next tune.
  5. If you want to play competitively then use the shuffle function and see who can guess the song/artist first.

An adaption of this can be played using the radio. Flip through pre-set radio stations and let it play for 10-20 seconds. The first person to name the song being played gets a point and its a race to 5 points.

A final version of this game is to simply shuffle the radio stations and force yourselves to listen to whatever the offering is for 10 minutes at a time! (not my favorite version).

The Humming Song Game

How to play

  1. Take turns humming a favorite song of yours
  2. The others must try and guess the song.
  3. Whoever guesses correctly gets to hum the next song.

Music Artists Game

This is a spin-off from the categories game based around the name of musical artists, see who can name the most!

How To Play

  1. Start off with the name of an artist such as “Oasis”
  2. The next player has to name an artist whose name begins with the last letter of the previous artist, in this case, “s”. An example would be “Sia”
  3. The next person would then need to name an artist beginning with “a” and so on….
  4. See who can continue the longest!

You can also play this game with famous people’s names

E.G Russel Crowe, Colin Farrell, Liam Neeson… etc.

Monotone Song Lyric Game

How to Play

  1. Say a lyric from a song with no tune or melody whatsoever
  2. Other passengers have to guess what the song is.

Music Battle

This game requires three people in the car. Participants pick their choice of best song for a given category and play it to the judge, who then picks a winner. A fun road trip game for adults if you’re traveling as a group!

How To Play

  1. Choose a music category such as “best songs to dance to”
  2. All participants must then choose a song and play it to the group.
  3. The judge must decide who picked the best tune for the category!

The Singing Game

This game should get everyone in the car singing, provided you have some music knowledge!

  1. Start the game by singing a lyric of a song
  2. The group then needs to try and connect it to another song by singing another lyric that shares the same last word of the previous lyric
  3. An example would be “I’m in love with the shape of you…” followed by “Can go and love yourself”

Song Pop 2

This is a great app that allows you to play clips of songs and try to get the artist and song name. It’s free and good fun to play in the car whilst on a road trip.

Road Trip Trivia Games

Road Trip Games For Adults – Movies Themed

Check out this selection of film-themed games that you can play on your journey. This was a frequent road trip game that we played whilst traveling around Europe. It’s one of the best car trivia games that’s quick and easy to play.

Movie Game

This is a fun and simple spin-off from the categories game aimed at testing your movie knowledge! Another of my favorite road trip games for adults.

How To Play

  1. The first person begins the game by picking the name of a well-known movie such as “Gladiator”
  2. The second person must then name an actor/actress that was in that movie such as “Russel Crowe”.
  3. The next person is then required to name a movie in which that person was also in. So, in Russel Crowe’s case this could be “A beautiful mind:”
  4. The pattern continues and if you cannot think of an answer on your turn you are out!
  5. You can play this game competitively or co-operatively depending on how you are feeling!

Terrible Movie Plot Description Game

How to Play

  1. One person thinks of a movie.
  2. They describe the movie plot to the other passengers in a factually correct way but as badly as possible
  3. The passengers need to guess what the movie is.
  4. If they guess correctly, they get a point. If they guess incorrectly you receive a point.

Guess The Quote

How to Play

  1. Someone says a quote from a tv show, movie, or song.
  2. The other passengers in the car have to try and guess it.
  3. The person that guesses correctly gets to say the next quote.
  4. Try to make it hard for each other!
  5. Add a twist by using an accent or impression at the same time.

Road Trip Games For Adults – Conversational

With hundreds of miles to your destination, here is a selection of road trip games to help you uncover a bit more about each other.

Kiss, Marry, Avoid

How to Play

  1. Pick the names of three people dead or alive
  2. Each person must decide which of those they would choose to kiss, marry or avoid if they HAD to choose!

Never Have I Ever

Get to know your road trip companions like never as you battle to reveal secrets about each other

  1. On your turn, say a statement of something that you haven’t done in the format “never have I ever…”
  2. Anyone in the car that has done it must take a drink of water.
  3. Find out as much as you can about each other!

Most Likely To Game

How to Play

  1. One person says a statement such as “most likely to earn a million dollars”
  2. On the count of three everyone in the car has to point to who they think fits the statement the best.

New Facts Game

Each player takes turns to say a statement about themselves that the other passengers would not be aware of before. It takes the format “Did you know that I….”. It’s a fun way to learn new things about your companions and get conversations going.

Questions, Questions, Questions

Here are a bunch of conversation-starter questions to get the juices flowing in the car:

  1. You are a crazy scientist. If you had unlimited money and resources what sort of experiment would you like to run?
  2.  What is the most interesting piece of content you have seen online this week?
  3. If you were a criminal fugitive what crime would it be for and where would you flee to?
  4. What would be your dream dinner guest and why?
  5. What is your favorite superhero?

Road Trip Games For Adults – Word Games

This selection of the best car word games for adults will keep you chatting for hours! Let us know in the comments which is the best.

Smurfing

This is another word game

How to Play

  1. One person needs to be the subject of the game and cover their ears
  2. The other passengers must think of a verb
  3. The subject needs to as questions using the word “smurf” to replace the verb they are trying to guess
  4. E.G “When was the last time you smurfed?” or “Is it better to smurf in the winter?”.
  5. The subject needs to guess what the verb is as soon as possible.

The Rhyme Game

How to Play

  1. One passenger starts the game by saying a word
  2. Each person must say a word that rhymes with it on their turn.
  3. 15 seconds per turn otherwise you are out.
  4. See how long you can go.

The Forbidden Word

Decide on a forbidden word. The person who says it most during the duration of the trip must buy a round of drinks. This a simple but effective example of one of our many car games for adults.

  1. Pick a word that is forbidden or alternatively choose a replacement for that word that must be used in all sentences.
  2. Keep track of how often each person breaks the rules by saying the word
  3. The loser must buy a round of drinks at the destination of the group!
  4. You can extend this game by making up different rules every half hour or so and make it more complex.

Word Association

A great time waster. As a group, you must string together as many associated words as you can

How To Play

  1. Begin the game with a noun such as “car”
  2. Continue the game by saying nouns that relate in some way to the previous noun.
  3. Continue until you want to give up
  4. Simple, but effective!

The Spelling Test

How to Play

  1. One passenger must act as question master and looks up difficult-to-spell words on their mobile
  2. They then test the other passengers spelling knowledge.
  3. Make it competitive and offer one point for each correct spelling.

Saying Sentences Backward Game

How to Play

  1. Someone says a sentence
  2. The player must then say the sentence backward correctly
  3. See how many you can do correctly in a 2-minute period
  4. The most number of points is the winner!
fun road trip activites

Car Games For Adults That Use Your Imagination

These car games for adults will be sure to help you pass the time during your long journey!

People Storytelling

How to Play

  1. Take turns picking a random car on the motorway near you
  2. Make up a short story about the passengers
  3. Who are they? What do they do?
  4. Everyone votes on who came up with the best story.

Storyteller

How to Play

  1. One person starts with the first line of a story
  2. Take turns adding a line to the story and see where it ends up, have fun!

While You Were Sleeping

This game only works if you have a sleeping passenger. It is essentially making up a story about something that happened while they were asleep.

How to Play

  1. If there is a sleeping passenger, make up an unbelievable story of events when they wake up
  2. Everyone in the car needs to be in on it. Anyone that breaks character loses.

Storytelling – Truth or Lie?

Each person begins telling an elaborate story from their past. The other people in the car must then try to decide if it’s a true story or not. Each player in the car gets one question to ask about the story before they make their decision.

  1. Play it competitively by taking turns telling a story
  2. A correct guess about an opponent’s story is worth 1 point
  3. The first player to 5 points wins

Humor-Based Road Trip Games For Adults

In this selection of adult car games, you try to make your companions laugh.

The Sorry I Am Late Movie Guessing Game

This is a variation of the movie guessing game

How to play

  1. One person starts off with a statement of “Sorry I’m late…” followed by a reason that they are late.
  2. The reason is actually a simple description of a film
  3. Example “Sorry I’m late, I was speeding through town on a bus with a bomb on it”
  4. Answer: Speed starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock!

Fortunately, Unfortunately

This is a word game where you try to make a funny string of statements always starting with either the word “fortunately” or “unfortunately”

How to Play

  1. The first person says the first sentence of a statement beginning with the word “fortunately”
  2. The next person must then say another phrase starting with “unfortunately”
  3. The next person must begin the next phrase with “fortunately” and so on….
  4. Try to make a funny story

Example

“Fortunately, I have a lovely packed sandwich for lunch”

“Unfortunately, the tomatoes will make your hair catch fire”

“Fortunately, I can fire water out of my fingertips”

Continue the game if you want.

Impressions Game

How to Play

  1. Take it in turns to do impressions
  2. The other passengers need to guess who it is.
  3. Add in a points system if you like.

Accents Game

How to Play

  1. One person says a funny statement in the accent of someone
  2. For example, you could do a Donald Trump impression
  3. The other passengers need to try and do the same impression
  4. Everyone votes on who the worst impression was.
  5. First to 5 points must buy a round of drinks at the destination.
mountain route

Memory-Based Road Trip Games For Adults

These will test your memory, see how you do against your companions!

I’m Going On A Holiday Memory Game

This memory game is a good way to pass the time. See who can remember the longest list of items generated by the group in a simple format.

How to Play

  1. The game starts with a sentence and one item
  2. E.G I am going on holiday and I am taking a towel.
  3. The next person must recite the statement but add an extra item at the end. Each turn a new item is added and if any player makes a mistake they are out.
  4. The next round would be like “I’m going on holiday and I am taking a towel and sun cream”.
  5. The game continues until only one person is left.

Road Trip Games For Adults That Require Logic

What better than a logic game to pass the time.

Who Am I?

This is a variation of the 21 questions game in which you need to guess which famous person you are in the game using logical deductive questioning.

How to Play

  1. The other people in the car decide on a famous person and write it down.
  2. You must then hold the paper to your forehead and ask questions with a yes or no answer to guess who you are
  3. The fewer questions you can use to get the answer the better!

6 Degrees Of Separation

Think of two people on earth and try to find the connection between them with 6 people or less. This is a fun one. A variation of this game is you can also play it with two unrelated items such as “compost” and “firecrackers”.

Guess The Fuel Price

Everyone in the car guesses’ the fuel price at the next service station you pass. The person with the closest answer gets a free drink from the other passengers at the destination.

Rock, Paper, Scissors

Have a rock paper scissors tournament in the car to decide who buys dinner at the destination.

Observational Road Trip Games For Adults

Here are some more adult car games to keep you in action! Let me know which one is the best in the comments.

Spot The Car

A way to ensure everyone keeps their eyes on the road! Compete against each other as you search the road for a pre-determined type of car and score points.

How to Play

  1. Choose either one or a few specific cars to keep an eye out for during the trip.
  2. You can choose to include make, model, and color.
  3. Each time someone spots one of those cars they get a point
  4. The first to 10 points wins the game.

Word Sign Alphabet Game

How to Play

  1. Start with the letter A, you must find words on road signs, buildings, or elsewhere in the order of the alphabet.
  2. Find a word starting with A, then B, then C…. etc
  3. You are not allowed to use license plates
  4. Play competitively or co-operatively
  5. If competing, the first one to the end of the alphabet wins, no-repeat words to be used by others in the group.

We’ve written an entire article on incredible word games to play in the car so feel free to check that out if you are done with these!

The License Plate Game

This game has many different formats so I will just explain a simple version of it here. Essentially the game involves spotting a specific license plate whilst on the road. Feel free to check out our extended article on The License Plate Game.

How to Play

  1. Each passenger needs a pen and paper at the start of the trip
  2. Whilst on the trip, each passenger must try to spot license plates from different states.
  3. Each license plate can only be collected by one player in the car.
  4. The player with the greatest number of plates spotted at the end of the trip wins the game!

Volkswagen Beetle Punch

Every time you see a VW beetle you are entitled to punch one of your fellow passengers and yell “beetle!”

Cows On My Side!

This game only works in the countryside where you are likely to see livestock. It involves spotting livestock on your side of the road

How to Play

  1. Any person that spots cows on their side of their road and shouts “cows on my side” receives one point.
  2. If you see cows on your opponent’s side, you need to shout “cows on your side”
  3. Each time cars are spotted the first person to say the correct statement receives a point
  4. First to 5 points.

Bum Game

How to Play

  1. Put the word anal in front of random car models you see along the journey
  2. Laugh

I Spy

How to Play

  1. One person finds an item in the surroundings and keeps it in their mind
  2. The game starts with the statement I spy something begging with “X” where X is the first letter of the item they are thinking of.
  3. The other passengers must guess what they are thinking of.

Scavenger Hunt

This is a very popular game, it’s often best to print off a list of things in advance. We’ve created a free printable road trip scavenger hunt that you can use. This game involves ticking off things you spot along the journey from a pre-defined list.

How to Play

  1. Make a pre-defined list of things to look out for on the road and distribute it to each player
  2. When the item is spotted on the road the first person to see it gets to tick it off their list
  3. The first player to complete the scavenger hunt wins the game!

Vehicle Identification Game

This game is so simple I barely need to explain it. However, as we are attempting to create the most comprehensive article on car games for adults we’ve included it!

How to Play

  1. Try to identify the make and model of oncoming traffic before the other passengers
  2. One point for correct identification.
  3. Negative one point if you incorrectly say the make and model of a car.
  4. Pick oncoming cars in the distance in advance and then all try to guess it first.
road trip activities

Silly Road Trip Games For Adults

Wow! Well done for making it this far. Still bored? Look at this final list of road trip games to keep you busy.

Thumb Wars

How to Play

  1. Oh, come on you know how to have a thumb war.

The Be Quiet Game

Bored with the chat? Play the quiet game and see how can go the longest without making a sound. This game can be more suitable when you have children in the car of course!

Lodden Thinks

This is a great game and fun to bet on for a round of drinks. It’s a game in which two people guess what they think a third person thinks is the answer to a difficult question such as “How many pints of beer are drank in Berlin”. Give it a try, here’s how!

How to Play

  1. You need three people, persons A, B, and C. Persons A and B play against each other and person C is needed to think of an answer to a question that has a numerical answer.
  2. Person C is asked what they think an answer is to a question such as “How many pints of beer are drunk in Berlin on a Saturday night?”
  3. Person C holds the answer in their mind and does not say it out loud until asked.
  4. The A and B players then need to guess what they think that person C thinks is the answer to the question.
  5. This is done by finding an over/underline. So, person A might say “I think it’s over 1000 pints”.
  6. Person B can either take under 1000 pints or suggest a number higher such as “I’ll take over 2500 pints”
  7. The line is drawn when one player takes the under of a person’s guess. So, if player A said “ok I think it’s under 2500 pints:” then person C would reveal their answer and the winner would be determined by whether it was over or under 2500.

The “You Were Born There” Game

How to Play

  1. Each time you pass by a run-down building you can say to the other passengers “That’s where you were born”
  2. You must compete to find the worst places.

Car Rules Game

How to Play

  1. Each passenger in the car makes up a random rule
  2. An example might be, each time we pass a service station we have to touch the roof
  3. Each time a person fails to follow a rule they get one point
  4. First to 10 points must buy a round of drinks in the evening!

Untrue Facts

Make up the most ridiculous untrue facts you can about things you see during your journey to make others laugh.

Example: “That wall over there was Donald Trump’s border prototype”

Road Trip Games For Adults – Now It’s Your Turn…

Which was your favorite of our road trip trivia games?

Or do you have any other car games for adults that you like to play?

Either way, leave a comment below and let us know!

Disclosure: Some or all of the links in this article may be affiliate links. This means I earn a commission if you make a qualifying purchase, but this is at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting The Road Trip Expert.

Image of Iain The Founder Of The Road Trip Expert

Iain Salter

Founder & Editor of The Road Trip Expert

Iain founded The Road Trip Expert in 2019 and continues to manage the website to this day. The inspiration to start the blog came during an extensive road trip around Europe with two friends that spanned several months and involved over 25,000km of driving. He first developed a passion for backpacking in 2014 and has had the pleasure of exploring over 60 countries.

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