Verbal Games for Endless Road Trips

[poorpete]

This is a gas station book idea I've had for a while and have done nothing with but is back on my mind as we're on an endless trip right now.

Here's one we came up with today that worked well:

Song Potato
Need: an hours long mix of songs from between a few and several dozens of artists, a cuddly toy.
Each player: chooses an artist or album ("Frozen" songs, Beatles songs, etc) that counts as their music (can double-up as long as their is about an equal chance of the players' songs showing up in the mix).
Game play: hit "random" on mix. When a song comes on that belongs to a player, that player gets the cuddly toy. They hold onto it until a song comes on belonging to a different player.
Goal: upon reaching the day's destination, be the final person with the cuddly toy. As winner, you get to cuddle with it overnight.

Played today with our daughter's amazon mix of about 300 songs. I had Mary Poppins songs, wife had Sesame Street songs, daughter chose Michelle Branch songs and Frozen songs, toddler son was given Moana and Trolls songs, and the dog was given Beatles songs.... the dog won, and is cuddling with a little Winnie The Pooh as we speak.

[Phoebe]

I love Michelle Branch like shr was my child.

[akiva]

Phoebe is Michelle Branch's mom? Wow! That's so cool!

[Phoebe]

Heh. I love you like you were my cat.

[poorpete]

My daughter won today after changing the rules from last played to most played and then requested we listen to all Michelle Branch songs we have. Phoebe, tell your daughter that my 5yo daughter is a big fan.

[Phoebe]

- not the best ever but she changes it in a few ways that are interesting. I don't know her new album well - I guess that's another to add to the List!

[Mike]

Ones we've played, however they require literacy and if kids play, adults will almost always beat them, so they're really better for teens and adults.

Place Names... first and last (We never named these games, so the titles are only descriptive.)

Start with a place name... any place name. Now go around in order, and each person has to think of a place name (a place or thing that can be found on a map) that starts with the last letter of the last answer. Answers cannot be reused. There are millions of named things on maps, so this game can go on a loooooooong time. If you want the kids to play, let them have a map or atlas or something for reference, and they can hunt through it for stuff that starts with the correct letters. You're going to find that lots of places end with a, e, n, r, y, so that's where the stumbling will eventually occur. As a driver, I love this game, because it's not overly taxing, but it does keep the mind working.


License Plate Anagrams

Spot a license plate. Everyone tries to make a word that includes every letter on that plate. Whoever has the shortest word wins. If two people can come up with different words of the same length, then the one who gave theirs first wins. Bonus bragging rights if you can make a word that has all the letters in the original order from the plate.

The effectiveness of this game depends strongly on the state you are in. Nebraska generally never has more than 3 letters on a license plate, and thus, Nebraska is a terrible place to play this game. Plates with four or five letters work well. The more the merrier.


That song game Kyle and Frank and I played in a U-Haul

Pick a common word. Now take turns thinking of songs that have that word in the lyrics--awesome if it's in the title, but that's not required. You must sing the relevant portion of the song in question, and sing enough that others recognize what song you're singing. When you can't think of a song that hasn't been used already, you're out. Last person left picks the next word. Pick a word like girl or night or love if you want it to go for hours. Pick something like respect or Virginia if you want it to go out after a half-dozen songs. Long and short rounds are both good.