30 games
Checked October 2026

Road Trip Games for Teens

Car games for ages 13 to 17: arguments nobody can win, playlist games, bluffs and window games without counting cows.

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Rank These Five, Then Defend the Order1. One player names five things of one kind, such as five breakfast foods or five school subjects, and ranks them aloud from best to worst.2. Every other player may challenge one placement.3. The ranker has twenty seconds to defend each challenged spot.4. The car votes aloud. A ranker who keeps the whole order picks the next five.Players: 3 to 6. You need: nothing.
One Song Each for the Driveway1. Work out roughly how many songs are left in the drive.2. Each person in the car, the driver included, chooses one song for the last stretch and says in one sentence why it earned its place.3. Play them in order of age, youngest first.4. Nobody may skip or talk over another person's song.Players: 2 to 6. You need: songs saved on a phone.
Link It to the Last Song1. The first passenger plays any song for thirty seconds.2. The next must play a song that links to it and say the link aloud: the same instrument starts it, a word the two titles share, the year both came out.3. The car accepts or rejects the link.4. A rejected link costs a turn. See how long the chain can run without a repeat of the same kind of link.Players: 2 to 6. You need: songs saved on a phone.

Next step This or that questions for teens Road trip games for a mixed car

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Argue-it-out games 6

Bracket of Eight, Settled by Vote 1. Pick a category and name eight things in it, such as eight cereals. One passenger keeps the bracket in their head or on a scrap of paper. 2. Pair them off. Before each vote, one player speaks for fifteen seconds for whichever looks like losing. 3. The car votes aloud, and the winner goes through. 4. Four become two, and two become a champion that nobody may argue about until the next state line. Players: 3 to 6. You need: nothing.
Draft a Team of Three 1. Agree a job that needs a team, such as surviving a week in the woods or winning a relay race, and a pool to draft from, such as animals. 2. Players take turns to draft one member each, three rounds, and no pick may be repeated. 3. Each player has thirty seconds to explain why their team wins. 4. The driver judges by voice and names the winning team. Players: 3 to 6. You need: nothing.
One New Rule for the Car 1. Each player proposes one harmless rule for the next twenty miles, such as: every sentence to the driver starts with "Captain". 2. Each has twenty seconds to say why the car needs it. 3. Everyone votes, and nobody may vote for their own rule. 4. The winning rule holds for twenty miles, and whoever breaks it first proposes nothing next time. The driver may strike out any rule. Players: 3 to 6. You need: nothing.

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Argue-it-out games, continued

Overrated or Underrated, on Three 1. One player names something everybody knows: snow days, sleepovers, breakfast for dinner. 2. On the count of three, everyone says "overrated" or "underrated" at once. 3. Whoever is outnumbered gets one sentence each to change minds. 4. Say it again on three. A player who pulls someone over to their side scores a point. Players: 3 to 6. You need: nothing.
Rank These Five, Then Defend the Order 1. One player names five things of one kind, such as five breakfast foods or five school subjects, and ranks them aloud from best to worst. 2. Every other player may challenge one placement. 3. The ranker has twenty seconds to defend each challenged spot. 4. The car votes aloud. A ranker who keeps the whole order picks the next five. Players: 3 to 6. You need: nothing.
Swap Sides on the Clap 1. One passenger is the judge and sets a motion that matters to nobody, such as: a hot dog is a sandwich. 2. Two players argue, one for and one against, taking turns a sentence at a time. 3. Whenever the judge claps, the two swap sides in the middle of the argument and carry on. 4. After the third clap, the judge names whoever argued both sides better. Players: 3 to 6. You need: nothing.

Music games on your own playlist 6

Describe the Song in Your Earbuds 1. One player puts in earbuds and plays a song the others cannot hear. 2. They describe it without the title, the singer or any of the words: the mood, the instruments, where you would hear it. 3. The others have three guesses between them. 4. A right guess scores for the guesser and the describer. Pass the earbuds on. Players: 2 to 6. You need: a phone with saved songs and earbuds.
Drum It on Your Knees 1. One player thinks of a song from their own playlist that everyone in the car should know. 2. They tap its rhythm on their knees. No humming and no words. 3. The others guess. After three wrong guesses, the tapper may hum four notes. 4. Whoever names it taps next. A tapper whose song nobody gets plays ten seconds of it to prove it was fair. Players: 2 to 6. You need: songs saved on a phone.
First Word of the Next Line 1. A passenger plays a song from their playlist and keeps a thumb on pause. 2. At any moment they pause it between two lines. 3. Everyone calls out the first word of the next line, all at once. 4. Press play to check. A point for each right call, and the pause button moves to the next passenger after three stops. Players: 2 to 6. You need: songs saved on a phone.
Link It to the Last Song 1. The first passenger plays any song for thirty seconds. 2. The next must play a song that links to it and say the link aloud: the same instrument starts it, a word the two titles share, the year both came out. 3. The car accepts or rejects the link. 4. A rejected link costs a turn. See how long the chain can run without a repeat of the same kind of link. Players: 2 to 6. You need: songs saved on a phone.
Skip or Stay: Predict the Vote 1. The player with the phone picks a song and, before pressing play, says how many people in the car will vote "stay". 2. Play fifteen seconds. 3. On three, everyone else says "skip" or "stay" at once. 4. If the prediction was exact, the same player picks again. If not, the phone moves on, and a song voted "stay" by everyone plays to the end. Players: 3 to 6. You need: songs saved on a phone.
Soundtrack the Window 1. Look at what is outside right now: a city at dusk, flat fields, rain on a truck stop. 2. Each passenger has one minute to choose a song from their own playlist to match it. 3. Play twenty seconds of each while everyone watches the window. 4. The car votes for the best match, and nobody votes for their own song. Players: 3 to 6. You need: songs saved on a phone.

Story and bluff games 6

Alibi With Earbuds In 1. Two players are suspects. They have one minute to whisper a shared alibi for last Saturday afternoon. 2. One suspect puts earbuds in with music on. The others question the first suspect: what did you eat, who paid, what was on the wall. 3. Swap the earbuds over and ask the second suspect the same questions. 4. Three answers that do not match, and the detectives win. Players: 4 to 6. You need: earbuds and a phone with music.
Comedy Against Spooky, a Sentence Each 1. Two players tell one story, taking turns a sentence at a time. 2. One is secretly trying to turn it into a comedy and the other into a spooky story. The listeners know which is which. 3. Neither may undo what the other just said. 4. After two minutes, the listeners say which kind of story it ended up as, and that teller wins. Players: 3 to 6. You need: nothing.
The Exaggeration Ladder 1. One player states a small true thing about the trip so far, such as: the sandwich was a bit dry. 2. The next player repeats it a little bigger. 3. Keep going around the car, each version bigger than the last, with every sentence said in a serious voice. 4. Whoever laughs first, or cannot top the last version, starts the next ladder. Players: 2 to 6. You need: nothing.
Sixty Seconds, Never Yes or No 1. One player is in the hot seat for one minute, timed by a passenger. 2. The others fire quick questions that beg for a yes or a no: are you awake, is that your bag, are we in a car. 3. The player may answer anything except the words yes and no, and may not nod or shake their head. 4. Lasting the minute scores a point. A slip hands the seat to whoever asked. Players: 2 to 6. You need: a watch.
Ten-Word Text Thread 1. Two players speak a text conversation aloud, one message at a time, and no message may be longer than ten words. 2. The first message comes from an unknown number, such as: I found your left shoe. 3. Each reply has to make the mystery bigger without answering it. 4. A player who takes more than five seconds, or goes over ten words, has left the other on read and loses the thread. Players: 2 to 6. You need: nothing.
World Expert on Anything 1. The car names one player the world expert on a subject nobody could know, such as the history of the speed bump. 2. The others interview the expert, a question each. 3. The expert must answer at once and with total confidence. 4. Anyone who catches the expert contradicting an earlier answer says "hold on", explains it and becomes the next expert. Players: 3 to 6. You need: nothing.

Window games that are not for little kids 6

Band Name From Two Signs 1. A passenger reads one word from each of the next two signs the car passes. 2. Those two words, in either order, are the name of a band. 3. Each player describes the band in one breath: what they play, what they wear, the name of their first album. 4. The car votes for the band it would most like to hear. Players: 2 to 6. You need: nothing.
Call Your Shot: One Odd Sight in Twenty Miles 1. Each player predicts one unlikely thing the car will pass in the next twenty miles: a boat on a trailer, a dog at a window, a hand-painted sign. 2. No two players may call the same thing. 3. A player who spots their own sight calls it, and one other person must confirm. 4. After twenty miles, anyone whose shot came in scores, and everyone calls again. Players: 2 to 6. You need: nothing.
Finish the Billboard 1. A passenger reads out the first three words of the next billboard and no more. 2. Each player finishes the sentence their own way before the car reaches it. 3. Read the real ending as you pass. 4. The car votes for the best invented ending, and anyone who guessed the real one scores double. Players: 2 to 6. You need: nothing.
One Award an Hour 1. Every player has one award to give in each hour of driving. 2. To give it, call "award" as you pass something and name the category on the spot: best mailbox, saddest snowman, most confident goat. 3. The car agrees or boos. A booed award is gone for that hour. 4. At the next stop, list the winners and vote for the award of the day. Players: 2 to 6. You need: nothing.
Sell That Building 1. One player is the real estate agent. The others point out a building ahead: a barn, a water tower, a closed diner. 2. The agent has until the car passes it to give three selling points. 3. The others say "sold" or "pass". 4. Two or more "sold" earns the agent another listing. Otherwise the next player takes over. Players: 3 to 6. You need: nothing.
This View Opens a Movie 1. When the view changes, such as a bridge, a tunnel or a town at night, one player calls "opening shot". 2. Each player pitches the film that opens on this view: an invented title, the kind of film it is and the first line spoken. 3. The driver judges by voice. 4. The winning film gets a sequel at the next change of view. Players: 3 to 6. You need: nothing.

Earbuds-out games for the last hour 6

Five Things the Whole Car Agrees On 1. The aim is to find five opinions that every person in the car shares, adults included. 2. Anyone may propose one, such as: the middle seat is the worst. 3. One "no" from anybody kills it. 4. Count how many miles it takes to reach five. Easy ones about the weather do not count. Players: 3 to 6. You need: nothing.
Guess My Best Mile 1. Each player silently picks their best moment of the drive. 2. One at a time, the others guess what it was for that player. 3. The player says who was closest and then tells it properly. 4. A point for every close guess. Go around until everyone, the driver included, has told theirs. Players: 2 to 6. You need: nothing.
Guess the Grown-Up at Fifteen 1. A teen asks the driver, or any adult in the car, a question about being fifteen: what was on your wall, what did you listen to in the car, what was your worst haircut. 2. Before the adult answers, every teen guesses. 3. The adult tells the true story. 4. The closest guess scores and asks the next question. Players: 3 to 6. You need: nothing.
One Song Each for the Driveway 1. Work out roughly how many songs are left in the drive. 2. Each person in the car, the driver included, chooses one song for the last stretch and says in one sentence why it earned its place. 3. Play them in order of age, youngest first. 4. Nobody may skip or talk over another person's song. Players: 2 to 6. You need: songs saved on a phone.
Rock, Paper, Scissors for the Unloading Jobs 1. List the jobs for when the car stops: the cooler, the big bags, the trash, the first shower. 2. Passengers play rock, paper, scissors in pairs, best of three, and the driver stays out. 3. The overall winner picks a job first, then the runner-up, and so on. 4. Whoever loses takes whatever job is left. Players: 2 to 5. You need: nothing.
Trip Awards, Voted by the Car 1. In the last hour, agree five awards for the drive: best snack, worst song, best view, strangest stop, best line anyone said. 2. For each award, every player makes one nomination. 3. Vote aloud, and nobody may vote for their own nomination. 4. A passenger announces the five winners as the car pulls in. Players: 3 to 6. You need: nothing.

How this list was compiled: Our suggestions, written for this site for 13 to 17 year olds on a long drive. The wording and the player counts are ours. In every game the driver only speaks, votes or judges, and anything that needs eyes or hands is a passenger's job. Nothing needs a phone signal: the music games use songs already saved on a phone. No song, singer, film or show is named. The list states no rule or history of a traditional game as fact, so no outside source was needed. Licence: own work

How it works

These road trip games for teens were written for the back seat at fifteen, when spotting red cars stopped being fun years ago. Nothing needs a phone signal, and the driver never does more than speak, vote or judge.

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Match the game to the hour

1. First hour, everyone awake: an argument, such as Draft a Team of Three. 2. The long middle: Music games on your own playlist, which need songs saved on a phone before you leave. 3. When the scenery changes: Band Name From Two Signs or Sell That Building. 4. Last hour: Earbuds-out games for the last hour, which bring the adults in.

Save the playlists to the phone before you leave. The signal usually goes just as the music games start.

Questions and answers

What are fun car games for teenagers with no phone?

21 of these 30 games need nothing but voices. Try Swap Sides on the Clap, World Expert on Anything, Call Your Shot: One Odd Sight in Twenty Miles or Five Things the Whole Car Agrees On.

What road trip games can two teens play?

Ten-Word Text Thread, Describe the Song in Your Earbuds, The Exaggeration Ladder, Sixty Seconds, Never Yes or No and Finish the Billboard all work with two. The votes and the debates need three, and the driver can be the third as judge.

Can the driver join in?

By voice only. The driver judges Draft a Team of Three and This View Opens a Movie, votes in the arguments and answers the questions in Guess the Grown-Up at Fifteen. The driver never holds the phone, reads a sign aloud or keeps score.

How do you keep teens off their phones on a road trip?

Use the phone in the game. The playlist games put each teen's own music in the middle of the car, and the last-hour set, such as Trip Awards, Voted by the Car, needs every voice and no screen.