Top Summer Roadtrip Travel Games

Long summer roadtrips often lead to exciting and faraway vacation spots, but the drive can be incredibly boring for passengers. My siblings and I played loads of different road games during our time on the road. Try out some of our favorites on your next summer vacation.

Travel Bingo
Travel Bingo was always one of my favorite vacations roadtrip games to play. Few things make sitting in a hot car on a summer trip more enjoyable than a good, competitive round of travel bingo. A strict rule list is a must, as everyone will seek to bend the rules to suit their particular bingo board ("A bumper sticker of a cat counts as a real cat, right?"). There are loads of different varieties of travel bingo boards available on the market today, including Auto Bingo, eeBoo and others, but one of the most highly-rated is the Melissa and Dough Travel Bingo set, from Amazon ($15.76).

I Spy
Who hasn't played the timeless game of I Spy? While driving quickly on the road, I Spy can require quick reflexes and rapidly moving eyes for the passengers playing the game. For the uninformed, I Spy is played by having the first player say, "I spy something with blue and white flashing lights." The other players then try to guess what the first player is referring to. Of course, the first player must be referring to something seen from the car while they are playing. Whoever guesses correctly gets to pick the next "I Spy" and the the game continues indefinitely or until the players get tired of it. Hopefully, the blue and white lights are not flashing behind your car this summer!

Slugbug
This game is a little more violent than most travel games, and I include it only for the sake of completeness. While traveling on long roadtrips during the summer, my brother and I used to play Slugbug. Whoever saw a VW Beetle first shouted "Slugbug" and would punch (hopefully lightly) on the other brother's arm or back. Points are awarded for number of slugbugs seen. There are also non-contact versions of this game, for those less inclined to get physical over a VW.

Travel Checkers
While I do prefer a good game of chess over checkers, long road trips and hot weather make the concentration needed for chess rather difficult, so I recommend checkers instead. Amazon has a fantastic selection of travel checkers sets, be sure to check out the Pressman Toy's Travel Checkers, GO Magnetic Travel Checkers, or the 3 in 1 Travel Games Set ( a little pricey though!).

Roadtrips can be especially hard for small children or incredibly bored adults. Refresh with these light travel games, just remember to keep everything as non-competitive as possible! Happy travels!