Trivia Games for Car Trips: 4 No-Fuss Ideas

My family and I take a lot of road trips. Although we're old hands at entertaining ourselves as passengers with books, audio books, DVDs and the like, we've also found a lot of easy car games we can all play, which can include the driver.

One of the best things about these games is that they do not require lots of accouterments, or-the curse of the standard commercial travel game-require keeping small pieces contained. Most can be adapted for children toddler age on up.

Trivial Pursuit Redux

We like to play a version of Trivial Pursuit. All that is required is one of the containers full of cards that come with the game. Even if you don't have a Trivial Pursuit game, they are almost always found at thrift stores for a couple bucks. Oftentimes, the single card boxes are also found, usually for about 50 cents.

To play, a passenger reads all the questions to the turn-taker, one at a time. The player answers each question, and keeps track of how many they get right out of the six questions.

There are several ways to keep score. If the players are particularly good at trivia, you can keep track of how many cards it takes each player until they get all six questions on the cards correct. Or, a single round can be a game. In this game, each player gets a turn with one card, and whoever gets the most on one card correctly wins the round.

The games above are best played with at least two passengers and a driver (because the driver cannot safely read the cards and drive!) but can be amended for one passenger and driver-the reader simply reads his or her own questions, and answers them without looking at the answers until all are answered.

If you are a Trivial Pursuit enthusiast, you might be reading this and realize that sometimes the cards have a "theme," that is, that all six questions on a single card have similar answers, that may be inferred from the other questions. These cards may either be discarded, or considered a "bonus."

Nicely, Trivial Pursuit makes specific decks for children, and family style decks as well.

Impromptu Trivia

The simplicity of this game makes it one of our favorites. It's challenging in two ways: in the usual way-coming up with correct answers-as well as coming up with questions. Although it seems like one would have to possess a tremendous knowledge to play this game well, that is not the case at all.

Once you start playing, you will be very surprised at how many facts you know that others might not. This includes children as well. The facts don't have to be academic or standard either-the questions can be anything, even personal (i.e., How old was I when I got my ears pierced?)

To play, it couldn't be simpler. One person asks a question, and the others have to try to answer. Whoever gets it right first, "wins," and gets the next turn.

Know it All

We recently purchased a trivia book in the bargain section of Barnes & Noble called Know it All: 5087 Weird and Wacky Trivia Questions and Answers. It's great because it's divided into categories (entertainment, sports, etc.) and each page is full of questions, with the answers easily accessed on the back of the same page.

It can be used in lots of different ways-similar to the way the Trivial Pursuit Redux is described above, with asking all the questions from a single page. Or, other methods can be made up as well-for example, six or so random questions can be asked of each player, by flipping through the book, or within a chosen category.

Although the Know it All book is our current favorite, this can be done with any trivia book. The ISBN for the book is 1579124054, and is currently available at Barnes & Noble in the bargain section for under $6, as well as selling for a penny at Amazon.

What are you?

My son and I have played this game for years. It's not exactly a trivia game, but it's trivial and just some silly, easy fun, and even a bit more revealing and illuminating than you might think, both in the asking, telling, and listening.

There are no real rules--the point is to think of somewhat similar things, which are related, but carry different implications, ideas, which relate to one's identity. You say, for example, "Are you a spoon or a fork?" The question doesn't mean, "Do you use a spoon or a fork", but which are you. So, it's not do you like one thing or another, rather, it's about your own identity.

Here are some examples, so you get the idea. Are you...

A pearl onion or an olive?
A plastic sword or a paper umbrella?
Swiss or Cheddar?
A dollar bill or a quarter?
Canterbury Tales or Gilgamesh?
Rice or noodles?
Scooby Doo or Yogi Bear?
A go-kart or a tricycle?

You're probably getting the idea that these trivia car games aren't exactly competitive by nature (in that keeping score is not a big part of the game, or even present) but they're all challenging in their own way, easy, and fun!