Enjoy Travel Time: 5 Travel Games to Play on Spring Break

So you’re about to go on spring break and you know what that means: lots of travel and idle time spent in cars, on planes and on the beach.

With all this idle time spent with your friends, why not plan to play some games along the way to help pass the time and keep boredom at a distance?

Some of these games are real, some are partially made up, HOWEVER, all of these games have been (and probably still are) played by me, my family and friends. Check out my favorites that will hopefully add a new dimension of fun to your spring break travels!

1. Name That…. Tune/Movie Quote/Scene Trivia Game

Ideal location to play: Perfect for the car, airplane, airport, beach, you name it, if you’re bored or looking to pass the time, this is a great game!

This is a great game for people who listen to a lot of music, watch a lot of movies or share a favorite television show.

For instance, I have friends in Boston who just as obsessed with the show Friends as I am. We’ve all seen every episode, know the characters inside and out, and therefore, have an amazing time coming up with crazy trivia to challenge one another.

Whether you’re listening to your iPod on shuffle during your road trip or you are bored on the airplane, you and your friends will have a blast competing with one another over the things you love.

2. Choose a Category, Make a List

Ideal location to play: Perfect for the car, airplane or airport, but maybe not the beach.

This game is perfect if you have a napkin, paper placemat or preferably, pen and paper.

I used to play this game with my Freshman year roommate while we were waiting at the diner for our food (hence, the paper placemat/napkins).

The object of the game is pretty simple: pick a category (actors, actresses, movies, singers, diner food, etc) then make a list of items from that category from A-Z.

What you’re going to do is write the letters A-Z down the left column of your paper. Once you choose a category, let’s say actors, each of you would then go through the alphabet trying to list a different actor for each letter. Once you both complete your list, you compare each one and if you have the same person listed for a particular letter, neither of you gets points (1 point/unique item).

What makes the game interesting is trying to find an item for every single letter because chances are you or the person you are competing against won’t be able to find an item for every single letter (difficult letters: Q, U, X, Z).

3. Make a Word

Ideal location to play: It doesn’t involve any materials so it makes for a great game to play on the beach when you are just lying around.

This is perhaps one of the simpler games and most easy to play.

Basically, you choose a letter of the alphabet and each person tries to come up with the longest word they can think of that starts with that letter. For example, if you choose the letter ‘A’, you wouldn’t use the word ‘apple’, but perhaps ‘appendectomy’ instead (or whatever word is longer). Count the letters and whoever has the highest number at the end (you can play 10x, 20x, etc), that person wins!

4. Create a Picture

Ideal location to play: PERFECT for when you’re waiting for food in restaurants, in the car or on an airplane; not so perfect for the beach (pen and paper required).

If you’ve never taken an art class, you have probably never played this game, but let me tell you, you’re missin’ out! My aunt first showed me this game when we were waiting for our food at a restaurant.

Basically, you take a restaurant placemat (or piece of paper) and divide it up into three sections (the long way, horizontally).

Start the game with only the top folded part showing and hand it off to the first person. The first drawer will sketch the head of the thing they are drawing (it can be a human head, animal or whatever you want it to be).

Once the first person is done, he/she will fold up the paper so you cannot see what was just drawn, and it will now be handed off to the second person who will then draw the middle portion of a body he/she did not see. This continues on with the third person (who will draw the legs/feet) and finally, when it’s all complete, you open the piece of paper to reveal the mismatched picture.

Sometimes you end up with a fish head on a woman’s torso with clown feet, other times you have a man’s head with a ballerina middle and Shrek feet on the bottom; that’s the fun of it: you never know what it’s going to look like!

5. The Guessing Game

Ideal location to play: Perfect for everywhere: airplanes, boats, cars, or the beach.

My friends are going to HATE me for suggesting this as a travel game, but I don’t care!

Anyone who knows me knows that this is my favorite game in the world. Yes, I forced my family members to play with me on long car rides since I was about 5 years-old and yes, this is my version of “21 questions,” but I love this game and you will, too!

Basically, there are the following categories: animal, person, place, or thing. One person thinks of an item in one of those categories, he/she tells the group of the category, and it’s the job of the group to guess what the person is thinking of.

By asking the right questions and getting the right clues (there is no limit on the number of clues you can ask for), this game can turn into a really fun, fast-paced game that will have everyone waiting for their turn!