| One of my favorite travel games is chess. | | | | for the driver to slow down, letting more |
| Okay, it's just one of my favorite games, and | | | | cars pass, so his guess will be the |
| I have three-ounce set with a cloth board, so | | | | closest.One classic travel game involves the |
| I can take it anywhere. The last time I used | | | | alphabet. Try to spot something starting with |
| it was in the town center of a small pueblo | | | | an "a", and be the first to call it out |
| in the Andes Mountains. The games below are | | | | ("apple tree!"). Since the Qs and Xes are |
| primarily car travel games, but can be | | | | difficult, they can be skipped. The player |
| adapted to other forms of travel too. Have | | | | with the most "firsts," is the winner.Using |
| fun!Educational Travel GamesSome games get | | | | the radio, you can have a game in which |
| you thinking, learning something, or at least | | | | everyone tries to be the first to call out |
| showing off what you know. Here's one for the | | | | the name of the artist when a song starts. |
| family. Have the driver, or another | | | | Then change the station, so you don't have to |
| designated host, asks questions like "What | | | | wait through a whole song to continue the |
| temperature does water boil at?" or "What's | | | | contest. In one car radio game, each player |
| the Capital of Columbia?" or "With sales tax | | | | chooses a word. The player whose word is |
| of 7.6%, what's the total cost of a $23 | | | | spoken (or sung) first on the radio is the |
| sweater?" For the kids to love this one, you | | | | winner.Here is one you can play anywhere. |
| may have to pay twenty-five cents for each | | | | Someone starts a story with a sentence or |
| right answer.Another car travel game starts | | | | two, then each person in turn adds a line to |
| with someone looking out the window and | | | | the story. It can get personal, but this |
| randomly selecting an object. Players then | | | | usually creates a story that has everyone |
| try to imagine a creative way to make money | | | | laughing.Try one of these on your next trip, |
| with it. Old barns become places to | | | | especially if you have a car full of kids. |
| advertise, cows are rented out for kids | | | | They are easy, and unlike my chess game, you |
| parties, and an house that is being moved | | | | don't need anything but a few people to play |
| becomes a traveling discotheque."Red Car" | | | | these travel games.Steve Gillman hit the road |
| Travel GamesGuess how many red cars will pass | | | | at sixteen, and traveled the U.S. and Mexico |
| in the next ten miles or ten minutes. It can | | | | alone at 17. Now 40, he travels with his wife |
| also be blue cars, trucks, or whatever | | | | Ana, whom he met in Ecuador. |
| everyone agrees to. It's considered bad form | | | | |