Not-the-same-old-boring Travel Games

How Far-Out Is That?

Equipment needed for this game: road atlas or similar source listing distances between major cities. Magic Slates for each person are helpful (and fun) but not required.

In this game, one player is the navigator and is in charge of the atlas. If no one wants the position, the person in the shotgun seat assumes the job by default (serves “em right!)

The navigator chooses two cities that are listed in the mileage chart. Although these are relatively large and well-known cities, it is surprising how many people don”t know which state a city is in, the whereabouts within a state, or worse yet, where the state is within the country. Since learning should be one of the goals of a good game, the navigator should not reveal the states unless two commonly known cities have the same name.

Each player then estimates the distance between the two cities. To avoid changing an answer after hearing other responses, the players should write down their answers. Magic Slates are an excellent way to do this without killing trees. The player who comes closest to the actual distance without going over wins a point. If two players happen to choose the same winning number, they both get a point.

The player who reaches 21 points first, wins.

Options:

• Give Mexico and Canada a try
• Try cities within your home state
• Remove the restriction of not going over the mileage for pre-teens

License Plate Words

This game works best when traffic is light to moderate. It involves constructing words from the three letters on non-vanity license plates. Up to 3 points are awarded per tag. Points are awarded as follows:

1. A – One point is awarded to the first person to call out any word using all the letters in the same order they appear on the tag.
2. B – One point is awarded to the person who comes up with the shortest word using the letters in order, but not necessarily consecutively.
3. C – One point is awarded to the person who comes up with the shortest word using the letters in order and consecutively.

Example 1: DPO589

Four responses are given:

1. downpour: 1 point (A)
2. deploy
3. tadpole: 1 point (C)
4. depot: 1 point (B)

Example 2: 7MAF842

Two responses are given:

1. manifold: 1 point (A)
2. mafia: 2 points (B&C)

Additional rules:

1. There is no limit to the number of times each person can answer
2. One word can win multiple points
3. Whether or not to allow 3-letter words from a plate that already contains a word (i.e. 57MAP12) is optional, but should be decided before the game starts.

The first person to reach 21 points wins