Fun games that liven up bus recreation activities
You know how people sometimes play bus games during fun field trips or journeys, right?
Long stretches on the road can get boring—not just for kids, but for adults too.
So in this article, we’ll introduce some fun games that are perfect for playing on the bus!
They’re all easy games that anyone can enjoy, from children to adults, making them great for class trips, family outings, and even adults-only travel.
If you’re looking for ways to make that often-dull bus ride a little more enjoyable, be sure to check these out!
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Funny games to liven up bus recreation (11–20)
Photo guessing game
It’s a game where childhood photos are presented as questions, and everyone tries to guess whose childhood photo it is.
The fun lies in observing how faces change as we grow and picking up on the faint traces that still remain.
The more participants there are, the easier it is for the person in the photo to keep a low profile and the lower the chance of being found out, which also means you can spend more time guessing.
It would likely be even more exciting if, when the correct answer is revealed, the person also shares a childhood anecdote.
What’s inside the box?
It’s a quiz where you put your hand into an opaque box and try to guess what’s inside using only the sense of touch.
It’s a classic game often seen on variety shows, enjoyed for the contestants’ reactions as well.
Even if the item inside is a simple toy, it’s hard to identify by touch alone—that’s part of the fun.
Since the reactions of bystanders can help lead to the correct answer, it’s best to run the game so that everyone except the contestant can see what’s inside the box.
Using live animals is probably difficult, so I recommend items like scrubbing brushes or rubber toys that can be mistaken for living creatures.
Lip-Sync Telephone Game
A game of telephone where you pass along a given sentence to the next person and enjoy seeing whether the sentence stays accurate.
This version adds new constraints to raise the difficulty: you must convey the sentence using only mouth movements without speaking.
The fun comes from how easily the message drifts.
The trick is to exaggerate your mouth movements so they’re easy to read, and to focus on carefully reading the other person’s mouth.
You can adjust the difficulty by allowing or disallowing gestures other than mouth movements, so if no one ever gets the sentence right, it might be good to relax the rules.
Chinese character telephone game on the back
This is a twist on the classic telephone game, where you pass along given sentences or words to the next person and enjoy seeing whether they’re conveyed correctly.
In this version, you write the designated word on the next person’s back to pass it along.
You split into teams to play, and the team that gets closest to the correct answer wins—an easy-to-understand rule.
It’s hard to picture characters from just the sensation on your back, so even simple words don’t get communicated as intended, which is part of the fun.
Plus, factors like differences in how people balance their characters, or remembering the wrong stroke order, make it even harder to convey.
Even when you fail, analyzing how the message was transmitted is part of what makes this a fun game.
Magical Shout
Participants think of answers to presented quiz questions and aim to respond faster than anyone else.
Instead of deciding who answers by hand-raising or buttons, the rule is that whoever figures it out shouts the answer at that moment.
The person who answers faster earns points, but because overlapping voices make judgment difficult, encourage respondents to project their voices loudly enough to drown out surrounding sounds.
A nice point is that once the quiz is prepared, no equipment is needed.
As everyone thinks of answers while striving to speak louder, the energetic pace will help liven up the atmosphere.
Bingo
Isn’t bingo a classic party game? It’s fun to watch the numbers on your card gradually get called and feel the excitement as you complete a line.
The rules are simple—whoever completes a line first wins—and it’s a game everyone present can enjoy together.
You can use store-bought bingo cards, or have each person create their own by filling in numbers; using personalized cards can make players more attached to their cards and boost the excitement.
Number-based bingo is the standard, but you can also have fun with variations, such as using themed words instead of numbers to match the occasion.
Funny games to liven up bus recreation (21–30)
Price guessing game
It’s a simple game where the quizmaster specifies an item and the players guess its price.
It gets exciting when the items have surprising prices—things that look expensive but are cheaper than expected, or things that look cheap but are pricier than you’d think.
Start with familiar themes, like items the quizmaster uses regularly, and then move on to things whose prices we don’t usually consider, like buses; that progression can make the game even more engaging.
When people learn that everyday things can be unexpectedly costly, it may also encourage them to treat items with greater care.