Games you can play in the car! Fun activities to liven up drives and traffic jams
“I want to make boring time in the car fun!” If you’re looking for ideas to make that wish come true, you’re not alone.
In fact, there are plenty of games you can enjoy in the car with family and friends.
In this article, we’ll introduce ideas for car games that turn travel time into something exciting.
From license-plate math games and the classic word-chain game to music-based challenges.
With games that everyone can enjoy together, even traffic jams and long drives can turn into fun memories! Be sure to try them on your next trip!
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Games you can play in the car! Fun activities for drives and traffic jams (11–20)
No-Katakana Game
This is a project that adds restrictions to everyday conversation and turns the inconvenience into a game.
Since katakana words are blended into everyday speech, even simple conversations become difficult once you’re consciously avoiding them.
It’s just a game that adds a twist to normal conversation, so as long as you’re in a place where you can speak, it’s easy to play.
It might run more smoothly if you set detailed rules in advance—like setting a time limit, deciding which words are banned, or imposing a penalty if someone doesn’t participate for a certain period.
If you make the person who says the most katakana within the time limit do a forfeit, you can enjoy the game without interrupting the flow of conversation.
Theme-restricted shiritori
Shiritori is a word game where you take the last letter of a word and say a new word that starts with it.
This game adds rules to that classic version everyone’s played.
Before starting, you set a theme, and you can only say words related to that theme—simple as that.
You can enjoy an easy rally with a clear theme like country names, or set a harder theme and have everyone puzzle over it until an answer comes up.
It’s a game you’ll want to enjoy including the process of discussing and deciding the theme.
Character-Count Shiritori
Shiritori is a game where you take the last character of the previous person’s word, say a new word that starts with that character, and repeat the process.
Because it has simple rules and everyone knows it, there are many possible variations.
Even just adding a limit on the number of characters makes it more challenging.
If you want to enjoy keeping the rally going, you can specify a small number of characters; if you want to emphasize difficulty, you can set a larger number—there are many patterns to try.
It could be even more fun if you add an element of luck, such as deciding the number of characters with a die.
A game where you guess the song title from the lyrics
People listen to music and focus on different things—some enjoy the sound more than the lyrics.
By creating quizzes that ask players to guess the song from its lyrics, you might deepen both understanding and affection for the music.
You can prepare the lyrics in advance, or look them up on the spot to make questions.
Choosing which part of the lyrics to read out is also where the quizmaster can show their skill; selecting the chorus, the opening lines, or other sections changes the difficulty, which is part of the fun.
Voiced and semi-voiced sound prohibition game
It’s about turning ordinary everyday conversation into a game by adding rules.
You ban voiced and semi-voiced sounds that are woven into Japanese, and keep a count of how many times someone slips up while continuing a normal conversation.
It wouldn’t be fun if people just play it safe and go quiet, so it might be important to set rules like choosing a discussion topic to keep things moving and giving a penalty to anyone who stays silent for a while.
The more lively the talk gets, the easier it is to let your guard down and make mistakes, so that push-and-pull becomes a fun part of the game too.
Finger Smash
A great game to kill time: “Yubi-Suma.” Many of you might have played it back in your school days.
You don’t need any equipment and the rules are simple, so anyone can start right away.
First, make both hands into a fist and bring them together.
Decide the order, and starting with player 1, say “Yubi-Suma” and then call out a number.
At that moment, all players raise their thumbs.
You can raise just one thumb, or none at all.
If the number called matches the total number of thumbs raised, the caller puts down one hand.
The first person to put down both hands wins! Give it a try.
Magical Banana
It’s a game that became hugely popular on the Nippon TV variety show “Magical Zunou Power!!”.
The rules are very simple: you just keep connecting associations.
For example: Bananas are yellow → Yellow is lemons → Lemons are sour → Sour is vinegar… and so on.
If you get stuck and can’t answer, or say something that makes no sense, you lose.
It’s also a good way to fight drowsiness while driving, so give it a try!
31 game
It’s a simple game that uses numbers.
Since it’s played using only spoken words, it can be done easily in any situation.
You start from 1, and each person can count up to three numbers on their turn.
Players take turns counting in order, and the person who says 31 loses.
Despite its simplicity, the game involves strategy as you try to avoid having 31 land on your turn and predict how others will count.
In a one-on-one match, there’s a guaranteed winning strategy for the first player, so it’s generally recommended to play with multiple people.
Super Mario game
Super Mario Game is a perfect time-killer that tests your memory and sense of rhythm.
Starting from the first player, you say the words in this order: “Sū,” “Pā,” “Mari,” “O,” “Sūpā,” “Mario,” “Super Mario.” Then, the next player says “coin,” like the sound effect when Mario collects a coin.
With each turn, the number of “coin” repetitions increases.
Anyone who says the words out of order, misses the rhythm, or gets the number of “coins” wrong loses.
Mozzarella Cheese Game
The Mozzarella Cheese Game became popular thanks to YouTubers who often played it.
The rules are very simple: players take turns saying “mozzarella cheese.” However, each person has to say “mozzarella cheese” with higher energy than the person before them.
It starts off low-key, and as the game goes on, everyone is forced to ramp up the excitement, which creates a surreal, funny vibe.
The fun isn’t just about being loud—it’s about how you express “higher energy” through your tone of voice, the way you say it, and even your gestures.
