Two’s company, three’s a crowd. When it comes to road trips, you can go it alone, you can go in a big group, or you can go with just you and your ride or die. Road trips for two require entertainment meant for two. And these road trip games for two will entertain you the whole way to your destination.
Whether you are road tripping with a friend, a family member, or your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, or wife, these games will help you pass the time on long stretches when there isn’t much to see or stop for.
Unlike traveling in a group, traveling in a pair means both people will always have specific roles. The dynamic is always going to be driver and passenger. The driver’s job is to keep their eyes on the road and keep the road trip moving. The passenger is often in charge of picking the music, plugging in addresses in Google Maps, and, in this case, being the one to drive these road trip games.
What separates road trip games for two people versus those for groups or for kids is that every game has to be driver friendly. That means it is non distracting, doesn’t require anything to be read (by the driver) or written down, and is simple and easy enough to be done while driving. We’ve gathered some of our favorite games that work for couples or a pair of friends in a car. These fit all the criteria you need to have a safe and entertaining journey. Ready to roll?
Need more inspiration? Find even more options on our list of 55 Road Trip Games for Adults.
Want more fun road trip games?
The Road Trip Journal & Activity Book
Enjoy fun games and challenges to pass the time on your next road trip and have a keepsake to look back on for years to come with this entertaining must-have for your next vacation.
- Road Trip Games for Two
- The License Plate Game
- Road Trip Scavenger Hunt
- Road Trip Questions
- TableTopics to GO Road Trip
- Truth or Dare
- Two Truths and a Lie
- True Confessions
- Never Have I Ever
- Would You Rather
- Kiss, Marry, Kill
- The Compliment Game
- Radio Roulette
- Cows on My Side
- The RV Game
- Odd Colored Cars
- Fictional Families
- Mad Libs
- Sorry I am Late
- Forbidden Word
- Categories
- 20 Questions
- Describe a Movie Plot Badly
- Regional Snack Master
- Car Rules
- Mystery Souvenir
- Pin this list of the Best Road Trip Games for Two to save for later
Road Trip Games for Two
The License Plate Game
To play the license plate game, all you have to do is keep a look out your windows and keep track of all the different license plates you see. To win: try to be the first to spot one from every state! Each individual vehicle can only be claimed by one person, so think fast! For example, if Adam sees a black Jetta with an Oregon plate, he can claim that car. Rebecca will have to wait for another Oregon plate to go by. You can play this game with just a pen and paper (have the passenger keep track!), or you can click here to learn more about the game, get a free license plate game printable, or find versions you can play online or buy.
Road Trip Scavenger Hunt
Make a list of common road trip sites (a roadside attraction, a scenic overlook, a road work sign) or things specific to the trip you’re taking (the world’s largest strawberry, the entrance to Yosemite, a WaWa). Keep your eye out and compete in a road trip scavenger hunt to see who will claim each item first or make it a photo challenge and see who can get the best pic of or selfie with each item.
Road Trip Questions
With all the free time you have in the car, it’s a great time to get to know your travel companion a little bit more by taking turns answering fun road trip questions. Whether you’ve been married for 20 years or are new BFFs, this game of ice breakers and conversation starters will get the chat going and, hopefully, let you learn something new about each other. Use these 100 fun road trip questions to get talking. Ready to get to know your road trip buddy? Start asking away!
TableTopics to GO Road Trip
What was your all-time favorite vacation? Answer this and 39 other conversation starter question cards in this portable question and answer game designed for road trips.
Truth or Dare
Would you rather reveal something potentially embarrassing about yourself or do something potentially embarrassing? Play a friendly round of truth or dare while driving in your car. Take turns asking each other, “truth or dare?” If truth is picked your road trip companion has to answer any question you ask them. If they pick dare, give a wild dare that they have to do on your next pit stop (don’t put the driver in danger by making them do anything unsafe in the car!). A game of truth or dare in the car can be as tame or wild as you desire, and will let you really get to know your friend.
Two Truths and a Lie
How much do you really know about the person you’re traveling with? Do you think you can tell if they’re telling the truth or not? Have both of you say three facts about yourselves: I studied abroad in Paris, I’ve road tripped through Alaska, my favorite color is orange. They can be anything you want…but one of them must be a lie. State two truths and one lie about yourself and then partner has to guess which of those facts is not so factual (and vice versa).
True Confessions
Similar to Two Truths and a Lie, this one can go a little deeper. When it’s your turn you make a statement and that statement can either be a truth or a lie. Something like “I once met Harry Styles on the street.” Your road trip partner then has 60 seconds to ask questions for more information in order to guess if what you said is true or false. If it’s a lie you have to make up all the details to their questions to keep them going. When the 60 seconds are up your partner has to guess whether they thing you’re telling the truth or telling a fib, and you have to reveal the truth.
Never Have I Ever
Often played as a party drinking game, Never Have I Ever allows you to say something you’ve never done and learn if your friend has. You definitely don’t want to drink and drive, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still have fun with this get to know you game. Takes turns saying something you have never done before using the phrase “never have I ever.” For example: “Never have I ever been to Hawaii,” Never have I ever stayed in a theme hotel,” or “Never have I ever hiked in a national park.” Then your travel partner has to chime in to say whether they have done the things you haven’t. If you’re playing at night by your hotel’s pool or the light of a campfire, go ahead and take a drink if you have done the action in question. If you’re playing in the car, have the guilty raise their hand and yell “I have!”
Would You Rather
Would you rather eat only hot dogs for the rest of your life or never eat fried chicken again? In this road trip game for two, you pit two things against each other and decide which scenario you’d rather do over the other. Take tuns posing hypothetical battles and see how your answers compare!
Kiss, Marry, Kill
Say you had to choose from Joey, Chandler, and Ross on Friends. Which one would you kiss, which one would you marry, and which one would you prefer to throw off a cliff. Take turns listing three people (they can be celebrities; movie, book, or TV characters; or even people you know) and make arguments for who you would kiss, marry, or kill.
The Compliment Game
A great way to spend time with a person in a car is to give them compliments. Lots of compliments. So many that it becomes a game! Go through the alphabet from A to Z and take turns giving each other compliments that start with each letter. Tina is an awesome accountant. Danny is just brilliant. Go from A to Z and see how happy you are when you get to your destination.
Radio Roulette
In this version of Name That Tune the passenger will seek the radio to the next station or put a Spotify playlist on shuffle. When you reach a new song let it play for 15 seconds then try to guess the name of the song and artist. No peeking at the dashboard console! Whoever guesses first gets a point, whoever has the most points at the end of the trip, wins!
Cows on My Side
If you’re driving across certain areas of the country, you’re going to see a lot of cows out your window. A lot of cows. Make spotting bovines a game by playing a friendly game of Cows on My Side. Game play for this one is easy. If you see cows out the window on your side of the car yell out, “cows on my side!” to get one point. If you see cows out the window on the other side of the car, yell out, “cows on your side!” before the person on that side does, to steal one point. When you pass a cemetery, be the first to yell out, “ghost cow!” to steal all the points.
There are plenty of other cow-related games to play on a road trip. Here are some of our favorite variations.
My Cows
Similar to Cows on My Side, but with slightly different rules. For this version, every time you see a herd of cows, the first person to yell out, “my cows!” gets a point. If you see a church, the first to yell out, “marry my cows!” doubles their points. If you see a cemetery, the first to yell out, “bury your cows!” steals the other’s points.
Hey Cow!
To play Hey Cow! you just yell out, “hey cow!” whenever you pass a herd of cows. For every cow that turns their head to look at you, you get a point.
Counting Cows (AKA Cow Poker)
Pit the driver against the passenger and count all the cows you can see from your side of the window. It can get tricky when you pass a large field, so count fast! Whoever has counted the most cows at the end of the journey wins, but watch for cemeteries, if someone calls out, “your cows are buried!” they can steal all the other’s points.
The RV Game
The RV game is a fun road trip game for couples or friends who want to have a bit of a naughty laugh. RVs are known to have some interesting names on their own. Make them even more interesting by adding the word “anal” before them for a bit of a juvenile laugh. Keep an eye out for RVs and make the one marked “commander” a little more interesting.
Odd Colored Cars
Pick an odd-for-a-car color, something like pink or purple or orange. Keep your eyes on the road and see who can spot a car of that color first or see the most through the entire trip.
Fictional Families
Do you ever look at other cars on the road and wonder what their story is? In this road trip game, take turns pointing out other vehicles on the road and come up with a story about who they are and where they’re going.
Mad Libs
Mad libs are fun for all ages. There are a wide variety of these fill-in-the-blank stories, from adult-friendly options to ones based on your favorite TV shows to road trip focused stories. Whichever version you choose, ask the driver to pick adjectives and verbs to create your own hilarious stories. Have the passenger write them down and then read off the story you came up with!
Sorry I am Late
“Sorry I am late, but I accidentally traveled back in time and had to make sure my parents still got together so I would be born.” In this story telling game you start with “Sorry I am late but…” and then fill in the rest with a movie plot. Then see if the other person in the car can guess what movie you are recapping.
Forbidden Word
Before your trip come up with a forbidden word: something you both are forbidden to say. Pick something you might be likely to say, like “Hilton” if you’ve booked every night in the chain. Whenever someone says that word, they get a point. The person with the most amount of points at the end of the trip loses, and has to buy the a round of drive-through sodas or Starbucks.
Categories
In this easy car game, take turns picking out different categories: Meghan Trainor songs, NFL teams, Dunkin Donut flavors, etc. And then takes turns naming something that fits that category until someone is stumped and can’t think of anything that fits. Start again with a new category!
20 Questions
Read your friend’s mind in 20 questions of less. In this game, one person in the car has to think of something, anything. It can be a movie, a book, a person, place, or thing. Then the other gets to ask questions to see if they can guess what the person is thinking of. Choose your questions wisely, because you only have 20 tries.
Describe a Movie Plot Badly
The goal of this game is to explain a movie plot badly and see if your travel partner can guess what film it is. For example, you might say, “a broke man commits identity fraud to manipulate a group of children,” and your friend would have to try to guess that you’re explaining the plot to School of Rock!
Regional Snack Master
Every time you pull over at a gas station or travel center, try to find the most delicious or interesting local snack. Something you can really only find in the city or state you’re in. Compare your finds in the car, taste test each other’s snacks and see who found the tastiest (or weirdest) ones.
Car Rules
At the beginning of your road trip, have each person make up a rule for the car. The sillier, the better. Something like at every red light you have to open all the windows and cheer. Try to keep up your funny road trip rules throughout the course of your trip.
Mystery Souvenir
Whenever you get to a souvenir shop or travel center, give each other a few minutes of alone to time to peruse the souvenir offerings. Make it a game to try to buy each other the best, funniest, or weirdest souvenir. Play at one souvenir stop or play throughout the entire trip by either buying a small thing at several places or trying to find the best of the best anywhere along the way. You can set a price limit or overall budget to make sure they are on equal standing. At the end of the trip, present your souvenirs to each other and see what mystery souvenir you got each other!
The Road Trip Journal & Activity Book
Enjoy fun games and challenges to pass the time on your next road trip and have a keepsake to look back on for years to come with this entertaining must-have for your next vacation. The Road Trip Journal & Activity Book features fun and engaging journal prompts. plus 100 activities and games to play in the car, at your hotel, or at stops along your route.
Pin this list of the Best Road Trip Games for Two to save for later
Photo by Phinehas Adams on Unsplash
