Let me tell you about the days before iPads and DVD players, when a family road trip meant getting creative with entertainment! Back in the ’60s and ’70s, we’d pile into those giant station wagons or sedans without air conditioning, and somehow manage to keep ourselves occupied for hours on end. It wasn’t always easy, but we developed some pretty clever ways to pass the time that today’s kids might find hard to believe.
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1. The License Plate Game
This classic road trip game had us scanning every passing car for out-of-state plates. We’d keep track on paper or in our heads, competing to spot all 50 states. Alaska and Hawaii were like gold, and spotting them could make you the family champion for the entire vacation. Some families even kept running lists going for entire summer trips.
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2. Mad Libs
Those little paper booklets of Mad Libs were pure gold on long trips. One person would collect random words from everyone else, and the resulting stories would have us laughing so hard we’d beg to pull over. The sillier the words we chose, the better the stories became, and even Mom and Dad would join in the fun.
3. Travel Bingo Cards
Those cardboard bingo cards with sliding red windows were a road trip essential. Each square had something you might see along the way – a cow, a red barn, a police car. The excitement of spotting items and sliding those little red windows closed kept us occupied for hours. Finding that elusive railroad crossing could make or break your game.
4. The Alphabet Game
Finding words on signs and billboards that started with each letter of the alphabet, in order, could keep us busy for miles. The dreaded letters Q, X, and Z would have us scanning every sign in desperation. Quick-thinking kids learned to watch for “Quaker State” oil signs and “Xerox” billboards.
5. Comic Books and Mad Magazine
A stack of comic books was essential road trip gear. Archie, Superman, or Mad Magazine could transport you to another world, at least until someone got carsick from reading. We’d trade comics back and forth, careful not to bend the pages, making them last as long as possible.
6. The Punch Buggy Game
Spotting Volkswagen Beetles became a competitive sport with the “punch buggy” or “slug bug” game. The first to spot one got to give their sibling a gentle punch on the arm. This game usually lasted until Mom or Dad had enough of the back-seat scuffling. Yellow bugs were worth extra points in some families.
7. Travel-Sized Board Games
Those magnetic board games were ingenious – tiny versions of checkers, chess, or battleship with pieces that stuck to the board. The real challenge was keeping all the pieces from disappearing into the seat cushions. Many a game ended prematurely when a crucial piece rolled under the seat, never to be seen again.
8. The Counting Game
Each person would pick a color of car to count, and the competition was on. Red was always popular, while anyone brave enough to choose brown or pink faced a real challenge. Some families added complexity by assigning point values to different vehicles – trucks worth 2 points, motorcycles worth 5.
9. Auto Bingo
Different from travel bingo, this game involved making lists of specific car models to spot. Station wagons, convertibles, and sports cars each had point values. Dad would often help out, being the family car expert, and we learned to identify different makes and models in the process.
10. Twenty Questions
This classic game could last for hours, with each person taking turns thinking of something while others asked yes-or-no questions. The best players would think of obscure items that would stump everyone for all twenty questions. It was a game that actually got better the longer the trip went on, as we got more creative with our choices.
11. Sing-Alongs
Before car stereos were common, we made our own music. “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall” (changed to pop or milk for younger kids), “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain,” and “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” in rounds were favorites. These impromptu concerts could last for miles, with Dad usually calling for quiet time just when we hit our stride. The really lucky families had someone who could play a harmonica!
12. Story Chain Game
One person would start a story with a few sentences, then the next person would add to it, and so on around the car. These tales would get wilder and more elaborate with each addition, often featuring family members as characters in increasingly silly situations. The best stories would become family legends, retold on future trips.
