1. License Plate Game:

   This is best geared towards very long out of state trips. What you do is you take a sheet of paper and write every state in the United States on it. As you are driving you cross out the different states as you see their license plates. This will quite possibly take you all of your vacation and return trip to spot every state. As it gets closer to the end of the vacation you can add a little extra incentive for spotting these by putting a dollar amount on each remaining state.

2. Alphabet Game:

   This game won't work too well when you are driving on the freeway, but it works excellent when you are driving through cities. You play against at least one other person. You start at "A" and try to find every letter in the alphabet between "A" and "Z". They have to be in order. There are a few tricky letters that are best spotted on license plates.

3. Compound Words:

   This game is probably not something anybody over 10 would play, but when I was younger, it was rather entertaining. You simply go back and forth amongst everybody who is playing and start listing off compound words. If you repeat a previously used word, you're out. If you cannot think of a new word within a certain time frame that you can decide, you're out. After a while it gets a bit tricky remembering all the previously used words, as well as thinking of new words. All pronouns are prohibited.

4. Bingo:

   This isn't your traditional bingo game. This requires either a pre-designed board, or purchasing a few boards. The boards have different stop signs, stores, landmarks, and many other things you would expect to see while driving through a town or on the highway. You can play either black out or plain bingos. To make it more fun, make sure the boards you pick actually have items that you can expect to see. A few boards I've used before have a light house. That's basically a dead square unless you're near the coast.

5. Alphabet Memory Game:

   You may have played different versions of this; however some people may not have. What you do is before each turn you state, “I'm going on vacation, and I'm taking…” Each turn you get the next letter in line. So you may start of saying apples, and then your partner says baseballs, and the last person says cake. Every turn you would say, “I'm going on vacation, and I'm bring apples, baseballs, cake…” You lose once you forget one of the letters. When you get to "Z" and you still haven't determined a winner, try going through again going "A" through "Z", and then start over starting each turn with the next letter of the second alphabet.

These games are not really meant for the teenage crowd as I realize that you would much prefer listening to your Ipod or playing a PSP. This was meant to provide some free, unique game ideas that anybody could provide to entertain each other with on those long, painstaking drives across America. Any other games you have played that you suggest that would fit it with this, leave a comment describing it.

The starting person says the first initial of every letter in a movie title. For instance, if the movie is “The Incredibles,” you would say, “T,I.” The first person to guess gets to go next. In most cases you will have to ask for clues after a couple of wrong guesses. This game could go on for hours in my family and my four year old always says, “E” for “ET” which we all get quite a laugh out of.

Play an Alphabet Game

Pretend you are going on a trip and each person says what they will bring in alphabetical order till you reach Z. Say, “I'm going on a trip and I'm bringing an Animal.” The next person would say, “I'm going on a trip and I'm bringing a Book” etc.

For older kids make it harder and have what they're bringing go with the theme of a trip. For instance you would bring an Antenna (to hear the radio), a Book (to read since there's no TV) and a Canoe etc.

Count the Cars

Pick a color and every one can count how many cars of that color they see. Make it a competition. Assign each child a different color and the child who has seen the most cars of their color wins.

Count the Animals

If you live in a rural area, count the animals you see en route.

Tell a Story One Sentence at a Time

Taking turns, each person tells one sentence of a story. For instance, you could start with, “Once upon a time there was a dog on a roof.” Then the next person would tell what happens next. Your kids won't be able to wait till it's their turn to contribute and will be thinking of what to say next.

Be Creative

Make up a new game with your own rules. Better yet, let your kids take turns making up new car games.

Playing car games will not only get you all there in peace, it will provide some quality and fun rides.