Car ride trivia: how to play a quiz on a road trip

Why a quiz works in the car

A car is a small room where everyone is stuck together for hours, with nothing to look at but the road. A quiz needs no equipment and no space, and it suits any age. It turns the dull stretches of a drive into something the whole car takes part in, and it works equally well for two adults on a commute and a car full of children on the way to a holiday.

Safety first: who runs the quiz?

The driver does not type, scroll or read from a screen. The simplest rule is that a passenger is the quiz master and operates the phone, while the driver answers out loud. If you are travelling alone, skip the screen entirely and play a spoken game such as twenty questions. The road comes first.

If the driver is the only adult and the passengers are children, let an older child read the questions, or pull over at a service stop and play a round while you rest. Long drives need breaks anyway.

Rules that keep the peace

Agree three things before you start. First, how answers are given: out loud, one at a time, or each person writing on their own phone. Second, who decides in a dispute; with a quiz app, the app does, and an answer you disagree with can be raised after the round. Third, how scoring works: one point per right answer is enough, and no one is keeping count of the points for the whole trip.

For mixed ages, handicap the experts. Let the adults answer only the hard questions, or give children two guesses. The aim of a car quiz is to keep everyone in the game, not to crown a champion.

Playing with Trivvy

The best mode for a drive is 30 questions. It is a round of thirty questions at your own pace, with no clock and no lives. After each answer the solution is shown, and you move on when the car is ready. If you close the page halfway, for example when you stop for petrol, you can pick up where you left off in the same browser. The round ends after thirty questions, and then you can start another.

For several players in the same car, Trivvy's family game lets each person get questions at their own level, so a child can beat an adult. It works with one phone per player or one phone shared by several players, and with children in the room the ads are switched off for everybody. You need a mobile connection for any of it, so check your coverage before a long drive through the mountains.

Make the journey part of the quiz

The most memorable car quizzes are about the trip itself. Before you leave, write a handful of questions about the places you will pass: which river that bridge crosses, what the town you are driving through is known for, how high the mountain pass is. Look the answers up in advance so that the quiz master is sure of them, and use them as one round between the general ones.

You can also play games that need no questions at all: spotting letters in order on number plates, naming a city for each letter of the alphabet, or taking turns to add a word to a story. Mix them with the quiz, so the trip does not feel like an exam.

Twelve road trip questions to start with

These are written for this guide and are easy enough for most people in the car. Read them aloud and keep the answers to yourself until everyone has had a guess.