Long car rides, airport layovers, and train journeys have a way of draining energy fast. But they're also some of the best opportunities for real bonding, when phones are down and you're stuck together with nowhere to go. The problem is that most great games to play on trips require equipment you can't easily carry: cards, boards, dice, or even a pen and paper.
This guide covers five games that require absolutely nothing except the people in your group, and in some cases, a single phone. No packing, no setup, no cleanup.
1. Guess the Imposter (Pass & Play)
Our top pick for games to play on trips is Guess the Imposter, and it works brilliantly in a single-phone "pass and play" mode.
How it works on a trip:
- One person opens Guess the Imposter on their phone.
- They select a travel-themed category like "Countries," "Landmarks," or "Food."
- The phone gets passed around so each player secretly reads their word.
- The discussion begins, and the interrogation gets intense fast.
Why it's perfect for travel:
- One phone is enough. You don't need everyone to join, just pass the device.
- Rounds are short. A single game takes 5–10 minutes, perfect for the gap between takeoff and the drinks trolley arriving.
- It scales from 3 to 15 players, adaptable to any travel group size.
- 50+ categories mean you can play for hours without repeating a word.
The vibe: It turns a quiet car ride into a hilarious interrogation session. "Why did you say Paris is 'romantic'? That's way too vague, you're clearly the imposter!" These moments become the stories everyone tells for years.
2. 20 Questions
A classic for a reason. One player thinks of a person, place, animal, or object, and everyone else asks yes/no questions to narrow it down.
How to make it interesting:
- Limit rounds to 20 questions total, no exceptions.
- Restrict the category to make it harder: "Only video game characters" or "Only things you'd find in this airport."
- Make the last person to guess do a forfeit (sing a song, do 10 push-ups at the gate).
Best for: Long drives with a mixed age group. Kids love being the one who holds all the information.
3. The Story Chain
One person starts a story with one sentence. The next person adds a sentence. Continue around the group until the story reaches a natural, or absurd, ending.
Why it works on trips:
- Completely equipment-free.
- Can last as long as you need it to, perfect for unpredictable journey lengths.
- Gets increasingly ridiculous, which keeps energy high.
Pro tip: Introduce a rule that every fourth sentence must include a word chosen by the group (like "submarine" or "glitter"). The forced inclusion usually derails the story in the best way.
4. Would You Rather?
Great for sparking real conversation. One person poses a dilemma: "Would you rather always have to shout everything or always have to whisper everything?"
Why it works:
- Zero preparation. Anyone can generate questions on the fly.
- It reveals personality quirks you'd never discover otherwise.
- Can go deep or stay silly depending on the energy of the group.
Best questions for travel contexts:
- "Would you rather have a 10-hour layover with great airport food, or a direct flight with terrible food?"
- "Would you rather always travel business class but alone, or always economy with your best friends?"
Best for: Adults on long flights where you want conversation without high mental effort.
5. Two Truths and a Lie
Each person states three things about themselves, two true, one false. Everyone else votes on which one is the lie.
Why travelers love it:
- People always have interesting stories from previous trips that make for believable truths.
- It's genuinely surprising how bad people are at lying, and how creative they get when they think they've been caught.
- Works as an icebreaker if you're traveling with people you don't know well yet (group trips, school exchanges, work retreats).
Variation: Make it travel-specific: all three statements must be about places you've visited or things that happened on a previous trip.
Packing for Fun: The One-Phone Rule
Notice that four of these five games need zero equipment, and the fifth (Guess the Imposter) needs only one phone. This is the "one-phone rule" for travel games: if a game requires more than one device, or any physical components, it's going to cause friction when you need it least.
For Guess the Imposter specifically, the pass-and-play mode means everyone participates through one screen. Alternatively, if your group has mobile data or airport Wi-Fi, you can use the online multiplayer mode and everyone joins on their own device, no passing required.
Conclusion
Next time you're packing for a trip, leave the card games and travel Scrabble at home. Your phone and your group are the only tools you need for genuinely fun games to play on trips.
Start a game of Guess the Imposter now, it loads instantly, works offline after the first load, and your group will be laughing before the plane reaches cruising altitude.
