Time to hit the road, folks!

Penn State football opens its season on the road this year with a Week 0 matchup against West Virginia. Since Morgantown, West Virginia, is only about three hours from State College, lots of Nittany Lion fans will be making the trip south to see the season opener.

Onward State is no stranger to these sorts of road trips. Driving to almost every road game for the last few years, we’ve come up with a steady rotation of games to play to pass the time in the car.

Since so many people will likely be driving to this game, we thought we’d share some of our favorite ways to pass the time in the car.

The Penn State Athlete Game

This is for the true Penn State fans out there. Pick a sport, women’s soccer for example, and go around in a circle naming players until someone can’t. That person is then out, and you move on to the next round with a new sport until only one person is left.

Guess My Favorite ______ Song

This one’s pretty easy and takes up a lot of time. Pick a song category. It can be as basic as a “country song” or as detailed as “a song with a color in the title.” Everyone in the car thinks of their favorite song that fits this category.

Then, go around in a circle taking turns and having everyone try to guess your song. They can only ask yes or no questions. Once they guess your song, whoever’s on the aux plays it for everyone to listen to. Then the next person goes, and so on.

The License Plate Game

This could be a little bit tough on a short drive like the one to Morgantown, but rather than trying to find all 50 states’ license plates, maybe try to see what the farthest state you can find is. The best part about this game is that it can be played simultaneously with others.

Truth Or Dare

If you don’t already know the people you’re with super well, this is a great icebreaker game. Since you’re in a vehicle, truth is always a good option, but there are creative dares that you can come up with as well.

Twenty Questions

This may be my favorite car game because I find it passes time super quickly. Everyone knows how to play 20 questions, but if you want to get excited for the game you can put your own Penn State spin on it by making all items something to do with Happy Valley.

What Are The Odds?

Pick someone in the car and say “What are the odds you _______.” It’s usually a mild dare, not something crazy, but something interesting like “text your ex,” or “buy the next tank of gas.” The person you challenged picks their odds, like “1 in 10” or “1 in 100” if they really don’t want to do it.

You then count down from three, and at the same time, say a number in the designated range. If you both say the same number, the person has to do that dare.

Paranoia

This one could ruin some friendships. Define a set circular path in the car. Go around in that circle and privately ask the next person a question like “Who in the car is most likely to _____?” That person then publically answers that question to the person who asked them.

Then, flip a coin. If it’s heads, the question stays a secret and no one else in the car ever knows what the question was. If it’s tails, they have to share the question with the whole group. Keep going around in a circle and repeat accordingly.