Road Trip Conversation Games That Beat the Radio
By Dima Tretyak, creator of DeepTalk · Updated
Hour one of a road trip takes care of itself. Hour three is where you find out whether this car has conversation in it or just a podcast queue. A car is actually a great conversation venue: nobody can leave, nobody has to make eye contact, and the road gives you something to stare at while you think. You just need a game to hang it on.
- 1
Start with Would You Rather, played strictly
Everyone knows this game and everyone plays it wrong. The rule that makes it work: you must pick, and you must defend your pick for at least thirty seconds. "Neither" is banned. A good dilemma argued properly can cover twenty miles.
- 2
Play Hot Takes with a vote
One person states an opinion they actually hold that they suspect is unpopular: cereal is soup, hotels beat camping, birthday parties peak at age nine. The car votes, then the loser of the vote gets one minute to change someone's mind. It gets heated in the best way.
- 3
Run the biography game
Pick a passenger and everyone else has to answer a question about their life: what was their first concert, what would they grab in a fire, what were they like at fourteen. Guesses first, then the real answer. You find out fast how well this car actually knows each other, and the wrong guesses are usually funnier than the truth.
- 4
Go around on firsts and lasts
First concert, last time you cried, first screen name, last lie you told. Everyone answers the same one before moving on. The mix of silly and real is the point, and screen names alone are good for ten minutes of shame.
- 5
Save the deep round for after dark
Something happens to a car after sunset, and every road tripper knows it. When the sun's down and the front seat goes quiet, that's the window for real questions: biggest fear this year, the thing you'd redo, where everyone honestly sees themselves in five years. Some of the best conversations of a friendship happen at 70 miles an hour in the dark.
One phone, the whole car
This is the most passed-around use of DeepTalk we know of. The front seat passenger becomes the dealer, opens Rapid Fire or Would You Rather, and reads cards to the whole car; everyone answers each one before the next card. When the energy dips at a gas stop, Fun & Crazy resets it, and after dark you switch to Late-Night Talk for the quiet stretch. The driver never touches the phone, which is exactly how it should be.