9+ best travel games for Families | Adventures With Kids
Fun Games To Play While Travelling With Kids
Family adventures are always exciting, but keeping kids entertained on the road can be a challenge. Whether we are navigating long car trips, airport waits, or quiet evenings in a hotel, having the right travel games for our family can transform downtime.
We travel with several different compact, easy-to-play, family favourites to keep everyone engaged, help pass the time, and add an element of fun to the journey.
Travel can be unpredictable, so being prepared with some family-friendly games is a good idea. We’ve rounded up our top picks for portable, kid-friendly travel games – including our family favourites of Monopoly Deal, UNO, and Risk- to help make your next family trip even more fun.
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Best Travel Games For Families
Road Trip Game For Families
Top Travel Card Game For Family
Best Travel-Sized Board Game For Families
Our Favourite Travel Cards Games For Families
There are some great travel games available that have literally followed us around the world.
⭐ 1. Monopoly Deal | A Fast, Family-Favourite Card Game
Monopoly Deal Card Game
Age: 8+ Players: 2–5 ➡️Buy Now!
✅ Compact and easy to pack ✅Quick rounds (as little as 5–15 minutes)
✅Mix of strategy and luck ✅Perfect for older kids, teens, and adults
If you’re looking for a game that the whole family will love, Monopoly Deal is a winner.
Monopoly Deal card game rules: It features similar cards to the popular Monopoly board game, but is quicker to play and creates fewer tantrums! The winner is the first to own three street sets. Quick reference cards outline easy-to-follow rules where you collect two cards per go and lay up to three cards.
Why We Love It: The classic Monopoly board game is a family favourite in our house. We were naturally drawn to the card game version for its tactical gameplay. We even picked up a Monopoly card game, in USA editions, while road tripping through California.
Family Travel Tip: Monopoly Deal is much easier to play on a table or floor, so that you can keep track of card movement.
➡️Buy our family favourite travel card game now!
⭐ 2. UNO | A Travel Classic Kids Love!
UNO – Card Game
Age: 7+ Players: 2–10 ➡️ Buy Now!
✅ Simple rules for all ages ✅ Durable cards
✅ Ideal for playing anywhere ✅ Can play quick rounds or long battles
Uno card game rules are simple, making it one of our family’s favourite travel card games. Uno rounds can be played quickly by matching colours or numbers until a player has discarded all their cards.
Why We Love It: Classic Uno is a compact pack of red, green, blue and yellow cards. The simple rules have allowed us to play the game with other families while travelling, even with a language barrier. It’s a simple game that even young children can play (although there are junior versions).
Family Travel Tip: UNO is practically made for travelling families. There are many Uno versions (Flip, No Mercy, All Wild!, Flex, Liar’s, Zero, Junior, Teams and Extreme, to name a few) that increase the hours of family fun. Our family are big fans of Uno and Uno Flip.
It is a classic for a reason – Buy Uno for your next family trip!
⭐ 3. Risk Strike | Strategy To World Domination
Risk Strike – Card Game
Age: 10+ Players: 2–5 ➡️ Buy Now!
✅ Fast-paced, travel-friendly version of Risk ✅ No board required
✅ Perfect for strategy-loving families ✅ Quick rounds with suspense
Risk Strike rules are a twist on the classic strategy game Risk, designed specifically for fast game play on the go. Instead of fighting across a board, players battle using action cards, alliances, continent coins and dice until someone completes their mission.
Why We Love It: Risk Strike retains the spirit of world domination but removes the bulky board, making it perfect for travellers. We love the quick playing strategy when we don’t have a lot of time. Our kids also take pride in holding a continent coin.
Family Travel Tip: Bring a small dice tray or use the game box lid to roll the dice when playing on the move.
Risk is perfect for families with older kids who enjoy a challenge on the road.
⭐ 4. Clue Card Game | Strategy Meets Mystery
Clue Card Game
Age: 8+ Players: 3–4 ➡️ Buy Now!
✅ Compact mystery game for families ✅ Quick deduction-based rounds
✅ Easy to learn, fun to master ✅ Perfect for hotels, cafés, or airport lounges
The Clue Card Game (often called Clue Suspect) have rules similar to the classic Cluedo mystery board game. No game board or no tiny pieces required—just deduction and clever thinking from a pack of cards to determine who committed the crime, with what, and where.
Why We Love It: It’s mystery-solving fun without the setup. Rounds are quick, making them ideal for use on travel days or while dining. We love watching our children develop deduction skills and get excited when they figure out the mystery first.
Family Travel Tip: If your kids love solving puzzles or escape rooms, the Clue card game is a great option for your family.
More Amazing Travel Board Games Kids Will Love
5. Qwirkle
Age: 6+ Players: 2-4 ➡️ Buy Now!
How it’s played: Match tiles by colour or shape to build lines and score points for your winning combo. Take turns until all the tiles are gone. Qwirkle is a fun, family-friendly blend of dominoes and Scrabble.
Why we love it: Our family of five (it works well with an extra player) has been playing this easy to learn, strategic game for years, as it is suitable for young kids.
6. Bananagrams
Age: 7+ Players: 2-6 ➡️ Buy Now!
How it’s played: Each family member aims to use their letters in turn to build a word grid in a race to be crowned “Top Banana”.
Why we love it: This is a fun, educational word game that doesn’t need a board, unlike Scrabble. We often use the set a word challenge that the kids add to throughout the day.
7. Dobble Kids
Age: 7+ Players: 2-6 ➡️ Buy Now!
How it’s played: Find the one matching symbol between any two cards – whoever spots it first wins the round and the card. Finish the rounds at any point to declare a winner with the highest amount of banked cards.
Why we love it: Fast-paced, great for young children, and small enough to slip into a backpack for travelling.
8. Boggle – Travel Size
Age: 8+ Players: 1+ ➡️ Buy Now!
How it’s played: If you have older kids who love word games, Boggle is a fantastic travel-sized option. The game involves shaking a grid to randomise letters, and then spotting as many words as possible before the time runs out.
Why we love it: Boggle is excellent for spelling and vocabulary skills, making it a sneaky way to encourage learning while travelling.
9. 4-in-1 Magnetic Board Game Classics
Age: 4+ Players: 2+ ➡️ Buy Now!
How it’s played: A collection of classic family games, including Snakes & Ladders, Chess, Draughts, and Ludo, each with its own rules. Climbing the ladder to be crowned winner or mastering the game of chess are our favourites.
Why we love it: A set of four classic family games in one easy-to-carry pack. The magnetic game pieces stay in place, whether played in the car, on a train, in a plane or between tables.
Free Games To Play While Travelling With Kids
If your family are after a game to play while travelling, keep these in mind. These games can be played on the go and without purchasing items. We did include prizes for animal bingo on a road trip in Australia.
I-Spy – “I spy with my little eye…” can be a fun classic game to play anywhere and at any age. It is great to engage kids in their surroundings.
Would You Rather? – Asking questions that require a reason can spark creativity and start family conversations. Kids will need to provide a reason for their answer – such as “Would you rather be fast like a cheetah or slow like a tortoise?”
Alphabet Game – After picking a subject (food, animals, etc), family members take turns to say a word that starts with each letter of the alphabet. A favourite topic of ours is countries, as it sparks memories of places we have travelled together.
License Plate Game or Road Trip Bingo – Travelling can be boring for children. Games like these encourage children to view the passing world in a friendly, competitive and interactive manner.
20 Yes-No Question Game – With only twenty questions to be asked and the answers limited to yes or no, this game is challenging but engaging for older kids.
Why Travel Games Are a Must for Family Adventures
Travelling with the right games is more important than just keeping kids entertained; they can enhance your family experience. Family members are engaged with each other rather than self-entertaining, relying on screens or being bored.
Travel games are compact, lightweight, and easy to pack, transforming long stretches of travel into bonding moments that offer educational benefits like strategy, problem-solving, and creativity.
A small deck of cards can be a big sanity-saver!
How to Choose the Best Travel Games for Your Family
With many travel games to choose from, the ideal games should suit:
✔ Age range – Pick games all your kids can enjoy.
✔ Players – Can all family members play?
✔ Game length – Short games are ideal for quick stops.
✔ Durability – Choose sets that can survive the chaos of travel.
✔ Portability – Smaller is better when every inch of suitcase space counts.
✔ Fun factor – The more replayable, the better!
Family Tips for Travelling with Board Games
Good family travel games are a great way to combat boredom and encourage family interaction. Here are a few tips to ensure joy from your games while travelling:
- Choose Games your family loves playing: Only travel with games that the whole family enjoy playing, otherwise they will not bring joy.
- Choose Magnetic Versions: Many travel board games are magnetic to help keep pieces in place. Some games are unplayable if items go missing. If not, consider packing a dedicated pouch to keep all game components together.
- Pack a Game in Your Day Bag: Having a travel board game close by is convenient and has saved us many times when our day starts to fall apart!
- Pick Quick Play Games for All Ages: Mix up games that everyone can play and enjoy. UNO is our go-to quick game that the whole family will play together without our kids losing focus or getting frustrated by lengthy rounds.
Final Thoughts | Make Your Next Family Adventure Unforgettable
Whether you’re hitting the road, flying across the globe or heading out on a day trip, having a lineup of the best travel games for families will keep the adventure going.
Having a pack of cards or a memory game on hand can be a lifesaver when travelling with kids. We also really recommend EReaders for travelling families that enjoy reading.
