People love to say that when you're traveling, getting there is half the fun. Sometimes they're right, sometimes they're wrong, but one thing is for sure: Simple games really can help pass the time on a long bus ride. If you're traveling in a group, engage your fellow passengers and help one another get through the trip with any of several simple, stimulating and time-consuming games.
Make Up Stories
This loosely structured game works well for creative groups with quick wit and off-the-cuff thinking skills. Have the group leader start with a stock story introduction: "It was a dark and stormy night, and all of a sudden everyone heard a..." or "Once upon a time, there lived..." Then have a passenger from one side of the bus complete the sentence. The story then goes to the other side, where a team member adds the next detail or event. The leader can either make the players go in a particular order (front row first), or call on players of his or her choice. The game can last until the story resolves, until it has gotten a little too silly or until the creative energy has died out.
Borrow a page from the pubs and host a trivia contest. These require prepared questions and a little organization on the host's part, but they can keep the group occupied for a couple of hours. Divide the bus into quadrants and prepare four rounds of five questions each, then one final question. Topics can include science, music, geography, history, movies or pop culture. Award points for each question and allow each team several minutes to answer (pub trivia hosts sometimes play a popular song after asking the question, and some even use music as clues). When time's up, have each team pass its answer to the front. Have the host repeat the question, then reveal the answer. After all the questions, allow each team to wager up to 20 points on the final question. For a shortcut in preparation, use questions from a trivia board game.
Make each passenger a card with "Bingo" written across the top, and a column assigned to each letter of the word. Divide each column into five rows and place in each square the name of or a sticker depicting an item you're likely to pass on the trip (rest stop, truck of a certain color, state border sign). Make sure the items on each card are arranged differently. When a player crosses off a straight or diagonal row of objects across the card, he or she yells "Bingo" and wins. For long trips take a break, then have players trade cards and try again.
Have the host name a well-known singer, actor or other celebrity: for example, Harrison Ford. Ford ends in the letter D, so the next player would have to name another celebrity whose name begins with D. If the next player names David Bowie, the first letter of the next name then has to be E. Each name can be used only once, which makes later rounds challenging (there are only so many celebrities whose first name begin with the letter Z.) For an added challenge, limit the field: only live celebrities, only dead celebrities or only celebrities from a particular field.
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