Key Takeaways
The point in plain words
- A parked car can feel like a tiny room, so simple word games can turn waiting into shared fun without any tools.
- The best games are light, quick, and flexible, so they fit any mood and any number of passengers.
- If the car is moving, the driver stays out of the games; attention is a safety tool, not a prize.
Story & Details
The moment
On January third, two thousand twenty-six, a small group sat in a Chevrolet Spark from two thousand fifteen with nothing in their hands and nothing on paper. No cards. No pen. No notebook. Just voices, a little impatience, and a camera rolling. A playful insult flew out, followed by laughter and a fast retreat: it was only a joke, and the hope was that it landed.
Waiting, but not wasted
When a car becomes a waiting room, the mind looks for motion. That is why the simplest games work best. They do not need props. They do not need rules on a screen. They only need turns.
One easy start is I Spy. One person chooses something that can be seen, then gives a small clue. The rest guess. It stays light, it stays fast, and it makes the outside world feel less stuck. From there, Twenty Questions keeps the same rhythm but adds mystery. A person thinks of a thing, and the others ask yes or no questions until the answer appears.
When the energy is higher, categories can turn the air into a scoreboard without writing anything down. Pick a theme like foods, cities, animals, films, or “things found in a car.” Then take turns naming items until someone hesitates. A close cousin is the taboo word game. Choose a normal word, then try to describe it without saying the word itself or a few obvious helper words. The fun comes from the near-misses and the creative detours.
Story-by-turns changes the pace. One person says a sentence, the next adds one, and the tale grows. It can be silly, calm, spooky, or dramatic. It also works well with impressions. One person acts like a famous character, a singer, or a teacher, while the others guess. If acting feels too big, dubbing is a softer version: watch the world outside the window and give it new dialogue, as if the passing cars and pedestrians are in a film.
A tighter game for close friends is Two Truths and a Lie. Each person says three short statements. Two are real, one is not. The others guess the lie. The game stays strong because it reveals small stories without needing a long speech.
If the car is moving and there is a view, the license plate game can keep passengers busy for a long time. Look for patterns: repeated letters, specific regions, certain digits, or a target word hidden in a plate. A similar option is a no-exit scavenger hunt, built from what can be seen without leaving the car: a red bicycle, a dog in a window, a blue sign, a hat, a sticker, a streetlight shaped like a T.
Music games also work with nothing in hand. One person hums a tune and the others guess. Then the mood game arrives: Would You Rather. Would you rather only listen to one song for a year, or never hear it again? Would you rather sing every chorus out loud, or never sing at all? It sounds simple, but it opens quick jokes and quick reasons.
Then there is the memory chain game that turns repetition into a challenge. One person starts with a short line like “On my trip I pack…” and adds one item. The next repeats the full list and adds another. The chain grows until someone slips, and the group laughs, resets, and tries again.
Why it works, and why it matters
These games do more than fill silence. They shape attention. Research on driving and distraction often separates distraction into what pulls the eyes, what pulls the hands, and what pulls the mind. Even when hands stay still, the mind can be overloaded. That overload matters most for a driver, because driving needs working memory and quick decisions.
For that reason, the safest frame is simple. When the car is parked, anyone can play. When the car is moving, passengers play and the driver stays focused. If a message or call must be handled, one passenger can take the role of the designated texter, and the phone can be placed out of easy reach. Even better, “Do Not Disturb” driving settings can silence the pull of notifications.
Tiny Dutch mini-lesson
Dutch is a language that uses short, practical phrases that fit well in daily life and short waits.
A useful starter is: Ik verveel me.
Natural use: a simple way to say boredom in a casual tone.
Word-by-word: Ik = I; verveel = bore; me = myself.
Note: the full meaning is “I am bored,” but the structure points to “I bore myself,” which is how the idea is formed.
A second phrase invites action: Zullen we spelen?
Natural use: a friendly way to suggest a game.
Word-by-word: Zullen = shall; we = we; spelen = play.
Note: it sounds polite and light, good for friends and family.
A third phrase keeps the loop going: Nog een keer!
Natural use: a quick push for one more round.
Word-by-word: Nog = still; een = a; keer = time.
Note: it works for games, songs, and repeats, and it stays casual.
Conclusions
The small win
A tiny car can feel like a trap, but it can also become a stage. Word games, guessing games, and short stories turn empty time into shared time. The real trick is not the perfect game. The real trick is choosing the kind of play that fits the moment, respects the driver, and leaves everyone a little lighter when the wait ends.
Selected References
For deeper reading and a single video
[1] https://www.nhtsa.gov/campaign/distracted-driving
[2] https://www.trafficsafetymarketing.gov/safety-topics/distracted-driving/put-phone-away-or-pay
[3] https://www.aaa.com/dontdrivedistracted/
[4] https://exchange.aaa.com/safety/distracted-driving/
[5] https://aaafoundation.org/measuring-cognitive-distraction-automobile/
[6] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10943624/
[7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zHQZxzxNWM
Appendix
Glossary (A–Z)
A1 level. A beginner reading level with short sentences, common words, and clear structure.
Attention. The mind’s focus on one thing at a time; attention can be pulled away by sights, sounds, thoughts, or alerts.
Boredom. The restless feeling that appears when nothing seems to happen and the mind wants change.
Bottleneck. A point where the mind can only handle one step at a time, so adding tasks slows everything down.
Chevrolet Spark. A small car model made by Chevrolet; in this story, it is the compact space where waiting happens.
Cognitive load. The amount of mental effort used at one moment; higher load makes thinking and reacting harder.
Designated texter. A passenger who handles messages and calls so the driver does not split attention.
Distracted driving. Driving while attention is pulled away from the road by the eyes, the hands, or the mind.
Do Not Disturb mode. A phone setting that reduces alerts and notifications to lower temptation and interruption.
Dutch. A language spoken in the Netherlands (Europe) and Belgium (Europe), known for compact, direct daily phrases.
I Spy. A guessing game where one person notices an object and gives a clue until others guess it.
License plate game. A passenger game that looks for patterns, targets, or letters on plates seen outside the car.
Memory chain game. A turn game where each person repeats a growing list in order and adds one new item.
Scavenger hunt. A search game built from a list of things to spot, often played from a seat without leaving the car.
Taboo word game. A describing game where a target word must be guessed, but the speaker cannot say that word and avoids obvious helper words.
Twenty Questions. A guessing game where a hidden object is found by asking up to twenty yes or no questions.
Working memory. The mind’s short-term “scratch space” used to hold and use information for a few seconds at a time.
My Diary - Leonardo Cardillo 