16 Best Family Travel Games (Kid-Tested & Carry-On Friendly)
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If you’ve ever heard “I’m bored!” before the plane even takes off, you know how fast family travel can turn chaotic. After months of backpacking across Europe and road-tripping through Asia with two kids under 10, we’ve learned one simple truth — the right travel games can save your sanity (and your luggage space!).
These are our family-tested favorites — lightweight, packable, and guaranteed to turn long waits, slow dinners, and rainy days into fun family moments. Whether you’re planning a gap year or just trying to keep little hands busy between flights, you’ll find the perfect pick for every age and travel style.
Here’s what you’ll find below:
🎒 Games that fit in your carry-on (and won’t drive you mad with missing pieces)
🚗 Picks tested on buses, planes, and endless road trips
👧 Options for toddlers, tweens, and even teens who “don’t play kids’ games anymore”
Let’s dive into the best family travel games that actually earn their place in your backpack — all tested by real traveling families like ours.
Table of Contents
- Why Family Travel Games Are a Must for Your Trip
- Best Family Travel Games for Toddlers (Ages 3-5)
- Best Family Travel Games for School-Age Kids (Ages 6-12)
- Best Family Travel Games for Teens and Adults (Ages 13+)
- Best Family Travel Games for All Ages
- Tips for Choosing the Best Family Travel Games
- Planning a family travel adventure?
We’ve tested dozens of travel games, but these three are always in our backpacks. If you’re short on time, these are our absolute top picks of the best family travel games!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Goat Lords
✅ Fun for a range of ages
✅ Minimal play/packing space needed
✅ Everyone loves a goat pun!
Dobble (Spot it)
✅ All ages
✅ Comes in a tin so will survive all trips!
✅ Needs very little play space
Sussed
✅ Up to 8 players
✅ So many variations you’ll never run out!
✅ Takes up almost no play space so you can play on the go
Why Family Travel Games Are a Must for Your Trip
I get it – often things like travel games are not right at the top of your packing list when you’re planning for family travel. There are a 101 other things that might take priority over choosing the right family travel games to throw in your backpack.
But I promise you they are worth a thought. Here are just a few reasons why you should be packing at least a couple of family travel games for any form of travel!
Keeping Kids Engaged on the Go
No-one wants their dream trip ruined by chimes of ‘we’re bored’ coming from the kids. And with long-term travel there is a LOT of downtime to fill. In airports, on planes, trains, buses and stations. At dinner waiting for your food to arrive. In evenings when you’re in the middle of nowhere without wifi (or even maybe electricity!).
We did pack Amazon Fire tablets for the kids on our family gap year. I know a LOT of families aren’t keen on screen time, but having these as a back-up really worked for us on the road. However we did still want to limit time on these. Which is where these family travel games come in!
Then there’s also the fact that a big part of family travel is about bonding time. These basic but fun games are the perfect way to encourage family interaction (without resorting to screens!).
The Importance of Packable Games
So what should you think about when choosing the best family travel games? There are a couple of obvious aspects to this. Anything you’re packing needs to be lightweight and compact – especially if you’re heading off for long-term family travel. Or carrying backpacks around anywhere!
You’ll also need to think about not just the space they take up in your backpack. How much space do you actually need to play the game on the go? We’ve got some real favourites in our house that might pack down quite small but actually need quite a lot of space for game-play.
These kinds of games might be fine for some forms of travel (especially if you’re taking a slow travel trip). That way you’ll still use them when you’re settled in to places. But if you want games you can play on a plane, bus or at dinner you might want to consider games that don’t need a big flat space!
Catering to a Range of Ages
Depending on the age of your travel group you’ll need to consider what might work for everyone. It can be tricky to find family travel games that young children can engage with but that also keep olders kids and adults entertained.
We break down our recommendations below into different age ranges, plus a category of games that the whole family can play!
Best Family Travel Games for Toddlers (Ages 3-5)
Donkey
This simple matching card game has been a hit with young children for years. Even our slightly older kids still love this when we’re away camping. Find as many pairs of farm animals as you can, but just make sure you don’t end up with the lonely donkey!
This is a straightforward pack of cards so will fit in to any backpack. It also needs minimal set-up time and follows very basic instructions.
This little deck has rescued us more times than we can count — perfect for quick matches on picnic blankets or airport floors.
👉 Grab your Donkey cards on Amazon — they’re tiny but mighty for travel days
Dobble (Spot it!) 1-2-3
The more basic version of the classic Dobble game (more on that below). The cards in this Dobble feature numbers and shapes to make it easier for small children. The age range starts from 3+ years for this one. It’s a simple, quick travel card game that you can bring out whenever there’s a bit of time to kill!
Fast, funny, and zero setup — although the squeals every time they spot a match can get LOUD!
🎒 Get Dobble 1-2-3 here and keep little hands busy without screens
Uno Junior
This version of Uno for younger children works really well in a confined travel space. Before our boys graduated to the more grown-up version we had a lot of fun with this one!
The cards are bright and colourful with animal pictures to match as well as the numbers. This means that even toddlers who don’t know their numbers yet can join in.
This is the game that got our boys through rainy nights in the campervan — simple enough for toddlers, still fun for grown-ups.
✈️ Buy Uno Junior on Amazon — it’s the perfect starter travel game
🛍️ Quick Shop: Our Family-Tested Favorites
Short on time (or patience)?
These are the travel games we reach for first — all tested on flights, trains, and rainy campground nights.
They pack small, play big, and keep the peace wherever you wander.
Best Family Travel Games for School-Age Kids (Ages 6-12)
Uno Flip
A step up from the normal version of Uno, this pack contains different action cards for more fun! It also allows you to ‘flip’ the cards to reveal a whole other set. This means you can make the fun last for longer on travel trips. The cards come in a metal storage tin which is great for keeping them safe during travel.
We upgraded to this version after months on the road — the ‘flip’ twist keeps it fresh even for older kids.
🎲 Grab Uno Flip here — the double-sided fun makes long flights fly by
Goat Lords
Match up the strange goats into pairs to score points. But this isn’t just a straightforward matching game – there are all kinds of wildcards you can play to mix things up! You can also steal pairs and stacks of cards from other players to boost your own score.
The goats are all weird and wonderful creatures which will keep kids amused. This doesn’t pack down into the smallest box but it’s still perfectly portable. For game-play you need enough space for a draw pile and for each player to stack up their Goat Lord pairs in front of them.
Silly goats, sneaky steals, and endless laughter. This is our go-to when we need to reset family moods on long days. Hugely recommended by our two boys!
🐐 Get Goat Lords on Amazon — the chaos is half the fun
Dutch Blitz
This fast-paced card game does take up a bit of space for playing but it’s worth it! The aim of the game is to get as many of your cards in to the middle stacks as you can. Every player has a ‘blitz’ pile of ten cards that they have to get out. The first player to do so shouts ‘blitz’ and the round ends.
Things can get very frantic! It takes several round to get to the winning score of 75. We absolutely LOVE this game in our house (adults and kids alike!). Whilst the spread of cards does take up some space when playing, the game itself is a simple pack of cards so is very packable.
Warning – this gets competitive FAST!
⚡ Order Dutch Blitz — it’s the most fun you’ll ever have with a deck of cards
Bananagrams Duel
Aimed at kids aged 7 years and up, this is a very travel friendly option for life on the go. It packs down to one small banana-shaped travel case. And the game itself is just made up of the letter cubes and a stack of banana cards. Which makes it nice and lightweight too!
The only downside is that it’s only for two players.
Our quiet evening ritual — perfect for word nerds or anyone who loves a quick challenge before bed.
🍌 Find Bananagrams Duel on Amazon — tiny tin, massive replay value
Sussed
If you are really tight on packing space then this is the game for you! Each Sussed pack (and there are several editions) contains a stack of cards with various scenarios for each player. The player reads a scenario from their own card and all other players have to guess what their answer will be. Points are scored whenever a player guesses correctly.
This works perfectly for families as it helps to know each other quite well! There are still though plenty of curveballs that will have everyone guessing. This is a great space-saver as it’s just one pack of cards and you only need to hold one card per player.
This is the game that starts real conversations — we’ve learned hilarious things about our kids playing this one. We loved this for long journeys and anywhere that was tight on game-play space!
💬 Grab Sussed here and turn travel downtime into family bonding time
Top Trumps
Simple but effective! We carried a couple of sets of Top Trumps cards around with us for our family gap year. They were great for playing as a family or just for the boys to play between themselves. They take up very little space at all in backpacks. Plus cards are held in your hands for the duration of the game so you can play in even the smallest of spaces!
There are hundreds of Top Trumps versions available depending on your kids’ interests. Ours loved the Star Wars, Animal Predators and Cats versions in particular.
We’ve played Top Trumps in airports, cafés, and ferries — it’s the one game we never leave behind
🏆 Pick up your favorite Top Trumps set — there’s a version for every interest
Best Family Travel Games for Teens and Adults (Ages 13+)
Exploding Kittens
More strategic than some other card games, this was probably our most played game on our travels. The aim is not to explode! There are loads of action cards that create chaos. Plus the illustrations are very funny and will appeal to olders kids in particular.
You can also get add-on packs such as Streaking Kittens or Zombie Kittens, which is great if you have a bigger group. We opted not to take the box on our travels (which is actually quite big). Instead the cards simply travelled with us in a plastic ziplock bag.
You only need enough space to hold your cards and for a discard pile in the middle. We played this one endlessly at dinner on our travels!
It sounds chaotic (and it is), but that’s why our boys love it. Compact, clever, and guaranteed laughs.
💥 Ready to add some Exploding Kittens to your life? Order some here!
Travel Yahtzee
If you want to combine fun with a bit of maths then this is the travel game for you. It’s essentially a game of chance which means that anyone can take the win. Which made our youngest happy!
The travel version comes with the dice in a handy plastic container to ‘roll’ them in. Which makes it a breeze to play on planes or in other confined spaces. Adding up the totals for each go and the scores at the end is a great way to build some maths learning in at the same time.
Classic, compact, and surprisingly addictive. We play this one when we want a break from screens.
🎲 Get Travel Yahtzee here — small size, big nostalgia
Monopoly Deal
If you’ve got wannabe property barons in your family, this is the travel game for them. This fast-paced version of Monopoly only takes around 15-20minutes to play. But can be just as competitive as the traditional board game version (in our experience anyway!).
It’s literally just a pack of cards so it’s easy to pack in to your backpack. For game-play it does require a bit of space to lay your cards out, but still manageable in most confined travel spaces.
Forget the hours-long board version — this one’s fast, feisty, and backpack-sized.
💸 Snag Monopoly Deal here — family rivalry in just 15 minutes
Sushi Go!
These super cute sushi themed cards were a big hit with our boys (and lots of other kids we met on our travels!). Collect sushi sets as the cards get passed around to score points and win the game. It’s aimed at kids aged 8 years and above but is a lot of fun for teens and adults.
Again, this one comes in a handy little metal tin (always good for travelling). It’s also a good option if you have a larger group as it’s for up to five players.
We first played this in a tiny café in Vietnam — and it’s been a favourite ever since. Easy to learn, hard to stop.
🍣 Get your own tin of sushi fun here
Best Family Travel Games for All Ages
Dobble (Spot it!)
The classic version of this game can keep everyone entertained. Plus it takes up very little space in terms of packing and playing. The handy tin means it’s well-protected in your backpack (or anywhere else you take it!). There are a few different ways of playing so that you don’t get bored.
You can also get a version that comes with waterproof cards (handy if you’re planning a lot of beach time). Or special interest sets such as these Harry Potter ones.
The classic for a reason — it’s simple, fast, and always ends in laughter.
🔍 Buy the original Dobble tin here — perfect for every age
Pass the Pigs
It’s amazing how much fun these two tiny little pigs can be! Score points for whichever position they land in. The stranger position the higher the score – just make sure you avoid pigging out!
The whole game is just the two tiny plastic pigs and a small notebook for scores. Which makes this a fab option for anyone wanting to pack super light.
A bit of luck, a bit of chaos — this one packs down to nothing but always gets a laugh.
🐷 Grab Pass the Pigs — the pocket game that turns wait times into giggles
Travel Qwirkle
The basics of Qwirkle are to match up the shapes and colours, which is straightforward enough for younger kids to join in. However, there are also layers of strategy that you can add which keep older kids and adults engaged too.
This travel version comes in a handy little bag for getting it around in. The game-play itself does need a reasonable-sized flat space. But definitely one to consider for any downtime on your travels!
When we have space for a proper table, this is our go-to. Beautiful tiles, easy rules, endless strategy.
🧩 Find Travel Qwirkle on Amazon — it’s worth every ounce in your bag
Tips for Choosing the Best Family Travel Games
If you’re spoilt for choice and still not sure what to pack, then here are some tips for choosing the perfect family travel games for your trip.
Prioritize Size and Weight
Games that are lightweight (under 500g) and pack down small are your best bet. How much space you have will depend on the rest of your packing. But any games you do choose to take will need to fit in to your hand luggage. So bear this in mind when making your choice!
With several of the card games we opted to take cards out of their original boxes and pack them in to a small zip-lock bag. This worked well in reducing weight and size in quite a few cases.
Consider Play Space
Whilst it’s OK to have a couple of games that need a slightly bigger playing space, ideally you’d have at least a couple that work on small surfaces like airplane trays. Plus games like Sussed that you can hold in your hand entirely are great when you don’t have any kind of surface to work with!
We had a couple of games that we originally packed on our family gap year that we loved but just needed so much play space that we rarely used them.
Mix Up Game Types
If you’ve got the packing space, then aim for a variety of game types. This will mean you won’t get bored too quickly! Ideally you’d have quick card games like Dobble and some more strategic games like Travel Qwirkle and Exploding Kittens.
Durability for Travel
Avoid any travel games that need a mulitude of small pieces or anything that might get broken. If you do go for anything with components make sure these are sturdy (like magnetic bingo for example).
Every one of these games has earned its place in our backpacks because it’s lightweight, family-tested, and meltdown-proof. Whether we’re camping in the rain, waiting for a flight, or winding down after a long day exploring, these little moments of laughter are what make family travel so memorable.
If you’re building your own travel kit, start with one or two of the games above — the ones that fit your kids’ ages and your style of travel. They don’t take up much space, but they’ll make a huge difference to your journey.
💡 We’ve personally used every single game in this list during our family gap year. When you buy through our links, we may earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you), but we only ever recommend what truly works for us.
So whether you’re gearing up for a weekend road trip or packing for a year-long adventure —
🎒 grab a few of these travel-tested favorites on Amazon, and make boredom one less thing to worry about.
We’ve put together a whole guide on what to pack for family travel here, so if you’re struggling with the packing then take a look. We’ve also got a free family travel packing list that you can download below.
Planning a family travel adventure?
We can help! Check out our other posts for info on what to pack, how much to budget and much more.
