What do you do to pass time on a long car trip? Play the license plate game, of course! This game has been a family favorite for decades. I updated it a bit by making a travel scavenger hunt with 4 free printable game boards.
Your next road trip will be a lot more fun with a lot less fussing when you play this tried and true road trip game.

When you’re traveling on a long road trip, you need to be prepared with entertainment for the family. This free license plate game will be your go-to solution for your family and kids of all ages.
How to Play the License Plate Game
- The best time to play the license plate game in in a cross-country trip or at least a multi-state driving trip.
- The goal is to find all the license plates on your game board.
- You can print out as many copies of the free license plate game below as you’d like for your trip.
- Each player searches passing cars for the the license plates on her game board.
- Players should mark of the licenses plates they find with a crayon or marker.
- You can set the game rules so that players have to find all the plates on the game board or you can have the first person to find all the license plates in a row or column win.
- If you have younger children in the car, you can have them team up with an older child or an adult to look for license plates.
Road Trip Tips
- Traveling with Kids – The Must-Haves Guide
- Preparing Your Car for a Road Trip this Summer
- 6 Reasons You Need a Trip Planner
- Road Trip Snack Packing
- Road Trip Snack to Go
License Plate Game
Get 20 different scavenger hunts in the Big Bundle of Scavenger Hunts, with a total of 80 different game board pages, that you can download immediately.
How to Play the License Plate Game
These license plate scavenger hunt game boards are designed so that they contain a mix of license plates from different geographic areas of the country. This should make the difficulty of each game board comparable.
The game boards do not include Alaska or Hawaii since these license plates can be extremely difficult to find in different regions of the country.

How to Print the License Plate Game Boards
- Download the license plate game printable game boards.
- Right click on the link above.
- When the document opens, right click on the document and save it to your computer.
- Print the game boards out on computer paper or heavier card stock paper so that it will hold up better during your trip.
- You can print out these game boards as many time as you like for your personal use.
- You may want to print out extra copies so that you play the game many times during your car trip.
I have been a big fan of scavenger hunts since I was a young child. About a year ago, I started making scavenger hunts to share here and have been having a blast creating so many different themed hunts.
I have created scavenger hunts for almost all the holidays and for different seasons of the year.
I’ve created games specifically for children, for adults and then ones like this license plate game that works for all ages.
You should check out all my scavenger hunt games, there are more than 17 different games. You may become as much of a fan as I am.
And if you enjoy free printables, you definitely want to check out my more than 100 free printables. There’s something for everyone:
- Games
- Cleaning Checklists
- Bullet Journal Templates
- To Do Lists
- Labels
- Planners
- Moving Checklists
- Printables for Parenting
- and more!
Pin for later so you can always find this License Plate Game for your next road trip.

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