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This Unexpected Vacation Trend Makes for a Game-changing Family Trip

Whether you prefer virtual consoles or IRL quests, new approaches to family gaming stoke friendly competition.

My tween daughter could spend hours on end playing on the game building online platform Roblox, so it wasn't a huge shock to learn that 76 percent of American kids are gamers, according to a recent report from the Entertainment Software Association. More surprising? Sixty-seven percent of adults are enthusiasts, too. In fact, the hobby is so widespread that it has begun to shape travel for families in myriad ways, from tricked-out suites and specialty cruises to high-octane adventure tours.

Atari, which first popularized home consoles in the 1970s, is rolling out eight Gensler-designed Atari Hotels in the U.S. The first will open in 2025 in Las Vegas, with properties to follow in cities such as Denver, Austin, and Seattle. Plans include retro-style arcades in each, along with innovative immersive entertainment. Penta Hotels (doubles from $100), with properties in Europe and Asia, already offers Penta PlayerPad rooms and suites in 20 locales, including Paris and Vienna. Setups in the suites include a spacious, loungy gaming area equipped with PlayStation 5 consoles and fresh-made pizzas available from room service around the clock.

For next-level immersive experiences, Universal Studios Japan opened Super Nintendo World in Osaka in spring 2021. It is like living inside a gleefully surreal video game. Now the concept is coming to the States, with a Hollywood location opening next year and another in Orlando after that. Albuquerque's Electric Playhouse , a sprawling digital-entertainment facility with 16 high-tech interactive spaces, has an array of innovative games, including Full-Body Air Hockey and Space Runner. But the most impressive is King of the Worms, where the floors react to your body, so your movements lead the game play.

In Orlando, Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser (from $4,809 for two people), a two-night experience aboard Disney's Halcyon spaceship hotel, is the ultimate choose-your-own adventure, bolstered by an eclectic cast of real-life characters. Join a smuggling ring, wield a light saber, or stop by the remote planet of Batuu before spending the night in a themed cabin or suite.

Escape rooms are like video games brought thrillingly to life, and PanIQ Escape Room , a worldwide operator, has some of the most inventive. At the New York City location, there's Pyramid Heist, where players must crack codes to find the Golden Ankh of Rah or be forever cursed by Anubis, an Egyptian god of the dead. Across the Hudson River, Liberty Science Center , an interactive science museum in Jersey City, New Jersey, is hosting "Minecraft: The Exhibition" through September 5. The 6,000-square-foot multimedia extravaganza has 15 life-size characters, Minecraft biome dioramas, and time lapse world-building tutorials.

Recently introduced tours pair gaming with opportunities for cultural immersion. GACUCON (six-day trips from $2,330 for two people) offers a sailing from Miami on which families can take advantage of a 24-hour onboard gaming hall, manga library, and live-action role-playing combat training. Stops in Jamaica, the Bahamas, and Haiti may include tubing, ziplining, swimming with dolphins, and trips to architectural sites to inspire future world-builders.

Travel company Tailor Made launched its free Lost Tribe Esports Birthright Israel trip to connect Jewish young adults with the cutting-edge tech scene of Tel Aviv. The itinerary provides opportunities to compete against pro esports players in games like Fortnite and FIFA. Participants can also meet with developers of the 2021 game Grime. Outdoor excursions include floating in the Dead Sea, rafting the Jordan River, and sleeping in a Bedouin tent.

Bespoke itineraries are also an option. Keith Waldon, founder of the Texas-based Departure Lounge and a member of T+L's Travel Advisory Board, can design a trip based on a family's video game of choice. Fans of Grand Theft Auto V, which is set in Los Santos, a fictional southern California city, might embark on a tour of Los Angeles to see landmarks shown in the game, then participate in a stunt-driving lesson, a studio tour, and a bank robbery escape room.

London-based bespoke travel company Brown & Hudson offers a groundbreaking new vacation scrapbook in which a videographer with a 360-degree camera discreetly joins a family to capture their journey. Upon return, the entire trip is turned into an epic VR experience they can revisit together, with new surprises woven throughout.

A version of this story originally appeared in the June 2022 issue of Travel + Leisure under the headline Beyond Bananagrams .

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Unique Road Trips for Gamers (or Anyone)

September 3, 2021 by Robert Schrader Leave a Comment

I’m a big fan of taking unique road trips, no matter where in the world I’m traveling. As one of the web’s original travel bloggers , however, I’m uncommonly positioned to determine what is and isn’t “unique”—I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly of travel all over the world!

One great way to break the mold without (necessarily) going too far off the beaten path is to plan a themed trip. For example, if you and your friends love playing video games, take a road trip that makes real-life stops in some of your favorite virtual hangouts.

Below, I’ll outline a few road trip options for video game fans, or for anyone who’s looking for an interesting adventure. I hope you’ll let me know in a comment which one you’d most like to take!

Why Should Gamers Take a Real-Life Road Trip?

As I mentioned in the introduction to this piece, a great way to take unique road trips without being a very adventurous travel is to create a trip aligned with a particular interest you have. Many people who plan trips to Japan, for example, align their trips around popular anime series, most typically “Spirited Away” or “Princess Mononoke.” 

Similarly, video game fans can plan trips that visit some places (in the flesh-and-blood world) that they’ve only previously “visited” from behind a controller. While the options I’m about to list will get your inspiration flowing, please keep in mind that this list is a starting point more than an endpoint. I’m not even that passionate of a gamer myself, to be honest!

Awesome Road Trips for Gamers (or Anyone)

London to barcelona.

After checking in at London’s Red Bull Gaming Sphere, driving through the Chunnel to Paris, optionally stopped in Versailles or making the excursion to Mont St. Michel before arriving in the French capital, home to one of the best spaces dedicated to Escape Games . Head South, stopping at Monte Carlo Casino in Monaco or in the lavender fields of Valensole, before heading over the Pyrenees to Barcelona, ideally having read a good Barcelona travel guide beforehand.

Warsaw to Belgrade

Although I’m not a huge gamer, one of my favorite series to play in the late 90s was the various James Bond games. Eastern European cities always evoke these games for me, no matter the time of year or the situation. Drive from Warsaw to Belgrade, stopping in Krakow, Prague, Bratislava and Budapest en route, to feel like 007 himself.

Vegas to LA

I don’t need to tell you about the allure of Las Vegas for online gamers, but this desert jewel now hosts major Esports venues, meaning you can watch top-level tournaments either from the comfort of a hotel suite or in the bleachers of an arena like the Hyper X Esports Arena . After leaving Vegas, drive west through Death Valley to Los Angeles, where you’ll find venues that feature Call of Duty and Tony Hawk’s Underground .

Miami to Key West

Another one of my favorite unique road trips for video games fans is from Miami to the Florida Keys. While Grand Theft Auto fans will probably find the streets of Miami itself more interesting, the swaying palms and interesting Overseas Highway that links mainland Florida to the islands that lead all the way to Key West is nothing to sneeze as, either.

Tokyo to Osaka

Who didn’t play Mario Kart back in the 90s? While it’s no longer possible to race these karts on the streets of Tokyo as I did in 2019, driving through Japan can evoke this classic game. Pick up your car in Tokyo, driving through wards like Akihabara and Shinjuku by night for the ultimate video game effect. On your way west, stop near Mt. Fuji, in Nagoya, on the rural Kii peninsula and in ancient Kyoto before arriving in Osaka, whose ultra-modern Shinsekai and Namba wards will make you feel like you’re back in a game.

My Top Road Trip Tips

No matter where in the world you plan to take your next road trip, some advice is universal. For example, if you’re driving outside of your home country, an International Driving Permit (IDP) is a must. Among other benefits, an IDP translates your license into multiple languages, making it easy for rental car providers in foreign countries to verify your roadworthiness.

Another tip, whether for unique road trips or just ordinary ones? Sleep well and limit your drinking, even when you aren’t behind the wheel. Alertness is key not only to an interesting road trip, but to staying safe and alive. You’ll have lots of interesting stories when you get home from your trip. Tales of being locked up abroad for driving under the influence of alcohol, or crashing your car while tired, should not be among them!

Other FAQ About Your Next Road Trip

What is the best road trip destination.

Although this question is subjective, many people regard California Route 1, Australia’s Great Ocean Road, Italy’s Amalfi Coast and South Africa’s Garden Route as being among the best road trip destinations in the world.

What is the best road trip in USA?

In addition to California Route 1, the United States has many amazing road trips. For example, you could drive through the desert from LA to Las Vegas, or north from San Francisco through the redwood forests to Oregon and Washington. On the East Coast, North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Parkway and Florida’s Overseas Highway are great choices.

What is the best road trip in Europe?

I mentioned the Amalfi Coast in preceding paragraphs, but it’s not the only option at your disposal. For example, Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way is incredible, as is the London-to-Barcelona jaunt I mention in this article. Another great choice is to drive southern Germany’s “Romantic Road,” which connects many top destinations in Bavaria.

The Bottom Line

Who says unique road trips are only for the ultra-adventurous? One great way to take a trip you’ll never forget (and that not everyone has already done themselves) is to orient your itinerary around a common interest, such as playing video games. Live your Grand Theft Auto fantasy driving from Miami to the Florida Keys, or find your favorite places in Tony Hawk’s Underground in Los Angeles. Although I’d recommend against bringing your games on the road—you want to live in the moment, and in real-life—having physical context for your next digital adventure will make it all the more unforgettable.

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Five of the Top Vacation Destinations for Gamers

 As a gamer, sometimes it’s hard to know what kind of vacation you’d like to take that will fit your interests and give you a good place to escape to.  Luckily, there are many places to choose from that will help satisfy your need to get away. Whether you want to meet up with other gamers like yourself and have a giant LAN party, visit the real-life places that your games are based on, experience your games in virtual reality, or a venue where your whole family can have a blast together, there is a gamer-tailored vacation idea on this list for you. 

1.  The VOID virtual reality theme park

The VOID virtual reality theme park in Lindon, UT is the ultimate augmented reality gaming experience. The park provides you with not only a virtual reality headset and glasses, but with props and an environment to walk around and interact with in order to really live the games you are playing. They have built physical maps that have digital environments laid over them to create the most realistic experience possible. If you’ve dreamed of being able to experience the game worlds you love in a completely new way, this is the theme park for you. 

2.Dreamhack

Dreamhack (taking place in Sweden and Spain this summer) is the biggest LAN party ever. It brings together computer, gaming, and esports enthusiasts from around the world to take part in coding, streaming, competing, and spectating  — all in one place. It’s a celebration of all things internet — the perfect place to unwind and interact with other gamers and enthusiasts from around the world. 

3. Real-life game settings

 When you’ve spent a lot of time playing a video game that has backgrounds based on real-life places, you can get pretty curious on how true-to-life they are. Games like Fallout 4  and The Division  are good at presenting fairly accurate renditions of the real-life cities and towns they set their games in. Visiting your favorite places from the game world in real life can be a fun trip to plan around, especially without having to fight off zombies or feral ghouls or any of those pesky in-game enemies you’d have to worry about when playing the game.  

4. BlizzCon

If you’re a fan of even a couple of Blizzard’s IPs, BlizzCon is the destination to meet up with friends you’ve met through their games, create and admire others’ cosplay, watch esports, learn about the newest content and grab exclusive in-game rewards and gear to showcase your fandom. BlizzCon takes place in November of each year, and is the place to immerse yourself in being a fan of Blizzard and its games for a couple of days toward the end of the year. Since Blizzcon takes place in Anaheim, CA, it’s a perfect opportunity to grab your guildmates and set aside a day to visit Disneyland or California Adventure and add bonus fun to your trip. 

5. Ubisoft’s Rabbids Amusement Center

 If you happen to be in Montreal (perhaps visiting the setting of Assassin’s Creed?), make sure to check out Ubisoft’s new Rabbids Amusement Center coming in August of 2016. The center will be great for the whole family to let loose and have some wacky fun with the characters from the Rabbids franchise. 

What is your dream gamer vacation destination? Have you been to any of these places (or have they sparked your interest to plan a trip)? Let me know in the comments! 

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‘A portal to a different world’: a gamer’s guide to visiting Japan

Whether you enter the big green pipe to Super Nintendo World, or want to rummage through rare games in Tokyo’s Electric Town, Japan is a video game paradise

T he experience of travelling in Japan is simultaneously overwhelming and freeing. The world feels bigger out there, gilded by how mainstream video game culture is in comparison with the west. It doesn’t feel like a subculture; it is ordinary. For example, I walked into a FamilyMart for a snack one afternoon, and found a Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom promotional mushroom tart (which was delicious). The little bright-green payphones along the streets are the very same as those used in the Resident Services in Animal Crossing. Narita Airport even has an entire Nintendo display welcoming jet-lagged passengers fresh off the plane. As a western tourist on a personal pilgrimage, there is so much to find and be surprised by.

Here are some recommendations for fellow video game fans planning to explore Japan:

Akihabara, Tokyo

This district didn’t get the name Electric Town for nothing: it is brimming with video game culture. The skyline is roaring neon – it’s worth visiting at sunset to get the most impact. If you spot some of the maids from the maid cafes on the street waving in punters, don’t take pictures of them; give them a wave and be polite even if you don’t want to dip in to have tea served to you by a girl (or boy) in cat ears.

There are dozens of arcades and shops that sell new and secondhand video games, consoles and merchandise – no matter what you are looking for, be it a Game Boy Micro or a highly specific statuette of a Final Fantasy character, you have a good chance of finding it here. Be prepared to go up plenty of sets of narrow, winding stairs and take your time rummaging.

Super Potato is the jewel in Akihabara’s electric crown. Down a narrow corridor and up a tiny elevator, there are floors of games from every era, the beloved and the niche. Though the majority will be in Japanese, some of them region-locked, there is joy to be had browsing what feels like a museum, even if you can’t read kanji. Seeing so many different kinds of video games from throughout time in one place gives a real sense of how far the medium and culture have come. There are stacks of old game guides and magazines to leaf through, displays of merchandise from huge game releases of years gone by: a lifesize statue of Fox McCloud stands proudly at the cash desk. An atmospheric little arcade is on the top floor, too. If you haven’t time to give Akihabara a full afternoon or evening, Super Potato is the place to swing by.

My favourite spot after an evening trawling around is Barfly’s Stomp , a tiny punk bar (and shop) tucked away on a side street. It’s the perfect little bolthole to take the edge off the overstimulation that comes from an hour wandering around towering electronics stores such as BicCamera, or to decompress while you work out how to fit a vintage translucent pink Nintendo 64 in your suitcase.

Alternatives: Jon Doyle, director of specialist video game book publisher Lost in Cult and regular Tokyo visitor, also recommends the hobby shop and game museum Suruga-ya, and the vast book store, Book Off. Guardian games correspondent Keith Stuart suggests the Final Fantasy Eorzea cafe and Monster Hunter bar.

84 Hashi, Tokyo

This is a tiny hidden bar run by Toru Hashimoto, who contributed to some of the most well-known games in Nintendo’s history, including Pokémon Red and Green, Yoshi’s Island, and EarthBound. 84 Hashi has been a drinking spot for Nintendo employees of times gone by, but opens its doors to tourists during limited hours, with customers led by a friendly interpreter. The walls are covered in original illustrations and signatures, and there is a display case with objects in it that made me – a lifelong Nintendo enthusiast – gasp. Booking in advance is essential – the booking fee covers a cocktail, some snacks and a delightful gift. I found the experience priceless.

Nakano Broadway, Tokyo

This dense, elaborately decorated space was built in 1966 as a luxury shopping mall, but is now a 13-storey vintage paradise. There are vintage video game shops, vintage toy shops that seem to contain every obscure 90s toy I ever pined after, crowned in the upper levels by Mandarake, the doorway to which is built out with bright red torii gates, giving it the feel of stepping through a portal into a slightly different world. Among the ephemera and video games, there is also a cosplay store, a fantastic record store, a movie poster store (I secured a Japanese poster of Luc Besson’s Fifth Element, which is now framed on a wall in my home), bookshops and shops full of unboxed gashapon toys, and a bright, busy arcade on the ground floor before you break into the labyrinthine hallways of nostalgia.

Shibuya Parco, Tokyo

The Parco at Shibuya is far more glamorous than any of the other retail experiences I have listed here, and is tucked away off the main drag at Shibuya. The mall contains high luxury fashion concessions, but up on the top floors there is also a Capcom store, a Nintendo store and an elaborate Pokémon centre. These can be very busy but, if you visit midweek or in the morning, you should have your run of the floor. The Nintendo store and the Pokémon Centre have huge statues of beloved characters – a Mewtwo in a tank, sinister with his eyes closed, and a joyous Isabelle welcoming you into a realm of Animal Crossing homeware. Out on the balcony, overlooking the neighbourhood, there is a statue of Mario, pixelated as he was on the NES, jumping out of a pipe. There is something in the presentation of each of these spaces that I find touching: a sense that video games are to be celebrated, rather than hidden away.

Character caf es

While I was wandering around Tokyo Station’s Character Street (a zone in the underground mall full of franchise-oriented shops, including another Pokémon Centre and a Studio Ghibli gift shop), I came across a large queue for the Kirby Café . It is common to see people lining up for snacks and experiences in Tokyo, but this was a line punters couldn’t even join without a reservation. However, the cakes and treats on sale were beautifully and elaborately presented, and there was a limited set of merchandise (Kirby in a chef hat!) for sale. Booking is usually essential at the character cafes that pop up for a few months across Tokyo, which leaves little room for spontaneity. The exception to this rule seems to be the Pokémon Cafe in Sunshine City Mall , which has been open long enough that if you catch it at a quiet hour, you can get a little palm-sized Pikachu-shaped waffle and a latte in a Pokéball-themed cup while you stand surrounded by sculptures of various Pokémon dressed in adorable service outfits.

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Character cafes can be found in major cities throughout Japan. It’s worth doing a little research in advance of your trip to see if there are any new character cafe pop-ups in your area of interest, and booking ahead so you don’t end up craning your neck across a line of people to see what kind of Kirby cakes you’re missing out on.

Alternatives: Andy Robinson of gaming news site VGC recommends Star Club in Shinjuku: “a small izakaya themed on the famous plumber”.

Super Nintendo World, Universal Studios, Osaka

While this was a wonderful experience, I would like to stress how complicated accessing the Super Nintendo World zone of Universal Studios is. Due to the tricky ticketing system, we opted for an old-fashioned access route, arriving at the park at 7am, hoping we would make it into Nintendo World before it hit capacity. This required something of a sprint through the streets of Universal to get through the enormous green pipe and into this vivid rendering of the Mushroom Kingdom. We arrived breathless, but thrilled. Seeing the world once confined to television and Game Boy screens rendered larger than life is almost shocking.

Visitors are urged to buy a wristband that allows them to interact with the sculptures in the park. These allow you to compete via an app for who scored the most “points” – ie interacted with the most objects – every day. The rides are delightful (though the lines are brutal, as expected) and Toad’s cafe was a welcome respite from the heat and crowds, though I am certain we were only able to get a table because we arrived exactly at opening. Our experience was good, but crucially hung together on the fact that we got to see all the things we wanted before the park became completely overwhelmed by people. It’s also very clear that this is an elaborate day trip that may be prohibitively expensive for family groups, at whom it is ostensibly aimed. This trip requires a firm strategy and a budget, and will depend on the individual’s tolerance for theme-park intensity and prices.

Alternatives: While you’re in Osaka, Robinson suggests a trip to Space Station: “It’s a wonderful retro games bar where you can play Nintendo, Sega or modern PC games right on the bar with a delicious cocktail.”

I asked Kyoto-based game developer Liam Edwards of indie studio DenkiWorks to recommend some extra treats in his home town. “ Cafe La Siesta is a gaming-themed cocktail bar, in the heart of Kiyamachi, the drinking area. It’s near Teramachi, so right in the middle of the shopping areas. Game Bar Clantz is another gaming bar that near Teramachi. A-Cho used to be a famous arcade – it has modernised a bit since, but you will find classic cabinets there. As for game stores, A-Too is a famous old video game shop near the golden temple (). Surugaya is a chain, but still pretty top notch for retro game shopping.”

Andy Robinson also recommends Famicom Bar: “It’s a retro-themed drinking hole decorated with colourful classic Nintendo games – and some are available to play.”

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2024 MLB All-Star Game: Voting for starters is open as top stars vie for trip to Midsummer Classic

Balloting for the 94th mlb all-star game is underway.

Voting for the starters in the 2024 All-Star Game is now underway. Polls opened Wednesday at noon, with superstars including Mookie Betts, Aaron Judge, Jose Altuve, Bryce Harper and more all vying for their place in Arlington next month.

You can vote on MLB.com here . 

The first phase of voting takes place from June 5 to June 27. During this time, voters are permitted up to five ballots per day. As always, pitchers are excluded, each league has a designated hitter and the three outfield positions are generic (as opposed to picking a specific left fielder, center fielder and right fielder).  

MLB will provide voting updates multiple times before whittling the field down to two finalists at each position (six outfielders) and resetting the vote totals to zero before a final run determines the starter at each position for the All-Star Game. The exception is that the top vote getter from each league in phase one of the balloting automatically gets the starting spot and doesn't need to beat another player in phase two. If the top vote getter is an outfielder, we'll only get four finalists for two spots. 

The second phase of voting runs June 30 to July 3 and voters are restricted to just one ballot per day. 

The winners will be announced the night of July 3.

The All-Star Game this season takes place on Tuesday, July 16, meaning the popular Home Run Derby falls on Monday the 15th. 

The 2024 Midsummer Classic will be held at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, home of the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers . This will be the first All-Star Game in Globe Life Field, but it's the second hosted by the Rangers. They also had the game in 1995, a 3-2 NL win behind MVP Jeff Conine.

A fun trivia nugget: The last time a World Series champion hosted the next All-Star Game was 1939, when the Yankees hosted it after winning the 1938 World Series. 

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Florida Panthers return to Stanley Cup Final with Game 6 win against New York Rangers

The Florida Panthers are returning to the Stanley Cup Final for the second year in a row after beating the No. 1 overall New York Rangers 2-1 in Game 6 on Saturday night.

And they might be in better shape than last year's team as they seek their first Stanley Cup title.

They're scoring more goals, giving up fewer and have better special teams than last year's team, which pulled off three consecutive upsets before falling to the Vegas Golden Knights. The Panthers are also healthier and deeper.

"The right pieces were added, some great pieces added, and just one mindset of doing whatever it took to get back to it," Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said. "I think the guys who were here last year did an unbelievable job coming back for the start of camp with this on their mind."

They're riding their system to perfection, with an aggressive forecheck making it difficult for opponents to get up the ice. And if they do get through, goalie Sergei Bobrovsky is there to shut them down.

He made 23 saves on Saturday and has allowed two or fewer goals in 10 of his last 11 games.

The Panthers held New York's Mika Zibanejad without a goal and limited Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin (who scored in the final minutes of Game 6) to one goal. NHL leading scorer Nikita Kucherov had no goals for the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round and Boston Bruins star David Pastrnak had one in the second round.

The Panthers outplayed the Rangers throughout most of the conference final and only goalie Igor Shesterkin's brilliance (32 saves on Saturday) extended the series to six games. Florida allowed only one Rangers power-play goal.

Sam Bennett gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead with 50 seconds left in the first period on a give-and-go with Evan Rodrigues. He ripped a shot over Shesterkin's glove.

Trade deadline acquisition Vladimir Tarasenko added to the score with a goal in the third period, ending an eight-game goal drought. The Panthers have a 24-11 edge in scoring in the third period in these playoffs.

The Panthers are the first team since the 2008-09 Pittsburgh Penguins to return to the Final the year after losing in the championship round. That Penguins team beat the Detroit Red Wings for the title.

Florida players this year didn't touch the Prince of Wales Trophy, awarded to the Eastern Conference champions, after touching it last year.

"I think we needed to do something different and that's what we did," Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov told reporters.

What's next for the Florida Panthers?

They'll head to the Stanley Cup Final for the second year in a row and third time overall. They are 1-8 in their two appearances. They'll face either the Dallas Stars or Edmonton Oilers in the championship round. Edmonton has a 3-2 series lead and can clinch the Western Conference final Sunday night at home . Florida went 2-0 against each team in the regular season and will have home-ice advantage if the Oilers advance.

The Panthers were expected to drop off because of early absences of defensemen Brandon Montour and Aaron Ekblad (offseason shoulder surgery). But they signed defensemen Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Dmitry Kulkov and Niko Mikkola to help them cope, plus forward Rodrigues. Tarasenko and Kyle Okposo were added at the trade deadline.

"We are not done yet," Tkachuk said. "We're very happy with the way this playoffs has gone for us, winning the first three, but it's a different feeling this year, for sure. I'm very proud of the effort from everybody."

What's next for the New York Rangers?

They went after big names at the 2023 trade deadline, including Tarasenko, and plugged gaps at this year's deadline. In both cases, they fell short of their goal and became the latest Presidents' Trophy winner to miss out on winning the Cup.

The Rangers should be able to come back with most of their players. Offseason acquisitions Blake Wheeler and Erik Gustafsson are unrestricted free agents as are trade deadline acquisitions Jack Roslovic, Alex Wennberg and Chad Ruhwedel. Kaapo Kakko is their top restricted free agent. Shesterkin and Alexis Lafreniere are entering the final years of their contracts and are eligible for an extension after July 1.

Self-discovery on the road: Why so many upcoming games are taking us on road trips

Dustborn, Forever Ago, and Road 96: Why games are sending us on road trips in 2021 and beyond

A road stretches out in front of you for miles. You still have a long way to go, but getting to your destination isn't what's important right now. In this moment, you're moving forward, you're making your way, you're on a journey. There's always been something so romantic about the idea of going on a road trip. It allows you to step away from the everyday routine of life to see new places, meet new people, and broaden your horizons. It's a concept seldom explored in games, although it would appear that developers are eager to get us on the road and out exploring the world through 2021 and beyond.  

If we look at games like Dustorn, Forever Ago, and Road 96, it's clear that there's a growing trend of titles that want to pull us out of our comfort zones, get us behind the wheel, and begin traveling to destinations unknown. So just what is it that's so compelling about the idea of taking players on road trip adventures? We spoke to the developers behind these upcoming releases to find out.

Finding family  

From Deathloop to Returnal, how 2021 became the year of the video game time loop

"Who doesn't love a good road trip?" says Dustborn's narrative director, Ragnar Tørnquist. "Especially this past year, the idea of jumping in a car and just going somewhere – it doesn't even matter where – is incredibly appealing. You have a destination in mind, but how you get there and how long you decide to take, is up to you. That's incredibly liberating! And there's an added romance to the American road trip. There's honestly no better country for it. The wide-open skies and roads, the ever-changing landscape, an endless supply of fast-food restaurants…" 

The thought of hitting the open road really is more appealing than ever; it offers a sense of freedom that feels decidedly absent in recent times. In Dustborn, a third-person story-driven "road-tripping" adventure, you play Pax, an ex-con and outcast. Pax, who's four months pregnant, has to set out on the road across a divided America to get a package from California to Nova Scotia. Set in a vibrant, dystopian near-future in the year 2030, Pax is what's known as an "Anomal". That, as Tørnquist puts it, is someone who has "odd powers, shaped by what we call 'Vocals' – language infused with the power of disinformation." 

Tørnquist believes that the cross-country road trip is a genre "perfectly suited to games", and points to titles such as Final Fantasy 15 and Kentucky Route Zero as the few examples we've seen in recent years that play around with the idea. Tørnquist also highlights earlier games such as Sam & Max Hit the Road and The Oregon Trail, but when the team initially began developing the concept for Dustborn, they were struck by how few games explore this genre and trope. 

"Of course, since we began development on Dustborn, all of a sudden we're seeing many other road trip games in development – and that's honestly fantastic! I can't wait to see how other studios put their own spin on it," Tørnquist says. "As a narrative genre, the road trip is as wide open as the real thing: You're going from one place to the next, on the road you meet new people, see new places, and face new challenges – and your protagonists are shaped and changed by this journey. You could literally make a thousand road trip games, and they'd all be different."

With Pax trying to get away from a troubled past, Dustborn  takes you on a journey with two parallel paths – "the geographical and the emotional." Along the way, you'll be joined by other misfits who are all on a journey of self-discovery and have their own motivations. Together, you form a crew, and you'll be presented with the opportunity to get to know your road trip companions. As a group of outcasts, one of the most interesting aspects of Pax's adventure on the road is the way in which it explores the idea of a "found family", and how the vehicle the crew journeys in provides a space to find a sense of belonging. 

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"Our characters are all separated from their "real" families in one way or another; forcibly or voluntarily. All they have now is each other, and we explore the idea of the found family: that these people get to choose who to spend their time with and what their relationships are going to be like," Tørnquist explains. "Very early in the story, our crew acquires an old bus that serves as their rolling headquarters, and they get to make this space their own – with the player's help, of course: we'll be giving you some tools to customise that space. The bus becomes a visual and geographic representation of the relationships and the idea of the found family: from photos on the wall to seating arrangements." 

Moving on  

The idea that a character can be shaped as they travel is undeniably appealing. There's a unique multi-layered sense of progression that can be found in a game that takes place on the road – not just in the literal distance the characters put behind them, but in the personal growth they can gain from the experience. The idea of rooting the player in the emotional journey and development of the protagonist as they set out on the road is at the heart of the experience of Forever Ago – the debut title from small indie game studio, Third Shift. 

The studio is founded by best friends Fabian Denter and Kai Brueckers, who make up the two-person development team behind the upcoming road trip adventure. Following the story of Alfred, who sets out on a journey north in search of redemption after a tragic incident, Forever Ago will take you to a diverse range of places and introduce you to different people. 

"It's not only visually interesting to go from green forests to arid deserts to snow-capped mountains, but all these places are also home to diverse people, with their own views and problems," says Denter. "It's exciting to work out how these characters react to Alfred and vice versa, especially as Alfred himself changes a lot throughout the journey. He also doesn't only encounter other people: At some point, he'll meet a stray dog who will eventually accompany him on the road. This gives us many opportunities to verbalize Alfred's inner thoughts as it turns out people tend to get very talkative around their animal friends!" 

As well as seeing character growth in the way Aflred interacts with the people he meets and the places he visits, the journey itself also gives him the space to be introspective. Forever Ago is a linear experience overall, and as Alfred hits the road, there are points where he gets lost in thought as he drives. "There are sections in the game that are explicitly there for Alfred to reflect on what has happened in the past, but also what may be to come. During these scenes, we try to convey the feeling that when, during a long car ride, the actual driving is only subconscious and automatic, and you sink into your thoughts at the same time," says Denter. 

Driving to freedom  

"I think road trip games will be a true genre like it is in cinema. This is an immense playground to explore." Yoan Fanise, Road 96 creative director

Road 96 from developer Digixart is going in a different direction with a road trip adventure that's procedurally generated. As you set out on the road, you'll never quite know what will happen to you next. Creative director Yoan Fanise, who previously worked on games such as Valiant Hearts and 11-11 Memories Retold, says Road 96 has a "weird mix of Roguelike, Telltale, and Life Is Strange features that make it a unique experience for each player. There are a lot of things people won't see at all and we never know what's gonna happen to you… No one's road will be the same."

The liberating feeling of departing from everyday life and going on a journey to places unknown is part of the appeal of road trips, and that idea is taken a step further in Road 96.  Set in the fictional authoritarian nation of Patria in the summer of 1996, you head out on the road and make your way to the border in order to quite literally regain your freedom from an oppressive rule. "We needed to create our own dystopian country to fulfill the need for freedom, a visceral need," Fanise says of the setting. "When your freedom is taken away, then you can feel the immense joy of regaining it." 

Playing as a teenager in the ever-evolving adventure, you'll encounter many different characters, uncover stories and secrets, and be presented with many different choices as you try to escape from the regime. As the game does have an element of the roguelike genre thanks to its procedural generation, no one adventure will be the same, and you'll never know how your journey will end. You might regain your freedom, or you might hit a bump in the road. Each decision you make will alter your journey, and could even affect those you meet. 

Road 96 looks set to open up the path to many different possibilities, which is partly what drew Digixart to the idea of creating a road trip adventure. "When you embark on a big road trip, your brain acts differently. You're forced to embrace the unknown, forced to let go. That sensation of being totally out of your comfort zone is precisely what makes it [road trips] interesting and emotional. By traveling alone, you hope to know yourself better by those you will meet and how you will react in different situations. This is a golden canvas for us storytellers to imagine crazy situations," says Fanise. 

Dustborn, Forever Ago, and Road 96 are just a small selection of upcoming indie games that are set to take us on the road in the future, but the very fact that each one is set to offer a distinctly different experience just goes to show how diverse this concept can be. From exploring character development to the bonds we form on the road, and the freeing nature of traveling away from our everyday lives, there's so much scope for creativity, and it's something Fanise believes will find its way into more games in the future: "I think road trip games will be a true genre like it is in cinema. This is an immense playground to explore." 

Road 96 is set to release on PC and Switch summer 2021, Dustborn will be coming soon to PC and next gen consoles, and Forever Ago is also coming soon to PC. 

I started out writing for the games section of a student-run website as an undergrad, and continued to write about games in my free time during retail and temp jobs for a number of years. Eventually, I earned an MA in magazine journalism at Cardiff University, and soon after got my first official role in the industry as a content editor for Stuff magazine. After writing about all things tech and games-related, I then did a brief stint as a freelancer before I landed my role as a staff writer here at GamesRadar+. Now I get to write features, previews, and reviews, and when I'm not doing that, you can usually find me lost in any one of the Dragon Age or Mass Effect games, tucking into another delightful indie, or drinking far too much tea for my own good. 

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Five thoughts from Stars-Oilers Game 6: Dallas’ furious rally falls short as season ends

The stars lose the western conference finals in six games, falling one round short of the stanley cup final for the second straight season..

By Lia Assimakopoulos

9:44 PM on Jun 2, 2024 CDT — Updated at 10:58 PM on Jun 2, 2024 CDT

EDMONTON, Alberta — The Dallas Stars needed another road win in Edmonton to keep their season alive and send the Western Conference finals back to American Airlines Center.

Despite a dominant effort in 5-on-5 by the Stars, two power-play goals by the Edmonton Oilers in the first period gave them a sizable lead and were enough to secure the 2-1 win in Game 6 and the 4-2 series win.

Mason Marchment scored on an assist from Tyler Seguin midway through the third period, but Dallas couldn’t find the game-tying goal later in the period.

The Stars’ season ends in Game 6 of the conference finals for the second consecutive year . The Oilers return to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2006 where they’ll face the Florida Panthers.

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Here are five thoughts from the Stars’ season-ending loss:

Unable to overcome the hump

At many times in the 2024 season, it felt as if the Stars had all the pieces to win the Stanley Cup.

They had depth with four scoring lines, strong goaltending in Jake Oettinger , the balance of veteran leadership and young talent and a coach with ample playoff experience to lead his team to a Stanley Cup Final.

Despite winning the Western Conference regular-season title and finishing just one point behind the league leader, the season ended at the same point it did in 2023 — a Game 6 defeat in the third round.

The Stars have reached the conference finals seven times since the team moved to Dallas in 1993 but have reached the Stanley Cup Final only three times and won once.

“These teams that lose in these moments, you see them over time: the Vegases, the Floridas, Tampas,” Seguin said. “Unfortunately, you’ve got to lose a lot to win in this league. I don’t know why it’s like that, but learn some lessons, keep this taste, and get ready for next year.”

Dallas has not played in a Stanley Cup Final in Dallas this century. Its 2020 Final run was in the NHL bubble in Edmonton.

Unlike last year, the Stars held a 2-1 series lead over Edmonton and a 2-0 lead in Game 4 before the Oilers outscored the Stars 10-2 to close out the series, winning three straight.

Stars coach Pete DeBoer has now lost his last five conference final series.

Special teams story of the series

Facing the best power play and penalty kill in the playoffs, the Stars knew special teams would factor into the series.

Through four games it barely did, but once the Oilers’ power play got going , it completely changed the series. Dallas was never able to respond with its power play.

The Stars went 0-for-14 on the power play in six games this series against the Oilers. Two of those were in the first period of Game 6 when the Stars had a chance to answer Edmonton’s two early power-play goals. The Stars had another chance early in the third period but couldn’t score.

In the last two games of the series, the Oilers went 4-for-5 on the power play, including 2-for-2 Sunday night.

Penalties on Chris Tanev and Ryan Suter in the first period allowed Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman to give their team the lead. Edmonton finished 4-for-11 on the power play in the series.

Those two goals were all the Oilers needed.

Stars can’t capitalize on 5-on-5

Outside of special teams, the Stars were the better team Sunday night.

Dallas started hot, holding a 12-3 shot advantage through the first 20 minutes of play, but thanks to the power play, Edmonton held a 2-0 lead.

The Stars continued to dominate 5-on-5 play as the game progressed, finishing with a 35-to-10 shot advantage and 11-to-7 advantage in high-danger scoring chances.

Ten shots on goal ties for the fewest ever in a playoff win.

Dallas had its chances to score. It resolved an issue of not getting enough shots on net, as seen in Games 4 and 5 of the series. Still, the Stars couldn’t turn those shots into enough goals — a different issue they faced earlier in the playoffs.

“You could probably argue that was our best game of the series,” Stars captain Jamie Benn said. “I feel like we probably deserved a better result there. But it’s hockey. They got one more goal than we did.”

The best player in the world looked the part

The Stars knew locking down Connor McDavid would be the biggest challenge of the playoffs yet.

They had contained Jack Eichel and Nathan MacKinnon in the first two rounds of the playoffs, but McDavid proved to be a different challenge.

His impact was summed up in a single play just 4:17 into the game. The Oilers captain single-handedly weaved through Dallas’ penalty kill, dodging Sam Steel, Miro Heiskanen and Jake Oettinger to put his team up 1-0 on a stunning goal. A little over 10 minutes later, he had the primary assist on another power-play goal.

McDavid had 11 points (three goals and eight assists) in six games against the Stars. Dallas kept him off the board only one night, in the 3-1 Game 2 victory.

“They’re a really good team,” Stars forward Wyatt Johnston said. “We always have confidence, and we believe that we can beat them, but they are a good team. They played well. They have some unbelievable players.”

CONNOR MCDAVID WITH A DISGUSTING GOAL TO START GAME 6 🤯🔥 pic.twitter.com/f68uNrurVk — B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) June 3, 2024

Oilers’ goaltending the unexpected nail in coffin

The Stars had the goaltending advantage entering the Western Conference final.

Oilers starting netminder Stuart Skinner posted a .881 save percentage and 2.87 goals-against average in his first 10 playoff starts. Meanwhile, Jake Oettinger had stellar numbers in the first two rounds — a .918 save percentage and 2.09 goals-against average in 13 games.

But in a critical Game 6 with a Stanley Cup Final berth on the line, Skinner was the difference.

The Edmonton goalie made 34 saves in the series-clincher on home ice. He was tested early and often and responded, even when Dallas had dangerous opportunities to chip away at the Oilers’ lead.

The only goal he allowed was one he had no chance at with Marchment wide open in front of the net.

Oettinger prefers to face consistent shots, and he didn’t get that Sunday. Edmonton had just 10 shots on goal. While the goals weren’t necessarily his fault, Oettinger allowed two goals on just three first-period shots.

Goaltending was an advantage the Stars needed to capitalize on in the series. Once they were finally able to get to Skinner, he was on his best game.

On X/Twitter: @Lassimak

Find more Stars coverage from The Dallas Morning News here .

Lia Assimakopoulos , Staff Reporter . Lia Assimakopoulos covers the Dallas Stars and high school sports for The Dallas Morning News. She joined The News in June 2022 and previously contributed to Sports Illustrated, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, NBC Sports and the Washington City Paper. A native of Bethesda, Md., Lia graduated from Northwestern University in 2022.

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New Zany Open-World Game Is For All You Simpsons: Hit And Run Fans

Tiny terry's turbo trip is a new comedic pc game starring a teenager who wants to go to space in a car.

Below this paragraph is my full review of Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip —a new comedic open-world action game out now on Steam and playable on Steam Deck. And it’s a good review. It does what you expect. But I can save you some time right now. If you are a fan of The Simpsons: Hit and Run , then you should play Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip . It is a perfect recreation of that silly open-world GTA -like collecton-a-thon experience, just without Homer and Springfield. Anyway, for everyone still reading, here’s the review.

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Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip tells the classic story of a strange teenager who skips out on summer school while his family is away on vacation to focus on his dream of driving a car into space. That’s the basic premise of Turbo Trip. You are Tiny Terry and after lying to get a job with a taxi company, you get a car. It’s now your job to go around collecting junk and cash to help you upgrade your taxi cab and make it go faster and faster. If you upgrade it all the way, you can drive it up a giant building and into space. Probably. That’s the plan, at least. And that’s your goal in Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip.  

However, to get all the junk and cash needed to max out your taxi and reach outer space, you’ll need to explore a delightfully colorful and zany open-world filled with characters to help and collectibles to find. Right away, Turbo Trip ’s cartoon visuals impressed me. Even on a Steam Deck, the game looks marvelous, like a trippy, vivid Saturday morning cartoon directed by Weird Al.

Each character I met in this odd world was a misshapen lump of bright color and limbs. Even better, they all made me laugh, often because they didn’t know how to react to Tiny Terry. His bizarre antics and dedication to being the weirdest one in the room lead to some of the best awkward pauses I’ve ever experienced in a video game.

I also appreciated that, for as weird and wild as Turbo Trip gets, it never feels like it’s doing things just to be random. It still feels like a (somewhat) real world with genuine people living in it. Even Terry has his moments of genuine growth and care. This all helps the game avoid the trap of being a collection of internet memes and bad jokes haphazardly stitched together, something other comedy games can often feel like. There’s depth here.

But great writing, colorful visuals, silly antics, and a nice lead character aren’t enough to make a great game. You also need to have fun playing it, and Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip excels at that, too.

It feels lazy, but the best way to describe this game is: Simpsons: Hit And Run , but without the copyrighted characters. Like Hit and Run , in Turbo Trip you explore a large but not massive open world filled with random junk (in this case, literal junk) to collect. Sometimes the junk is just sitting around. Other times it’s hidden in out-of-the-way locations. Like Hit And Run , you do light platforming to reach these places while also completing silly quests for townsfolk which often involve driving and jumping around the city. Also like Hit And Run , you can hop into any NPC’s car and ride about town as a passenger.

Turbo Trip actually expands on Hit And Run by adding more upgrades you can unlock as you play, like a glider and different weapons. (Oh, don’t worry, there’s no combat in this game. You just use weapons to break open boxes or annoy random NPCs.) I also greatly prefer running and driving in Turbo Trip as platforming genuinely feels nice and is super responsive compared to the stiffer controls in Hit And Run and even some other big open-world games out there. (Looking at you Assassin’s Creed …)

Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip will likely take you less than four hours to complete, though if you try to do and collect everything it might take closer to six. Either way, you’re in for an awesome and funny open-world comedy game that actually made me laugh a lot and which is a dream to play. It might not be Hit And Run 2 , but it’s a damn fine game on its own.

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Home » Gear » best travel games

Best Travel Games – Entertainment on the Go

Travel inherently means downtime. There’s waiting for transport to depart, the relocating bit, and a myriad of other periods of time when you can’t do much more than wait. How do you fill this time? You could impatiently look at your watch, stare into space, read a book – or enjoy your time by playing a travel game!

There are a whole host of travel games out there, and whatever your tastes you’re sure to find one that meets your needs! Whether you’re looking for the top travel size games for adults or maybe something for the kids, we’ve got it all covered.

Want to find out then? Simple – read on!

Quick Answer: The Best Travel Games

Best pick travel game, best travel board game, best travel card game, best travel games for adults, best travel game for couples, best travel games for flights, best travel games for road trips, best travel games for families, best travel game for kids, best travel game for pre-schoolers, best travel game for 2 people, best travel game for groups, best of the rest, how to choose the best travel game, how we tested this gear, faq about the best travel games, ready, steady, begin.

• Best pick travel game – Bananagrams
• Best travel board game – Travel Monopoly
• Best travel card game – Exploding Kittens
• Best travel games for adults – Cards Against Humanity
• Best travel game for couples – The Date Game That’s Actually Fun
• Best travel games for flights – Boggle
• Best travel games for road trips – Battleship Grab & Go
• Best travel games for families – Dobble
• Best travel game for kids – Pass the Pigs
• Best travel game for pre-schoolers – Buckle Toy Bizzy
• Best travel game for 2 people – Connect 4 Grab & Go
• Best travel game for groups – Farkle

Bananagrams

• Price > $13.99
• > Lightweight
• > Needs just 2 players

Travel Monopoly

• Price > $9.99
• > Self-adhesive board
• > Up to six players

Exploding Kittens

• Price > $20
• > Easy to understand rules
• > Small to pack

Cards Against Humanity

• Price > $29
• > Strictly for adults
• > 4-20 players

The Date Game That’s Actually Fun

• Price > $14.59
• > Includes all you need to play
• > Best played as a couple

• Price > $16.99
• > All the parts kept in a carry case
• > Can be played for just 3 minutes

Battleship Grab & Go

• > No need to pass tokens between players
• > Travel friendly

• Price > $12.86
• > Game for almost all ages
• > Metal carry tin

Pass the Pigs

• Price > $20.99
• > Doesn’t require adult supervision
• > Simple to understand

Buckle Toy Bizzy

• Price > $17.99
• > Specifically designed for pre-school children
• > Educational

Connect 4 Grab & Go

• Price > $12.99
• > Easy to set up

• Price > $7.99
• > Perfect for large groups
• > Games can be varied in length

Of course, we all know what the king of all games is, yes that’s right Chess. But I am going to presume you’ve all got your travel c hess set packed and ready to go and you’re looking for a accompaniment!

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Bananagrams is a firm favorite for those in the know, is easy to set up and play anywhere, and adds little weight to your kid’s backpack . A word-based game, it consists of 144 Scrabble-like letter tiles, with some doled out to players and the rest left in a central ‘bunch’. The aim of the game is to use up all your tiles in creating interconnecting words – rather like a crossword grid. There are no turns to be taken, but each player working on their own grid as quickly as possible, making it a fast-paced and very addictive game. Requiring just two players, it’s also possible to play with anyone from reading age upwards.

• Lightweight
• Needs just 2 players
• From reading age upwards
• Tiles could get lost
• Can’t be played alone
• Not for pre-schoolers

Is Bananagrams for me?

If you’re looking for a travel game that’s going to keep you entertained without needing a large amount of baggage space, Bananagrams could be for you! Scrabble fans and lovers of word games will definitely enjoy games, which at a minimum of five minutes in length, can be played at almost any time!

Our team swear by Bananagrams for their trips as they find it to be super fun, engaging, educational and most importantly, it weighs hardly anything and takes up no room at all in their bags. They also love how simple the game is to play and pick up too.

Travel Monopoly plays in exactly the same way as standard Monopoly, and the world’s favorite board game needs very little introduction! The small board folds in half so that the entire game takes up not much more space than a paperback book, and doesn’t weigh much more either (just 300g in fact), while a ‘self-adhesive’ board ensure counters don’t fall about the place at the first elbow nudge or spot of turbulence on an aircraft. With enough miniature versions of the traditional player pieces to make this a six-player game (with a minimum of two), it’s ideal for families, while the average game time of 45 minutes makes it a great distraction for airport waits.

• Self-adhesive board
• Up to six players
• Playing time of around 45 minutes
• Minimum 2 players
• Small cards/pieces could get lost
• Age range of 8+

Is Travel Monopoly for me?

Long waits and long journeys don’t need to feel like purgatory with Travel Monopoly in hand. Its 45-minute average playing time will see the time pass all the quicker, while the self-adhesive board helps the counters stay in place however bumpy the journey might be!

Our team are split on whether Monopoly is a good idea on a trip or not! They love the mini set up which plays pretty much the same as the bigger version and packs down pretty light. Some of them just wonder if it might cause a mid-flight emergency landing if things kick off!

Adored by those who have played it, Exploding Kittens is as whimsical as its name might suggest. A rapid-fire card game, the aim is to avoid picking an exploding kitten from the stack of face-down cards, while action cards add to the peril by giving sneak peeks and mixing up the pack in various ways. No bigger than a pack of playing cards (out of the box), Exploding Kittens is perhaps one of the easiest games to take traveling. It’s suitable for 2-5 players of more or less any age, with each individual game lasting around 15 minutes.

• Quick to play
• Easy to understand rules
• Small to pack
• Family-friendly
• Not for single players
• Maximum 5 players
• Cards could get lost
• Games last 15 minutes

Is Exploding Kittens for me?

A quick action family-friendly card game if ever there was one, Exploding Kittens so wonderfully bizarre, kids will love it, while the easy-to-understand rules mean even grandma and granddad can get involved! Small and lightweight too, this is an easy travel game to slip into a pocket for those times you need a little entertainment.

Exploding Kittens is a big hit amongst the team and they love how fun and easy to play it is. The game is also super light and portable meaning it can fit into pretty much any backpack without adding any extra weight. They also like how the playing area for the game is really compact too meaning you could play it on train or plane trays.

Certainly not a travel game for the kiddos, Cards Against Humanity at its best is rude, offensive, and potentially libellous too. So how’s it work? It’s simple really. The dealer reads out an incomplete phrase, which each player tries to complete in turn using words found on cards they’ve been dealt in a hand. It’s the dealer who decides the winner of each round, meaning the winner can be the most outrageous, most poetical, or most polite. A game for up to 20 players, it soon develops a party atmosphere! It’s one of the best adult travel games for sure.

• Strictly for adults
• Simple rules
• 4-20 players
• Easy to pack
• Requires a minimum 4 players
• Not for the easily offended!
• Not for public areas either!
• Game time of around 45 minutes

Is Cards Against Humanity for me?

Definitely not if you’re under 18 or easily offended, but taking that into account, Cards Against Humanity is what could be defined as a right-rollicking travel game, made all the better by the fact you can get up to 20 people playing at the same time.

Our team loves Cards Against Humanity and rate it as one of their best travel games for adults. The game is perfect for getting out at the hostel and breaking the ice. The only drawback is that the game is a little heavier compared to some of the others on the list. But it’s probably the most fun!

The premise of The Date Game That’s Actually Fun is pretty simple – the 330 questions are intended to test how well you know your partner! Though we can see how this could well lead to an argument or two, it’s also a great way of getting to know your other half better and passing the dead time of travel.

The Date Game That’s Actually Fun comes with everything you need to play the game on the move, with 2 dice and 75 prompt cards, across six different categories so you can really get to know your other half.

• Get to know your partner better
• Includes all you need to play
• Best played as a couple
• Number of questions limits playability
• Good for couples getting to know each other
• Compact and lightweight
• Could lead to arguments!

Is The Date Game That’s Actually Fun for me?

Certainly a travel game given its pocket size and weight, The Date Game That’s Actually Fun is a fun way for a couple to pass the time, or for hen/bachelorette groups, in particular, to get the party started. Hopefully, you know your partner well enough that it doesn’t lead to angry recriminations!

Our team felt this was also one of their favourite travel games for adults and kids alike with the addition of the different categories questions. They felt it was perfect for a bit of fun on the road especially when there is only the two of you.

The travel version of this word game is just as easy to play on an aircraft as the original is to play at home. Give the box a quick shake to mix up and settle the letter-inscribed dice within, open up the box, and turn over the sand timer. Each player must then create as many words as they can from the revealed letters, akin to a word search. Obscure words are best, since (infuriatingly) any word spotted by more than one player doesn’t count! But what’s great about this game is that you can play it for as little or as much time as you like (each round lasts just two minutes or so), and can even play alone!

• All the parts kept in a carry case
• Can be played for just 3 minutes
• Can be played with one player
• Infinite number of players
• Dice shaking could irritate other passengers
• Carry case lid isn’t hinged
• No note paper included

Is Boggle for me?

If you enjoy word searches or other travel games such as Bananagrams, you’re going to enjoy Boggle too! Ideal for a flight because of its compact size and simple gameplay, it also has an almost infinite number of letter combinations, that will keep you busy for hours!

Our team feel this is their best game for travel if the size is one of your main concerns. They love how compact and light the game is with all the parts also being super hard-wearing. They also love that the game itself takes up hardly any room in use and uses the box as its playing area.

Battleship Grab & Go

What makes Battleship Grab & Go so good for road trips? Well, it one of the few travel games that don’t require either a communal aspect (a deck of cards or bag of letter tiles) or the need to pass tokens between players. For anyone who doesn’t already know, this two-player (or two-team) game links guesswork with skill to track down the coordinates of each ship in the other player’s navy. The two playing trays are designed in such a way that pegs are firmly placed and can’t get shaken out of place whatever road obstacles you might come across!

• No ‘communal aspect’
• No need to pass tokens between players
• Travel-friendly
• Easy to play
• For two players/teams
• For ages 7+
• Pegs a little fiddly

Is Battleship Grab & Go for me?

Road trips mean plenty of time in the confines of a vehicle where it’s difficult to reach a communal pile of cards or letters, and can be hard to pass tokens between players too! Battleship Grab & Go has no need for these game aspects, and is specifically designed for use on the road!

Battleship is an absolute classic and our team loves it! Many of them have fond memories of playing it as kids. The team liked that this edition was made from durable materials and included two self-enclosed playing boards that keep all the pieces organised.

A card-based travel game aimed at children but still very playable by adults, there’s little to have to carry with Dobble, making it a great option for families who already have more than enough baggage with them! Essentially a version of ‘snap’ built for the twenty-first century, five different games can be played with the 55 card Dobble pack. The most basic sees players reveal one card at a time, in an attempt to match images between cards – each one has 8 different images of various sizes to make it extra tricky! The player with the most cards at the end of the pack wins!

• Game for almost all ages
• 2-8 players
• Metal carry tin
• Not suitable for pre-schoolers
• Cannot be played alone
• Game time of 10 minutes
• Won’t help teach literacy

Is Dobble for me?

This fun, fast, and sometimes raucous travel game can be played by anyone in the family old enough to be able to recognize different images (with another version available for younger children too). Educational and enjoyable to play, Dobble is a marvellous way of having fun as a family!

Our team are big fans of Dobble, especially for games nights in the hostel. They love that it comes in a metal box that keeps the cards safe when it’s thrown in their packs. The only thing they did say is that this game can get pretty energetic and rowdy, so maybe not ideal for enclosed spaces!

If you’re after a game that the kids can play on their own without the supervision or input of a tired-out adult, reach for Pass the Pigs! Based on the traditional game of ‘pigs’ that uses the roll of a pair of dice to determine points, this version sees kids drop small model pigs (that they’ll love in any case) onto the playing board, which is made up of several squares which can take or give points. The trick is knowing when to stop or play on (all down to luck of course), which keeps the game fresh and risky time after time!

• Doesn’t require adult supervision
• Simple to understand
• Very small to pack
• 2-4 players
• For reading age kids
• Game time of 30 minutes
• Pigs could get lost

Is Pass the Pigs for me?

The lack of a skill requirement means Pass the Pigs is suitable for a child of just about any age (although the board does include some writing). It’s also one of those games where you can leave them to it for a few minutes without supervision. It’s also small to pack and weighs very little, making it a good choice for traveling families!

The team felt this was a super fun game, especially for kids. They like that the pieces are made from durable and hard-wearing material and their box is strong enough to cope with the rigours of travel. They did feel it could get a bit tedious for the adults after a while though.

Specifically designed to be attractive to pre-schoolers, the upper side of the Buckle Toy Bizzle is decorated with a bright and cheerful face, while the underside has tabs for numbers 1 to 5 which lift up to reveal a series of stitched animals. Stretching out from this soft central section are 6 colorful child-friendly buckles of different sorts to help develop a pre-schoolers motor, cognitive, and problem-solving skills without even realizing it. A zip pocket gives a further reason why the child would love to have this around, while its 6 x 6 inch size and fabric construction makes it very easy to travel with, however far you’re heading.

• Specifically designed for pre-school children
• Brightly colored
• Educational
• Small in size
• For 1-4 years of age
• For one player
• No alternate games to play
• Small danger of catching skin in clips

Is Buckle Toy Bizzy for me?

Good, educational travel toys for pre-schoolers are difficult to come by, and let’s face it, if you intend on traveling you definitely need something to keep these young minds occupied! Brightly colored, and with little extras such as the hidden animals, Bizzy could be your child’s favorite for months to come.

The team felt this toy was super well made, which is essential when it comes to something designed for toddlers! The game is small and light enough to fit easily inside a backpack whilst offering a surprising amount of different colours, numbers, textures and noises to keep the little ones distracted! They also love that you can attach it to a backpack or the back of a seat too.

Connect 4 Grab & Go

Even if the name of Connect 4 doesn’t ring a bell right away, we suspect you’ll soon recognize its bright blue plastic frame and red and yellow counters. Connect 4 Grab & Go is the same as the original game, but smaller in size and with handy attached trays in which to place the counters. If you don’t immediately remember how to play, you’re simply trying to drop the counters into the frame in such a way that the result is a line of four consecutive counters of the same color – a little like an expanded version of noughts and crosses.

• Smaller version of a favourite
• Simple to play
• Easy to set up
• For just two players
• Counters can get lost
• Little variation in the game
• Playing time of 10 minutes

Is Connect 4 Grab & Go for me?

This simple, near vintage, travel game is easy to set up and perhaps even easier to play. With an average playing time of 10 minutes, it can be brought out even during short waits, while you’ll be surprised how addictive a game it can become!

Our team felt this was one of the best travel games for 2 adults or kids. This classic game is easy to get the hang of and offers hours of fun! The travel edition is super small and being plastic it’s both light and hard-wearing.

Finding a travel game suitable for a larger group would be difficult if it wasn’t for Farkle. Best described as the dice game Yahtzee built into a larger game, it can be played by an almost limitless number of players due to the fact each person takes turns shaking the six dice. With only specific dice combinations giving a player points nothing is guaranteed, while everything can be lost if you hit the Farkle combination. The winner is simply the person who reaches the winning points margin first – and as this can be as large or as small as you want, games can fit into whatever time you have free!

• Perfect for large groups
• Made in the UK
• Games can be varied in length
• Dice can get lost
• For ages 8+
• No skill required
• Dice quite small

Is Farkle for me?

If you’re looking for a game that can absorb almost any number of players (simply use more than one score sheet for larger groups – or draw your own) and doesn’t require skill or any complicated rules (we’re looking at you, Monopoly) Farkle is probably the game for you!

The team rate this game highly for travelling with it being so small and light. Another bonus for solo travellers or couples is that it works well with one or two people which is pretty rare, even rarer is that equally, you can play it with a big group. The team also feel the replayability is much bigger than many other games on the list.

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Reading the instructions and you might think Codenames is the most complicated travel game ever invented, but get stuck in and you’ll soon realize it’s not as difficult as it at first sounds! The aim of the game is to uncover all of each team’s secret agents, hidden within a field of possibles that includes ordinary bystanders and a very deadly assassin. But really, this is a game of word association, with clues given by a spymaster to their team linked in some way to the agents they are looking for. With so many combinations possible, you can play this game almost endlessly, with different combinations of team members making for very different results!

• Simple at heart
• Close to a traditional board game (without the board)
• Can be played almost endlessly
• Better with 4+ players

Is Codenames for me?

If you’re looking for a travel game that involves a little more skill and thought than the simple chance of something like Farkle, go for Codenames! This competitive and fun travel game will have you second-guessing every word given by your spymaster in the attempt to identify your undercover agents.

Codenames is one of my personal favourite games, I love how frustrating and fun it is anticipating your partners answer or trying to find a tenuous link between the cards! The game consists of just cards so it’s easy to take out of the box as we have and throw it in a sandwich bag for your travels. It lays flat and weight almost nothing. However, the game does need more room than a plane tray usually affords.

The traditional stylings of the box might not look much, but bear with us, for Catan is a big hit with everyone that plays it! Credited with igniting the recent craze for board games, Catan requires skill, strategy, and a little bit of cooperation between players too. The ultimate aim is to reach ten victory points and to do this each player begins building their own settlement through farming, trading, and other choices. Along the way, each player needs to watch out for the robber, who stops development of the settlements he’s landed on!

• Almost infinite playing board
• Suitable for all the family
• Games last around an hour
• Not simply luck
• Requires space for the board
• Just 3-4 players
• Lots of small parts

Is Catan for me?

Want something more than a travel game of chance and luck? Catan meets this need, with its requirement for careful consideration and strategy. It also emphasizes the need for cooperation, which is great for children and has an almost infinite playing board thanks to its jigsaw-like setup.

Catan is a classic and it’s one of my favourite games. The full-sized edition, whilst a surefire hit in the hostels, might just be a little on the large and heavy side unless you’re travelling in a car or campervan. However, there are smaller versions available where two players can play too.

Sequence Travel Edition

Made for travel, Sequence Travel Edition combines the basic premise of a number of games including Connect4 and poker into one large board-based travel game. The board has cleverly been placed within the lid of the plastic carry case of this travel edition and pegs that slot into holes replace the traditional chips used so that players don’t lose their place. Even the cards used in a miniature pack for travel, while the game itself is simple enough that children will be readily able to play. So what’s it all about? Fundamentally, it’s about connecting up a sequence of 5 cards in various ways that will keep your mind busy over and over again!

• Special travel edition
• Can be played by children
• Pegs can be a little fiddly
• Two-player version

Is Sequence Travel Edition for me?

Those who have played the full-sized version of Sequence might be a little unimpressed by the Travel Edition, however, for a game that will keep children and adults entertained for half an hour or more, we still rate Sequence Travel Edition as a fine travel game!

Our team felt this was a pretty fun little game that impressed them with its clever design where it was played inside its own plastic container. It meant it was compact and light and keeping all the various parts together wasn’t an issue. Most importantly, it could also be played easily on a plane, train or bus tray table.

Qwirkle Travel

The colorful playing pieces of Qwirkle Travel play rather like dominoes on steroids. The aim is to place connecting tiles next to each other, but instead of tiles comprising numbers, they are of various shapes and colors. An orange square can be placed next to a red square, which can be followed by a red circle, for instance. And to make it slightly more complicated, each color can only appear in a row once! The winner of each round is the player that has put down the most tiles, in the most rows, so some strategy is needed too.

• Travel version of the popular game
• Good for children and adults to play together
• One of the heavier games on our list
• For just 2-4 players
• Lots of small pieces to lose

Is Qwirkle Travel for me?

Easy to understand, but requiring enough strategy to keep players entertained, Qwirkle Travel is family fun at its very best. Though it can be a rapid-fire game, the thought required also means a game can last 45 minutes – an ideal length of time for many travel experiences.

Our team loves that this is one of those simple yet complex games where you can really get stuck in and engaged in the game. It really passes the time well on long trips with the level of concentration needed! They also feel that the bag and pieces are pretty robust too and like that it can be played with 2 people.

Top Trumps Wonders of the World

If you don’t already know how Top Trumps works, where have you been? Nothing to do with the 45 th president of the United States (that we know of), the Top Trumps deck of cards is divided among the players, who try and beat the other players by besting them on one of the card’s selected categories. What makes the Wonders of the World version particularly relevant to travel is its world theme, with plenty of intriguing facts to keep everyone paying attention while the game goes on. And that game goes on right up until the time when one player holds all the cards!

• Games can last as little as 2 minutes
• Easy to travel with
• Great for kids
• Travel themed
• Limited number of cards
• Best with 4 players

Is Top Trumps Wonders of the World for me?

A particularly good choice if you’re looking to drill some useful facts about the world into your children without them realizing it (such as the height of Mount Everest), Top Trumps Wonders of the World is also easy to travel with, and argument free – since all the facts are written down! Perfect!

Top Trumps has been a hit with me and my partner since we first met each other as teenagers! We’ve collected heaps of different versions but of course, as avid travellers, this version is a firm favourite. The game is simple, filled with interesting facts and fun to play. The cards take up hardly any room and the plastic case keeps them in good condition on the road.

Unstable Unicorns

The Exploding Kittens for the millennial age, Unstable Unicorns is as barmy a card-based game as they come! How does a player go about winning? By building up a powerful unicorn army of course! And you can’t do this without a little bit (alright, a lot) of friendly betrayal of the other players, seeing to the destruction of their own unicorn armies. With wonderfully vibrant imagery and an unpredictability no other travel game can match, Unstable Unicorns definitely belongs to the ‘once tried never forgotten’ list of travel games!

• Great design
• Ridiculously unpredictable
• Up to 8 can play
• 30-45 minutes playing time
• For ages 14+
• Higher price point
• Requires table space

Is Unstable Unicorns for me?

A great way to spend some quality time with your teens, or just a group of friends, Unstable Unicorns is like no other card-based game you will ever have come across. Quirky, cute, and evilly vicious in equal turn, up to 8 can play, with games lasting right up to 45 minutes.

Our team absolutely loves this game from the hilarious illustrations to the cunning gameplay, it’s got it all! It’s a huge hit at the hostel and really gets everyone interacting and having fun from the off. They also like that there are various different versions and expansion packs too so the game has huge replayability.

Mille Bornes

With a strapline of ‘the classic racing game,’ you can know a little of what to expect from this card-based travel game. A Monopoly for cars, players need to fill up on petrol, avoid accidents, and block the progress of other players to reach the end of the 1000-mile journey. Ironically perhaps, this is actually an incredibly fast-paced game, so pay attention! It’s also very easy to learn the rules, so you’ll be up to speed (pardon the pun) and playing before you know it!

• Travel version of a classic travel game
• Easy to understand
• Cards can be lost
• High price point

Is Mille Bornes for me?

Looking for an alternative to Monopoly? Mille Bornes fills that niche, without the need for a board. The resulting card-based game is a classic, particularly in its birthplace of France. Nothing gets classic status without reason, so why not splash out and try Mille Bornes for yourself?

Our team love the unique premise of this game and felt it offered something pretty different compared to most card games out there. The retro metal packaging was also great for travellers because it was still pretty light but made sure all the pieces stayed together and undamaged whilst in their backpacks.

Another classic travel game is Uno. Developed in the early 1970s, it is as fresh today as when it was first invented, which says a lot about the simple elegance of this card game. Using a specially printed pack of 108 cards, the majority of which comprise a color and number, the basic aim is to be the first player to shed all their cards through picking up and putting down cards based on what’s face up in a central pile. It’s a little more complex than that, with skips and wild cards among other features, and the need to shout ‘Uno!’ not when you’ve won, but when you have a single card left in your hand!

• A classic game
• 2-10 players
• 45 minute game time

Is Uno for me?

Uno rapidly becomes addictive, which is exactly what you should be looking for in a travel game when you have a lot of dead time to fill up without getting bored! Lightweight and easy to pack, and suitable for everyone from the age of seven upwards, your career as an Uno champion could start today!

Uno! What can we say, it’s a classic and a game all of our team needed no introduction to! I think we’ve all got a traumatic Uno story, ending up with a stack of cards just a few rounds after forgetting to shout “Uno”! But no one can deny the fun of this simple but tactical game that packs down super small and light.

An award-winning family strategy game, OK Play is durable, waterproof (being plastic), and a good size for travel, although the small counters might be troublesome for some families to keep hold of. Once you’ve chosen your particular color of tiles – held neatly on their own stack until they are needed – it’s simply a matter of placing down one tile at a time until one of the players manages to sneak in a row of five counters in the horizonal, vertical, or diagonal. Recommended for children from the age of 8 upwards, four different color stacks of counters make it suitable for 2-4 players.

• Award-winning
• Designed for travel
• Counters could get lost
• Requires a playing table
• For only 2-4 players
• Slightly awkward shape for packing

Is OK Play for me?

This counter game is so easy to play you won’t bore children with a long list of rules and regulations, yet at the same time is flexible enough to allow continued development of the skills and strategies required to make it a success as a player. Its durability and waterproof nature also help to make it an all-around good family travel game!

This game was new to most of our testers but they really loved how simple, fast-paced and addictive it was. They also felt when it came to travel games, this one was probably the most perfectly designed. It was super compact, so light and really hard to break!

Now, you  could spend a fat chunk of $$$ on the WRONG present for someone. Wrong size hiking boots, wrong fit backpack, wrong shape sleeping bag… As any adventurer will tell you, gear is a personal choice.

So give the adventurer in your life the gift of convenience: buy them an REI Co-op gift card!  REI is The Broke Backpacker’s retailer of choice for ALL things outdoors, and an REI gift card is the perfect present you can buy from them. And then you won’t have to keep the receipt. 😉

What makes a game the best travel game for you, your family, and your friends? Here are some helpful hints and tips to guide you!

Packability

You’re probably already struggling to fit everything you want to take into your baggage, particularly if traveling as a family, so you don’t want to be carrying around a travel game that is either large in size, or overly heavy. Thankfully, these days the manufacturers have caught the hint, producing dedicated travel versions of many popular games, with Monopoly one of them.

Are you looking for a travel game that will entertain just a couple of people, have a group of adults enthralled, keep children busy during dead time, or maybe one that’s suitable for families? We’ve highlighted the age range each game is aimed at in our reviews, to make this really obvious for you!

Number of players

There’s no point getting a travel game that’s at its best with six players if there are only ever going to be two or you! Likewise, don’t get a game for two if you know the average number of players is going to be greater than this. Follow these simple rules together with our reviews, and you’ll find the best travel game for you!

There is no perfect or exact science when it comes to testing out travel gear, but when it comes to picking the best travel games, we’ve got plenty of experience between us!

Whenever we test a piece of gear, one of our team takes it out for a spin and puts it through its paces. When it came to travel games things were no different in our eyes, we just added in a few extra details.

So, we looked initially at how well-made the game is and whether it would stand up to the rigours of being thrown into a backpack every day. Then we accessed things like weight, size, packability as well as ease of set up and most importantly, gameplay!

Finally, we also take into account how much each item costs – when it came to picking out the best games for traveling, we also weighted up whether we felt each one was worth the price. We judged the more expensive items more harshly than the cheaper games as we expected to get more for our money.

Still have some questions about the best games for travel? No problem! We’ve listed and answered the most commonly asked questions below. Here’s what people usually want to know:

What are the best travel games for long car-rides?

Battleship Grab & Go is a great option for long car rides or road trips. The two playing trays are designed in such a way that pegs are firmly placed and can’t get shaken out of place whatever road obstacles you might come across!

What is the best board travel game?

Travel Monopoly might cause one or the other family war, but it’s the best board game on the market.

What are the best games for families or a group of friends?

There are many great group travel games, but Farkle and Dobble are the best ones. They’re perfect for all ages and all types of travelling.

What is the easiest travel game?

Connect 4 Grab & Go is simple and fast to learn, however, it requires one or the other brain cells.

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Forget hours of boring waiting at train stations , airports, and on road trips with our selection of the best travel games! Whether it’s a classic like Uno or a new kid on the block such as Unstable Unicorns, or something for adults or kids (or both), we’ve got you covered with our review! Hopefully, you’ve found some good travel games for your next trip.

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Thanks for this kind of blog about travel. I wonder if you tried to go on baguio cafes in the philippines?

Just an FYI…. Bananagrams can be played with one person. Bananagram solitaire is extremely popular and is a great way for school-age children to build their vocabulary.

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How To Drive Your Car In A Dusty Trip Roblox

New to A Dusty Trip and don’t know how to Drive the Car? This guide is all you will need to travel through the vast desert in the game.

If you have already built your car with all the necessary parts like Engine, Radiator , Headlights , and others, all that is left is to clean the car and take it for a spin. Since the desert is huge, players will have to know how to keep the parts running while adding their respective fuel. If you are confused about how to drive the car in A Dusty Trip , this guide is all you will need.

Since you are likely a beginner to this Roblox game, you would also benefit from our tips to make your car faster . However, before we go into speed, there is the matter of properly firing up the engine and getting the feel of driving the car. There is also the matter of different kinds of fuels that your car, engine, and radiator need to function properly. If all of this sounds overwhelming, then don’t worry since this guide will simplify it for you.

How to Drive the Car in A Dusty Trip

Once you are ready to drive the car in A Dusty Trip, head to the driver’s seat, press E to enter, and then press R to start the Engine. You can now press the left mouse button, accelerate forward, and start driving. While driving is quite simple, you will have to keep in mind that the engine, radiator, and the car itself run on certain types of fuel. The default engine runs on oil while the radiator needs at least 1.4L of water per minute.

Fortunately, filling them is not really a difficult task if you can find cans of fuel around the desert. On many occasions, players will also find fluids mixed in cans and they will have to learn to separate fluids to use them in the future. Additionally, if you decide to upgrade your engine, you might have to replace the fuel entirely and in order to do so, you will have to drain the Gas Tank first.

These are important factors that you need to remember as you drive the car in A Dusty Trip. If you are confused about the controls in A Dusty Trip , do check out our guide on it along with many others in our dedicated Roblox section right here at Gamer Tweak.

The 'Into-resting' kind of guy, Shreyansh loves scoring goals in FIFA and dying in the boss fights of Sekiro. Also, hacking and slashing zombies is his second favorite pass time after Call of Duty. The galaxies far far away is where Shreyansh spends his weekends if he is not racing on different circuits.

• GT Originals
• AC Valhalla
• Genshin Impact
• Honkai Star Rail
• Street Fighter 6
• Project Slayers

‘Road Trip Mike’ is attending all 81 A’s road games this year — but not for the reason you might think

O f the seemingly endless depository of stories that Michael Marler possesses, one of his favorites begins with the time he lost his luggage.

On this August afternoon, Marler, a retired Air Force veteran more affectionately known as Road Trip Mike, stands next to Eric Martins, the A’s third base coach, in foul territory at Seattle’s T-Mobile Field. He holds a shovel designated for scooping dirt, donning a gray T-shirt, black shorts and slippers. Marler arrived in the Pacific Northwest as planned, but his luggage did not. Still, Marler braves on; he’s got his team to watch.

It’s one of many instances when Marler finds himself in a situation almost too fantastical to be true, but he proudly shows off a photo as he retells the story. In the life of Road Trip Mike, no tale is too tall, no story too grand, no anecdote too improbable. To Marler, he is nothing short of blessed.

“I live on cloud nine because of these little things,” Marler said.

A super fan’s super fan, Marler, after years of following the team on the road and befriending players and coaches, is attempting to attend every A’s away game this season. The 57-year-old Sacramento native unexpectedly went viral when his mission was mistakenly framed as a boycott , but Marler is solely fueled by his desire to support the team. With the A’s leaving Oakland and their long-term future murky, Marler, seemingly untouched by cynicism with an endless depository of memories, has become a constant.

“That man is the physical embodiment of fan love,” said A’s color commentator and former pitcher Dallas Braden. “I mean that in every aspect of what you think a fan is and why a fan would love any team, any sport. You spend two minutes with him and you can feel the genuineness that is dripping off of him. He’s like a character. He’s someone who somebody drew up and put into circulation in the world.”

Following his retirement in 2018, Marler began attending A’s games on the road, starting with about 20 contests. In the ensuing years, the number grew to 40, then 60. In 2021, the “Road Trip Mike” nickname gained steam. This year, Marler is running the gauntlet. He’ll often be joined by two close friends, Jack Lima and Bill Thomas, dubbed by Braden as “Road Trip Renegades.”

Marler’s journey coincides with the A’s final season in Oakland, but Marler is not boycotting the Coliseum, planning on attending around 20 games in Oakland. Last month, though, Hal (the Hot Dog Guy) Gordon posted a photo with Marler on social media, the accompanying caption insinuating that Marler was protesting. Marler made clear that is not the case. Gordon, for his part, said there was no malicious intent behind the post, adding he was given inaccurate information by a friend who connected the two. By the time Gordon realized the mistake, his post had already picked up steam.

“I got a lot of support from people in the organization,” Marler said. “They said, ‘Mike, we know you and that isn’t you.'”

“Mike is a great fan, and it’s not right that a fake fact about him went viral,” Gordon said in a text message. “I’m disappointed that I caused him to deal with this, and I’m sad that something I said that wasn’t true was seen by so many people.”

This nomadic lifestyle began when Marler, a proud veteran, noticed that several teams’ official stores did not offer veteran discounts, including the A’s. After meeting with A’s representatives, Marler helped push to institute a discount for veterans on tickets and merchandise. From there, Marler says he traveled across the country to meet with the remaining teams about implementing discounts.

Given the amount of time he spends away from home, Marler can be considered a veteran of the road, too. Marler occasionally flies, but most of his travels come by way of, appropriately enough, road trips in his Dodge Thor Rize van.

Planning trips is one thing, but executing them is another. Over the years, Marler has navigated his share of unexpected twists and turns.

This month, Marler’s flight from Seattle to Houston was rerouted to San Antonio due to weather. Three strangers, overhearing Marler discuss his travels, allowed him to cut in line. Another passenger willingly gave up their seat; Marler, in turn, gave the passenger a game-used baseball.

Last year, the A’s played the Marlins and Pirates on the road in back-to-back series without an off-day in between. Undaunted, Marler drove roughly 16 hours straight from Miami to Pittsburgh in time for Oakland’s first game in the Steel City.

This season, he slept in the parking lots of the Royals’ Kauffman Stadium and Rangers’ Globe Life Field when a day game followed a night game, a tactic he has employed in the past.

As for how much all of this costs? Marler says he doesn’t have a clue.

“I’m not in dire straits,” Marler laughs, “but yet, I’m not wealthy.”

What Marler doesn’t have in material wealth, he owns in stories.

In Washington D.C., Marler met two A’s fans from Germany who were “dressed in A’s gear like you wouldn’t believe.” When one fan recited just about every pitch from Braden’s 2010 perfect game, Marler brought the parties together. The fans gave Braden a ball that now sits in his safe at home.

In Tampa Bay, Marler connected a young fan with Tony Kemp. When Kemp missed out on signing a kid’s baseball card due to media obligations, Marler retrieved the card and brought it to Kemp, who not only signed the card but put together a care package for the young fan.

At the Coliseum, he has thrown out a first pitch and helped announce the starting lineup.

There have also been occasions where Marler has visited former A’s with their new teams. He saw Marcus Semien in Dunedin during Semien’s lone season with the Blue Jays. Earlier this year, he saw Robbie Grossman in Chicago when he was with the White Sox. Most recently, Marler traveled to Buffalo to see Kemp, currently playing for the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate.

One of Marler’s most important stories, however, long predates his days as Road Trip Mike.

In May 2013, Marler underwent sextuple bypass surgery, vividly recalling a doctor telling him that he was at great risk of suffering a massive heart attack. Marler struggled with recovery, falling into a depression. As spring gave way to summer, Marler began to make strides in his recovery, an improvement that unfolded alongside with the A’s catching fire. Oakland won 24 of its final 33 games to win the AL West, and Marler firmly believes he is here today because of the green and gold.

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Marler’s presence doesn’t go unnoticed. He’s a favorite among the players and coaches, and to A’s manager Mark Kotsay, some on the team consider Marler like extended family. Last year, Marler gifted every player and coach a coin that reads, “Life is a journey, not a destination.” Along with Braden, Marler befriended the late Ray Fosse. Marler jokes that the team has “kind of adopted me.”

“Sometimes, the road can be a lonely place where all the fans are yelling at you,” Semien said. “It’s good to have support out there, and he definitely brought that.”

Following this season, the A’s will head to Marler’s native Sacramento with the intention of eventually landing in Las Vegas. Marler has been asked on multiple occasions what he’ll do when the A’s leave. His answer is simple.

“Those kids are going to run out that dugout and they’re going to play baseball and I get to watch them,” he said. “I don’t care where it is.”

©2024 MediaNews Group, Inc. Visit at mercurynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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2024 SMU Football Early Opponent Preview, Game 1

Taylor hodges | jun 3, 2024.

• SMU Mustangs

It’s taken nearly a quarter century, but SMU has nearly completed its cross-country conference realignment journey.

In 2000, SMU joined the Western Athletic Conference after the Southwest Conference shuttered its doors. Eight years later, SMU would join Conference USA and then the American Athletic Conference in 2013. In 27 days, the Mustangs will join the Atlantic Coast Conference to complete its cross-country move.

The upcoming season may be one of the most important seasons for SMU since the days of Eric Dickerson and Craig James. Joining the ACC puts SMU against some of the best college programs in the nation. But first, the Mustangs will start the 2024 season with a trip out west to former WAC rival, Nevada.

The Wolfpack are coming off their second consecutive 2-10 season that led to dismissal of head coach Ken Wilson who was replaced by Texas co-defensive coordinator Jeff Choate. But will a new coach and overhauled roster be enough for Nevada to dampen SMU’s excitement?

Here’s an early look at the Wolf Pack as we begin to preview the Mustangs’ opponents for the upcoming season.

In 2023, Nevada relied more on its run game than passing and returns its two leading rushers. Sean Dollars led the team with 527 yards on 151 runs and six touchdowns. Quarterback Brendon Lewis wasn’t far behind Dollars with 495 yards and four touchdowns.

The Wolfpack’s passing attack wasn’t nearly as effective, though. Lewis completed 55.5 percent of his passes and 1,313 yards but had only two touchdown passes while throwing six interceptions. Nevada added a quarterback through the transfer portal which may ring a bell for football fans, Chubba Purdy. The younger brother of San Francisco 49ers’ quarterback Brock Purdy transferred to Nevada from Nebraska where he played in six games and threw for 382 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions.

No matter who starts at quarterback, they’ll be throwing to a receiving corps who are playing their first season for the Wolfpack.

Choate is a defensive-minded coach and he has his work cut out for him. Last season, the Wolfpack gave up an average of 442.7 yards per game and 33.4 points per game. The defense also lost two of its best defenders in safety Emany Johnson (graduated) and Richard Toney (transferred to TCU), who combined for nearly 200 tackles last season.

The Wolfpack will bring back Marcel Walker-Burgess who led the team with four sacks and linebackers Due Watts and Tongiaki Mateialona. All three combined for 160 tackles last season and they’ll be joined by an influx of players from the transfer portal.

Nevada added linebackers Austin Harnetiaux (Washington) and Kaden Johnson (Wisconsin), cornerbacks Nate Floyd (Texas Tech) and Kitan Crawford (Texas), and safety Keyshawn Cobb (West Virginia).

SMU won 11 games in 2023, which would’ve been second-most in the ACC last season behind conference champion Florida State (13-1). The Mustangs will face a higher level of competition in the 2024 ACC schedule , but with the new 12-team playoff, 11 wins in a Power 5 conference could be enough to earn an at-large bid.

That journey starts with Nevada, who the Mustangs are almost guaranteed to be favored in. It’ll be the kind of game SMU must win to be one of the 12 playoff teams.

Mustang fans shouldn’t be faulted for thinking their team’s season-opening game will be an easy win. The Wolfpack won just two games last season (their second-straight two-win season) and neither its offense or defense inspires much confidence in the upcoming season. Add in a new head coach for Nevada and a SMU team coming off an AAC championship, it won’t be a surprise to see SMU favored to win.

But there’s one variable the Wolf Pack have a clear advantage. The Aug. 24 game will be played at Mackay Stadium in Reno, Nev. and is 4,610 feet above sea level. Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas is only 574 feet above sea level. Anyone who has seen a Denver Broncos home game has seen the effects of playing at a high altitude.

SMU players probably won’t enjoy the conditioning drills leading up to the season-opening game and there will be oxygen tanks on the sidelines. However, Mustang fans are right to be optimistic about this game.

When is the game?

What time is the game, what channel will the game be televised on, where will the game be played.

Mackay Stadium, Reno, Nev.

What is the series history between SMU and Nevada?

The series is tied 3-3. The former WAC foes haven’t played since the 2009 Sheraton Hawaii Bowl which SMU won 45-10. SMU quarterback Kyle Padron set a school record with 460 yards in a bowl game and two touchdowns in the win and running back Shawnbrey McNeal had three rushing touchdowns. While members of the WAC, the Mustangs and Wolfpack played five times with Nevada winning three-straight (2001-2003) and SMU winning the first and last meetings in 2000 and 2004.

TAYLOR HODGES

Taylor is an award-winning sports editor, writer, columnist, and photographer with 15 years’ experience offering his opinion and insight about the sports world in Mississippi and Texas. He's covered all levels of sports, from small high schools in the Mississippi Delta to NFL games. Follow Taylor on Twitter and Facebook.

Detroit Tigers option former No. 1 overall pick Spencer Torkelson to Triple-A Toledo

BOSTON — The Detroit Tigers have optioned first baseman Spencer Torkelson to Triple-A Toledo.

The Tigers informed Torkelson — the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 draft — of their decision after Sunday's game against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, according to multiple sources who are not at liberty to discuss roster moves publicly.

In the 2024 season, Torkelson is hitting .201 with four home runs, 16 walks (7% walk rate) and 56 strikeouts (24.4% strikeout rate) in 54 games, also worth minus-5 defensive runs saved at first base.

Torkelson has been sent down to the Mud Hens for the second time in three MLB seasons. The 24-year-old is a career .218 hitter with a .683 OPS in 323 games, a span of 1,318 plate appearances.

EARLIER TODAY: Does Spencer Torkelson need demotion to Triple-A? This time, A.J. Hinch didn't say no

Before Sunday's game, manager A.J. Hinch suggested Torkelson could be demoted to Triple-A Toledo because of performance issues after not playing him in two of the four games at Fenway Park.

"I don't know," Hinch said before Sunday's game. "I knew I was going to get asked the question when he sits two out of three days. We haven't talked a ton about things like that this morning. We're trying to find a way to win the game today. That's the No. 1 important thing."

COMING UP: Tigers promote Justyn-Henry Malloy from Triple-A Toledo for MLB debut

To replace Torkelson, the Tigers promoted outfielder Justyn-Henry Malloy from Triple-A Toledo .

Malloy, an outfield prospect  acquired in a trade from the Atlanta Braves by president of baseball operations Scott Harris  in December 2022, is joining the Tigers on Monday for their three-game series against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, according to multiple sources.

He draws walks at an elite rate, but his passive approach comes with the downside of too many strikeouts.

It's unclear how the Tigers plan to fill first base in Torkelson's absence, but several players — including outfielder Mark Canha , third baseman Gio Urshela and infielder Andy Ibáñez — have experience at first base in their MLB careers. Urshela replaced Torkelson at first base for the two games against the Red Sox.

Torkelson went 3-for-37 (.081) with three walks and 13 strikeouts in his last 10 games, as part of an even worse 3-for-40 (.075) stretch that goes back to May 19. He went 0-for-16 (.000) with zero walks and nine strikeouts across his last four games.

The biggest issue is Torkelson has struggled to get his swing on time for high-velocity fastballs, likely as a result of swing mechanics that need to be adjusted.

"I think there's some mechanics things with him," Hinch said before Sunday's game, "where his weight is distributed, his lower half, trusting a lot of the work he's doing in the cage to be consistent, but it's a lot harder than just an analysis or a suggestion. Everyone in his ear is trying to get him to do something positive."

Torkelson is hitting .179 (with a .199 expected batting average) against fastballs this season. He hit two of his four homers off fastballs, but both of those homers were against left-handed pitchers, so it's no surprise that he's hitting .148 against righty fastballs and .280 against lefty fastballs.

Last season, Torkelson hit 31 home runs across 159 games.

Malloy, 24, is hitting .253 with six home runs, 39 walks (20.1% walk rate) and 52 strikeouts (26.8% strikeout rate) across 45 games in Triple-A Toledo, spanning 195 plate appearances. He has played 187⅔ innings in left field and 115 innings in right field for the Mud Hens, also making seven starts at designated hitter.

Contact Evan Petzold at  [email protected]  or follow him  @EvanPetzold .

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