The license plate game is simple: spot a plate from every US state, check each one off, and see who fills the list first. Below is a free printable 50-state checklist — one page, a box for every state, and a star on the ten plates that are hardest to find. Print one per kid, grab a pencil, and the back seat has a mission for the whole drive.
🚗 License Plate Game — 50 States Checklist
Name: ______________________ Trip: ______________________ States found: ____ / 50
- Alabama
- Alaska ⭐
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware ⭐
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii ⭐
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi ⭐
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota ⭐
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island ⭐
- South Carolina
- South Dakota ⭐
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont ⭐
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia ⭐
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming ⭐
⭐ Hard to find — worth 2 points. Bonus: Canada ☐ Mexico ☐ Washington, D.C. ☐
Free printable from convoi.games · Want the checklist on your phone instead? Convoi tracks it for every kid in the car.
How to play the license plate game
- Give everyone a checklist — one printed page per passenger, or one shared list for the whole car if your kids prefer to play as a team.
- Spot a plate, call it out. The state name is printed on every US plate, usually across the top or bottom. The first person to call a new state checks it off.
- A state only counts once per player. Seeing a second Ohio plate doesn't add anything — the hunt is for the states you're missing.
- Agree on the end: first to 50, most states when you reach the destination, or a list that runs over every trip of the year.
Parked cars count in most families, and it keeps rest stops interesting: a hotel parking lot off the interstate is often the best place of the whole day to catch a rare state.
The 10 hardest license plates to find
Which plates are rare depends on where you drive — a Wyoming plate is ordinary in Cheyenne. But from most of the country, the same ones come up again and again as the last boxes left empty on the list. That's why they carry a star on the printable.
| State | Why it's hard to find |
|---|---|
| Hawaii | Islands: very few Hawaii-registered cars are ever driven on the mainland |
| Alaska | Far away and sparsely populated; most drivers never leave the state by road |
| Wyoming | The smallest population of any state |
| Vermont | Small population, mostly seen in New England |
| North Dakota | Small population, far from the big interstate corridors |
| South Dakota | Small population, though summer tourism near the Black Hills helps |
| Delaware | Tiny state — your best chance is on I-95 between Baltimore and Philadelphia |
| Rhode Island | The smallest state by area |
| Mississippi | Common in the South, rare almost everywhere else |
| West Virginia | Rarely seen far from Appalachia |
Scoring ideas by age
- Ages 5–7: play as one team with a single shared list. Let them spot the colors and pictures on plates first — many states have a recognizable design — and read the name together.
- Ages 8–11: one checklist each, one point per state, two points for a starred state. Add a bonus round: the first plate from Canada or Mexico.
- Ages 12 and up: go for all 50 over several trips, and keep the same sheet in the glove box from one drive to the next.
The game pairs well with other screen-free ideas when attention runs low; our list of 15 screen-free car games for kids has the rest, and our printable road trip bingo cards are the perfect warm-up. And if you're heading out for Thanksgiving, check the best and worst hours to drive first — more time stuck in traffic does mean more plates, but not quite that much.
Prefer the checklist on your phone?
Paper sheets get lost under the seat, and every trip starts from zero. Convoi keeps the 50-state checklist for you: each kid gets their own profile and score on the same phone, rare states are flagged, plates from farther away earn more points, and progress carries over from one trip to the next. It works offline, so dead zones in the middle of Nebraska don't matter. Want to see the alternatives too? Here are the best license plate game apps compared.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the license plate game?
The license plate game is a classic road trip game where passengers try to spot a license plate from every US state. Each new state gets checked off, and the first to complete the list (or the one with the most states at the end of the trip) wins. It needs nothing but a checklist and a pencil.
Which license plates are the hardest to find?
Hawaii and Alaska are the hardest almost everywhere on the mainland, since few of their cars are ever driven to the lower 48. Small or low-population states come next: Wyoming, Vermont, North Dakota, South Dakota, Delaware and Rhode Island, along with Mississippi and West Virginia outside their own regions. The checklist on this page marks those ten with a star.
How do you score the license plate game?
The simplest rule is one point per new state. To keep it fair across ages, give 2 points for a starred hard-to-find state, let younger kids count a state even if a parent spotted it first, and award a bonus for the first plate from Canada or Mexico. Decide the rules before you leave the driveway.
Can you play the license plate game without printing anything?
Yes. Write the 50 states on a notebook page, or use an app that keeps the checklist for you. Convoi tracks every state you spot, flags the rare ones, keeps a separate score for each kid in the car, and keeps your progress from one trip to the next.
What age is the license plate game for?
Kids can play from about age 5, as soon as they can match a state name to a plate with a little help. From 7 or 8, most children can read plates on their own, and older kids can take on the full 50-state challenge over several trips.