Camping Conversations & Games
July 12, 2018 2:46 PM   Subscribe

What are your favourite camping games or ways to pass the time when it's just the two of you?

We usually go camping with a big group of people, there's always hustle and bustle and lots going on to pass the time. My hubby and I will be going camping on our own for the first time ever and we can both be introverted in our own ways so I'm hoping for some suggestions or fun games you can play with two people, and other ways to pass the time.

I love word games and that kind of stuff, so anything you can think of to suggest would be awesome - what are your favourite camping games and activities?
posted by JenThePro to Grab Bag (14 answers total) 19 users marked this as a favorite
 
Sing goofy camp songs with hand gestures, like Honk honk, rattle rattle rattle crash beep beep or "Head, shoulders knees and toes" or a million others. They'll make you laugh.
posted by Melismata at 2:53 PM on July 12, 2018


20 Questions. While watching the stars.
posted by Midnight Skulker at 2:58 PM on July 12, 2018


Some variation on the game Encore: pick a word, and try to go back and forth singing songs with that word in them (usually some number of words minimum).
posted by dismas at 3:03 PM on July 12, 2018


Pick a word and go back and forth naming all the other words that start with the same two letters.
posted by henuani at 3:19 PM on July 12, 2018 [1 favorite]


I adapted Joon Pahk's Guess My Word browser game (sadly no longer online) into a two-player experience on a miserable drive home from the 2017 total eclipse. Here's how it works:

Alice thinks of a (real, scrabble-legal) word.

Bob is tries to guess it. He can guess any (real) word, and all Alice can tell him is whether her word is alphabetically before or after Bob's guess. (Like in the dictionary, catapult is after cat.)

That's it. Good strategy is to lead with a guess beginning with M or N, then try to divide the possible remaining "area" in half with each subsequent guess.

With some practice Bob can usually get it in about a dozen guesses. Sometimes you get crazy lucky and get it in five or six.
posted by theodolite at 3:22 PM on July 12, 2018 [5 favorites]


-Go on a bug hunt, either separately and compare notes or together and use teamwork to catch a few for ID
-Same thing but for plants
-play some instruments. If you don't have any and don't know how, buy a harmonica and a kazoo and you'll be advanced novices in no time. Can mix a tambourine in too
-Word games like GHOST
-find the nearest creek and build a little dam (remove it when you're done)
-bring a slingshot or two and shoot target practice, or play HORSE with slingshots
-Bring some paracord, a pack saw and build a lookout tower, scout style (assuming your are on land where that is permissible)
-Bring a bottle of weird strong booze you've never tried and finish it
-spend a half day naked in the woods
-I haven't been camping as a couple in far too long and I'm a little jealous; have fun!
posted by SaltySalticid at 3:24 PM on July 12, 2018 [1 favorite]


MadLibs. Such weirdly cathartic fun.
posted by Lyn Never at 3:47 PM on July 12, 2018


Cribbage. Play for matchsticks or pennies or jelly beans. We play over days and eventually declare a winner who gets to pick a prize (dinner out, dinner made, dessert made, chore done). We are also introverted and can happily spend two hours playing and chatting.
posted by Ftsqg at 3:54 PM on July 12, 2018 [1 favorite]


Seconding cribbage, so much fun.
posted by pintapicasso at 4:15 PM on July 12, 2018 [1 favorite]


Travel sized Scrabble.

Bring a book of conversation starters/questions OR just ask each other random questions. We'v been married 6 years and still love to ask things like, "What's a favorite childhood memory?" or "Name every family vacation you can remember growing up" or "Top 10 favorite foods?" Sometimes you hear the same stories you've heard before, but it really deepens the relationship.
posted by raspberrE at 8:11 PM on July 12, 2018 [1 favorite]


Bananagrams is Scrabble without the board.
+1 on Cribbage or other card games
Liar's Dice / Poker Dice / Farkle

Charades
Two Truths and One Lie
Would You Rather
If you've both seen a ton of movies, there's the Actor Game: you each think of an actor, then try to link them.
One, two, three, go - You: "Charlize Theron" Him: "Kirsten Dunst" You both start thinking while gathering firewood, setting up the tent, etc.
"Okay got it - Charlize was in Fury Road with Tom Hardy, who was in Inception with Ellen Page, who was in Juno with JK Simmons, who was in Spider-Man with Kirsten Dunst. I win!"
posted by bartleby at 11:13 PM on July 12, 2018 [1 favorite]


Regarding other ways to pass the time, my wife and I have spent some time side-by-side in camp chairs in nature reading books. It's delightful.
posted by craven_morhead at 8:15 AM on July 13, 2018 [2 favorites]


I had a blast on a recent road trip using the couples version of Table Topics. Very thoughtful questions that led to great conversations.
posted by egeanin at 12:17 PM on July 13, 2018


HIVE is a very good 2 player game that packs up small and can be played on uneven surfaces if need be.

Make some land art (sticks castle, wildflowers arrangement, rock patterns, etc

Similar to table topics: chat pack.
Sub Rosa’s Q&E cards

Story Cubes!
posted by wowenthusiast at 1:23 PM on July 13, 2018


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