Tap Show answer under a card to reveal it, then swipe for the next question. Read aloud reads only the question, so the reader can ask without giving the answer away. The deck keeps your place if you close the page, which helps when the park has no signal.
Play it on the drive in
The best time for national parks trivia is the last hour before the park. Everyone is excited, the scenery is changing, and a question about where you’re going lands better than one about somewhere far away. Ask the questions about your park first, then shuffle the rest.
Most parks put up a big wooden entrance sign that families stop to photograph. Make it the finish line: whoever has the most points when you reach the sign stands in the middle of the picture.
What’s in this deck
Thirty questions from all over the country, mixed from easy to hard:
- Animals. The bats of Carlsbad Caverns, the bears fishing at Brooks Falls in Katmai, the bison that became the national mammal, the fireflies that flash in sync at Congaree.
- Land and water. How Crater Lake formed, what White Sands is made of, the park that is 95 percent water, the rainforest in Washington.
- Record holders. The biggest park, the longest cave system, the tallest trees, the tallest mountain in North America.
- Parks that are hard to reach. A park with no roads at all, one south of the equator, and islands you can only visit by boat or plane.
Earn the badge too
At most national parks, kids can pick up a Junior Ranger booklet, usually free, at the visitor center, finish the activities, and get sworn in by a ranger with a badge. It’s the natural sequel to this deck. After a round of trivia in the car, kids already know some answers the booklet asks for.
More trivia for the road
If the trip crosses several states on the way, the state trivia deck lets you pick only the states on your route. The Utah, Arizona and Colorado decks cover the Mighty 5, the Grand Canyon and Mesa Verde in more detail. For questions about the highways that get you there, try the road trip trivia deck.