License Plate Game: Rules, Scoring and Rare Plates

Updated October 21, 2026

Quick rules

Pick your list. The classic is the 50 states plus Washington, D.C.
When you see a plate from a state nobody has found yet, say the state's name out loud.
The first person to call it gets it. Each state counts once for the whole car.
Most states at the end of the trip wins. Or play as one team and try to find all 51.

Settle these before you leave

Most license plate game arguments come from rules nobody agreed on. Decide these at home:

Parked cars: most families count them. It makes rest stops and parking lots exciting.
Trucks and trailers: a plate is a plate. Semi trucks are a good source of far-away states.
Specialty plates: the state is what counts, whatever picture is on it.
A tie: if two people call the same plate at once, a grown-up decides, or you both get it.
Your own car: your home state is fair game, but not from your own bumper.

Scoring

The simplest score is one point per state. If you want the rare plates to feel special, use points. This is how RoadTripKit scores it:

Plate	Points
A U.S. state or Washington, D.C.	10
A Canadian province, a Mexican state, or a Tribal Nation	15
A rare plate (see below)	25, once a grown-up checks it

The hardest plates to find

Hawaii and Alaska are the classic rare finds in the lower 48: a car from Hawaii has to be shipped across the ocean to get here. Rarer still are plates from the U.S. territories: Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa. In Canada, the three northern territories (Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut) are the hardest.

Which plates you'll see depends on where you drive. Near the borders, watch for Canadian and Mexican plates:

Driving in	Watch for
Alaska	Yukon and British Columbia
Washington	British Columbia
Idaho	British Columbia
Montana	British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan
North Dakota	Saskatchewan and Manitoba
Minnesota	Manitoba and Ontario
Michigan	Ontario
New York	Ontario and Québec
Vermont	Québec
New Hampshire	Québec
Maine	Québec and New Brunswick
California	Baja California
Arizona	Sonora and Baja California
New Mexico	Chihuahua and Sonora
Texas	Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas

Tribal Nation plates

59 Tribal Nations issue their own license plates, and almost no license plate game counts them. Most are in Oklahoma, where many tribal citizens register their cars with their nation instead of the state. You'll also find them in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska and Washington.

A state plate that honors a nation, like Arizona's Navajo Nation plate, is a state plate and counts as that state. This list was checked in October 2026 against each nation's tag office and state guides.

Oklahoma

Nation	On the plate	How often you'll see one
Cherokee Nation	CHEROKEE	Common
Muscogee (Creek) Nation	MUSCOGEE	Common
Chickasaw Nation	CHICKASAW	Common
Choctaw Nation	CHOCTAW	Common
Osage Nation	OSAGE	Sometimes
Citizen Potawatomi Nation	CPN	Sometimes
Seminole Nation	SEMINOLE	Sometimes
Comanche Nation	COMANCHE	Sometimes
Kiowa Tribe	KIOWA	Sometimes
Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes	C&A	Sometimes
Absentee Shawnee Tribe	ABS. SHAWNEE	Sometimes
United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians	UKB	Sometimes
Apache Tribe of Oklahoma	APACHE	Rare
Caddo Nation	CADDO	Rare
Delaware Nation	DELAWARE	Rare
Delaware Tribe of Indians	DEL. TRIBE	Rare
Eastern Shawnee Tribe	E. SHAWNEE	Rare
Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma	IOWA	Rare
Kaw Nation	KAW	Rare
Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma	KICKAPOO	Rare
Miami Tribe of Oklahoma	MIAMI	Rare
Modoc Nation	MODOC	Rare
Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma	OTTAWA	Rare
Otoe-Missouria Tribe	OTOE-MO.	Rare
Pawnee Nation	PAWNEE	Rare
Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma	PEORIA	Rare
Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma	PONCA	Rare
Quapaw Nation	QUAPAW	Rare
Sac and Fox Nation	SAC & FOX	Rare
Seneca-Cayuga Nation	SEN.-CAYUGA	Rare
Shawnee Tribe	SHAWNEE	Rare
Tonkawa Tribe of Oklahoma	TONKAWA	Rare
Wichita and Affiliated Tribes	WICHITA	Rare
Wyandotte Nation	WYANDOTTE	Rare

Minnesota

Nation	On the plate	How often you'll see one
Red Lake Nation	RED LAKE	Sometimes
Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa	FOND DU LAC	Sometimes
Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe	LEECH LAKE	Sometimes
White Earth Nation	WHITE EARTH	Sometimes
Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe	MILLE LACS	Sometimes
Bois Forte Band of Chippewa	BOIS FORTE	Rare

Wisconsin

Nation	On the plate	How often you'll see one
Oneida Nation	ONEIDA	Sometimes
Menominee Nation	MENOMINEE	Sometimes
Ho-Chunk Nation	HO-CHUNK	Sometimes
Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa	BAD RIVER	Sometimes
Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe	LCO	Sometimes
Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa	LAC DU FLAM.	Sometimes
Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa	RED CLIFF	Rare
St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin	ST. CROIX	Rare

Michigan

Nation	On the plate	How often you'll see one
Keweenaw Bay Indian Community	KEWEENAW	Rare
Bay Mills Indian Community	BAY MILLS	Rare
Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe	SAGINAW	Rare

North Dakota

Nation	On the plate	How often you'll see one
MHA Nation (Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara)	MHA	Sometimes
Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians	TURTLE MTN.	Sometimes
Spirit Lake Nation	SPIRIT LAKE	Rare

Kansas

Nation	On the plate	How often you'll see one
Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation	PRAIRIE BAND	Rare
Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas	KICKAPOO KS	Rare
Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska	IOWA KS-NE	Rare

Washington

Nation	On the plate	How often you'll see one
Yakama Nation	YAKAMA	Sometimes
Spokane Tribe of Indians	SPOKANE	Rare

A fun fact for every state

Spotted a new state? Read its fact out loud. These are the same facts RoadTripKit shows on each plate's card.

State	Capital	Fun fact
Alabama	Montgomery	Huntsville, Alabama, built the rockets that took astronauts to the Moon. It is called "Rocket City."
Alaska	Juneau	Alaska is the biggest state. It is more than twice the size of Texas!
Arizona	Phoenix	The Grand Canyon in Arizona is about a mile deep.
Arkansas	Little Rock	At Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas, you can dig for real diamonds and keep what you find.
California	Sacramento	California has the tallest trees in the world, the redwoods, and the lowest place in North America, Death Valley.
Colorado	Denver	Denver, Colorado, is a mile high. One step at the state capitol is marked exactly one mile above sea level.
Connecticut	Hartford	The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, was built in Connecticut. You can tour it today.
Delaware	Dover	Delaware was the first state to approve the U.S. Constitution, so it is called "The First State."
Florida	Tallahassee	Florida has the longest coastline of the lower 48 states.
Georgia	Atlanta	Georgia grows more peanuts than any other state.
Hawaii	Honolulu	Hawaii is the only state made up entirely of islands.
Idaho	Boise	Idaho grows about one out of every three potatoes in America.
Illinois	Springfield	Chicago, Illinois, is home to Willis Tower, once the tallest building in the world.
Indiana	Indianapolis	The Indianapolis 500 car race has been held in Indiana since 1911.
Iowa	Des Moines	Iowa has more pigs than people. Many more!
Kansas	Topeka	Kansas is in the middle of the lower 48 states. The center point is near Lebanon, Kansas.
Kentucky	Frankfort	Fort Knox in Kentucky guards a huge stash of America's gold.
Louisiana	Baton Rouge	Louisiana has parishes instead of counties.
Maine	Augusta	Maine is the only state whose name has just one syllable.
Maryland	Annapolis	"The Star-Spangled Banner" was written about a battle at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland.
Massachusetts	Boston	The Pilgrims held a famous harvest feast in Massachusetts in 1621, remembered as the first Thanksgiving.
Michigan	Lansing	Michigan touches four of the five Great Lakes.
Minnesota	Saint Paul	Minnesota is the "Land of 10,000 Lakes," but it really has more than 11,000.
Mississippi	Jackson	Mississippi is named after the Mississippi River, which runs along its western border.
Missouri	Jefferson City	The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri, is the tallest arch in the world.
Montana	Helena	Montana is nicknamed "Big Sky Country" for its wide-open views.
Nebraska	Lincoln	Kool-Aid was invented in Hastings, Nebraska.
Nevada	Carson City	Nevada is the driest state. It gets less rain than any other.
New Hampshire	Concord	New Hampshire's motto, "Live Free or Die," is printed right on its license plates.
New Jersey	Trenton	Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, a machine that plays recorded sound, in New Jersey.
New Mexico	Santa Fe	New Mexico has an official state question: "Red or green?" It is asking which chile you want!
New York	Albany	The Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor was a gift from France.
North Carolina	Raleigh	The Wright brothers made the first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1903.
North Dakota	Bismarck	Theodore Roosevelt ran a cattle ranch in North Dakota, and a national park there is named after him.
Ohio	Columbus	Seven U.S. presidents were born in Ohio.
Oklahoma	Oklahoma City	Oklahoma is home to 39 Native American tribal nations.
Oregon	Salem	Crater Lake in Oregon is the deepest lake in the United States.
Pennsylvania	Harrisburg	The Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Rhode Island	Providence	Rhode Island is the smallest state. You can drive across it in under an hour.
South Carolina	Columbia	South Carolina grows more peaches than any state except California.
South Dakota	Pierre	Mount Rushmore in South Dakota has four presidents carved into the mountain.
Tennessee	Nashville	Nashville, Tennessee, is nicknamed "Music City."
Texas	Austin	Texas was its own country, the Republic of Texas, for almost 10 years.
Utah	Salt Lake City	Utah's Great Salt Lake is so salty that people float in it easily.
Vermont	Montpelier	Vermont makes more maple syrup than any other state.
Virginia	Richmond	Eight U.S. presidents were born in Virginia, more than in any other state.
Washington	Olympia	Washington grows more apples than any other state.
Washington, D.C.	—	Washington, D.C., isn't part of any state. It was set up just to be the nation's capital.
West Virginia	Charleston	West Virginia is the only state that sits completely inside the Appalachian Mountains.
Wisconsin	Madison	Wisconsin makes more cheese than any other state.
Wyoming	Cheyenne	Yellowstone, the world's first national park, is mostly in Wyoming.

U.S. territories

Territory	Capital	Fun fact
Puerto Rico	San Juan	Puerto Rico has bays where the water glows blue at night, lit up by tiny living things.
U.S. Virgin Islands	Charlotte Amalie	The U.S. Virgin Islands are the only place in the U.S. where people drive on the left.
Guam	Hagåtña	Guam's motto is "Where America's Day Begins," because it is across the International Date Line.
American Samoa	Pago Pago	American Samoa is the only U.S. territory south of the equator.

Canada

Province or territory	Capital	Fun fact
British Columbia	Victoria	The capital, Victoria, is on Vancouver Island, not in the city of Vancouver.
Alberta	Edmonton	Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta is one of the best places in the world to find dinosaur fossils.
Saskatchewan	Regina	Saskatchewan's borders are all drawn lines. None of them follow a river or a coast.
Manitoba	Winnipeg	Churchill, Manitoba, is called the "Polar Bear Capital of the World."
Ontario	Toronto	Niagara Falls sits on the border between Ontario and New York.
Québec	Québec City	Québec is Canada's biggest province, and most people there speak French.
New Brunswick	Fredericton	The Bay of Fundy, next to New Brunswick, has the highest tides in the world.
Nova Scotia	Halifax	Nova Scotia means "New Scotland" in Latin.
Prince Edward Island	Charlottetown	Prince Edward Island is Canada's smallest province, and the home of Anne of Green Gables.
Newfoundland and Labrador	St. John's	Newfoundland has its own time zone, set half an hour off from its neighbors.
Yukon	Whitehorse	In the 1890s, thousands of people rushed to the Yukon to dig for gold in the Klondike Gold Rush.
Northwest Territories	Yellowknife	Yellowknife is one of the best places on Earth to see the northern lights.
Nunavut	Iqaluit	Nunavut is Canada's newest territory. It was created in 1999.

Mexico's 32 states each have their own plates too. You'll see them most in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California.

Ways to change it up

Plate alphabet: find A to Z, in order, in the letters on license plates.
Plate phrases: turn the three letters on a plate into a sentence. KMB becomes "Kids Make Breakfast." Funniest one wins.
Plate math: add up the numbers on a plate. First to call the right total gets a point.
Color the map: print a blank U.S. map and color each state as you find it.

Questions

How many license plates are there to find?

The classic game has 51: the 50 states and Washington, D.C. Add the 4 U.S. territories, 13 Canadian provinces and territories, 32 Mexican states and 59 Tribal Nations, and there are 159 plates in all.

What is the rarest license plate to see?

In the lower 48, Hawaii, since a car has to be shipped across the ocean to get here. Rarer still are the U.S. territories (Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa) and Canada's northern territories.

Do Tribal Nation plates count?

They should. They're real plates issued by sovereign nations, and finding one is a great chance to learn about the nation that made it. RoadTripKit counts them for 15 points, or 25 for the rarest.

Is there an app for the license plate game?

RoadTripKit has a License Plate Hunt with a tile map of every state, Canada, Mexico and Tribal Nations. Every phone in the car shares one board, plates are colored by who found them, and each one has a fact card. It's free in any browser and works with no signal.

Play it on every phone in the car RoadTripKit keeps score for the whole family: license plates, bingo, the ABC hunt, live trivia and more. Free in any browser, no account, and it works with no signal.

Play free in your browser

The license plate game