Plates: The License Plate Game

Plates turns the classic road-trip license plate game into a race for points. Spot a plate from another state, tap it, and it's yours. The further that plate has travelled to reach you, the more it's worth.

HOW IT WORKS

Points are based on the distance between where you are when you tap and the plate's home state. A neighboring state is worth a point or two; a plate from Hawaii or Alaska spotted in the Midwest is worth a lot. All 50 states and DC are on the board, and each plate can only be claimed once per game.

Set a few bonus plates when you start a game, and whoever finds one earns double points.

PLAY TOGETHER

Seat up to four players in a game. Play as a team and pool everyone's points, or go head to head and keep a score per player. Invite past teammates or anyone by email, and they'll find the invitation waiting in their games list.

Turn on player switching so whoever is holding the phone can log a plate for someone else, like the driver.

HANDS-FREE FOR THE DRIVER

Tap the mic and say the state. Plates logs it and reads back the points. Prefer it quiet? Mute voice responses in Settings. With the phone in a mount, Keep Screen On While Plugged In keeps the board lit for the whole ride.

Drivers: keep your eyes on the road and follow your state's hands-free laws. Plates is best played by passengers.

TRIPS

Group several games into a trip, say one per day over a long holiday. Across a trip, each plate counts once, the earliest find wins, and everyone on the trip is seated automatically in new games.

YOUR TRAIL ON THE MAP

Every find drops a marker where you were when you spotted it, joined in order on the Map tab. When the trip is over, look back at the route you took and what you found along the way.

RESULTS THAT STICK AROUND

When the ride ends, the game's owner finishes it. A finished game keeps its results, every player ranked with the plates they found, and its map.

Sign in with your Google account, and your games sync across devices, so a game started on one phone can be finished on another. Plates works offline on the road and catches up when you're back in range.