The Top 10 Game: Your Car Ride Boredom Has Been Solved.

February 25, 20263 min read

If you’ve ever been stuck on a long road trip, ran out of things to talk about at lunch, or just wanted to spark some friendly competition into the room, I have the perfect recipe for you.

I believe this all started back when I was travelling to the Global Student Startup Competition in Korea with our team of five Finnish guys. After spending hours admiring the towering landscapes of Seoul through the windows of cars, planes, and buses, a random discussion about population density ended with us trying to guess the most populated cities in the world.

By the time we hit the city center, we were hooked.

The format is simple:

One person grabs their phone and pulls up a Top 10 list.
Everyone else tries to guess the entries (the order doesn't necessarily matter).
The group discusses and debates until they reach a consensus.
They announce their picks one at a time, e.g., "Delhi, final answer”. The "Quiz Master" reveals if they're right.
Repeat until all 10 have been guessed.

To keep the stakes high, we usually allow three strikes. Three wrong answers and the quiz is ”failed”.

It’s social, educational, and super engaging. You’re trying to crush the list as a team, and the debates almost always end up being hilariously intense. Perhaps I’m a simple man to entertain, but it works every time.

Why It Works

During that Korea trip, this became our default setting. Every Uber, every subway ride, every dinner: we were constantly hunting for new lists to conquer. On my recent travels through Southeast Asia, it has basically solved the problem of group boredom. It’s also a great way to engage with where you are; if you're traveling through Europe, try guessing the most visited cities in the EU, for example.

I’ve found that geography-based lists are often the most playable ones. Since most people have a general grasp of the world map, everyone can contribute, and very rarely does one person end up dominating the game. Still, if you’re creative enough and understand the group, the possibilities for different top 10 topics are endless.

When I think about it, almost without exception, we end up exhausting our three strikes before finishing the list. But that’s the fun of it. It’s curiously stimulating for the players and eye-opening for the Quiz Master, who gets to sit back and watch the group struggle through their own logic and weird heuristics.

Nowadays, I always have a couple of list topics ready with me. I’ve amassed a "starter pack" of lists that have been hits so far with different groups of people that I’ve played with. Maybe save a few for a rainy day!

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