Spotting the Letter Z

Z is the hardest letter in the game, and it's usually the last one anyone checks off. Zoo Sign, the game's own example, only helps if your route happens to pass a city with a zoo. Most players need a backup plan.

Save this letter for whenever your route passes through a populated area: rural highway almost never hands you a Z, but a mid-size city usually will within a few minutes of driving through it.

Common Things to Spot

• Zoo highway sign (near larger cities)
• Zaxby's or similar Z-named restaurant chain (common in the South)
• Zone sign (school zone, construction zone)

Rarer Finds Worth Watching For

• An actual zoo entrance
• Ziplining or adventure park sign
• A license plate or business name starting with Z

Spotting Tip

Save Z for populated stretches of your trip: restaurant chains and zone signage near cities are far more common than anything you'll find on empty rural highway, so this is one letter where driving through a city helps.

Fun Fact

Z is one of the least-used letters to start English words (only a small handful, including X, are rarer), which is part of why it's saved for last both alphabetically and functionally in this game. If you've completed the alphabet, Z was almost certainly your final tile, and probably the one that took the longest.

Letter Trivia

Z has a stranger history than most letters. According to tradition, the Romans removed it from their alphabet because Latin no longer needed the sound, then brought it back a few centuries later specifically to spell Greek loanwords like "zephyr" and "zodiac."

For Younger Players

Z is the hardest letter for kids and adults alike. If your route passes a zoo or a restaurant with a Z name, point it out together: this is usually a letter the whole car celebrates finishing.

Ready to check Z off your list? Head back to the game, or browse the full A-Z guide.