How To Play Ride The Bus Card Game

How to Play Ride the Bus Card Game

Have you ever wanted a card game that’s easy to learn but keeps you on your toes? Look no further than “Ride the Bus”! This game is a fun mix of luck and strategy, perfect for game nights, parties, or even just a casual afternoon. The basic concept is simple, but the game can get pretty wild as you go deeper into its stages. Let’s dive into the details so you can become a Ride the Bus pro!

Getting Started with Ride the Bus

Before you can start playing, you need a few things. These are not complicated at all, and you probably have them around the house already.

What You’ll Need

• A Standard Deck of 52 Cards: Jokers are typically removed for this game.
• 2 or More Players: The game works great with any number of people.
• A Flat Surface: A table or floor will do nicely.
• Drinks (Optional, but Recommended): Many people like to play this game with a little something to sip on, but remember to drink responsibly!

Setting Up the Game

Setting up “Ride the Bus” is super easy! First, pick one person to be the dealer. Don’t worry, you’ll all get a chance to be the dealer later. Here’s how to get the game ready:

• Shuffle the Deck: Make sure all the cards are well-mixed.
• Deal Cards: The dealer hands out four cards face down to each player. These are your cards for the entire first phase of the game. Don’t look at them yet!
• Prepare the Layout: The dealer places the remaining deck face down in the center of the playing area. This is where you’ll pull from in later rounds.

The First Round: Guessing Game

This phase is all about making some educated guesses. It’s pretty simple, actually. The game focuses on guessing certain traits about the four cards the players have.

Phase One: The Color Guess

The dealer will start calling out a “color”, either ‘red’ or ‘black’. Each player, in turn, will guess if their cards are going to be red or black. Let’s breakdown the process.

• Starting with Player One: Player one says either ‘red’ or ‘black’. If any of their four cards are that color, they are safe for this round. If none of their cards are of the stated color, they must take a drink.
• Continue Around: The dealer will then move to the next player, and they’ll do the same thing. All players guess ‘red’ or ‘black’. Once all players make their guesses, the round ends.
• Revealing Cards: Once all players have guessed. Everyone reveals their four cards to see how many they guessed correctly.
• Who Drinks: Players who did not have at least one card of the stated color have to drink.

Phase Two: Higher or Lower

This round is all about guessing if the card’s value will be higher or lower than the previous guess. The game uses this number scheme: Ace is always low, and face cards are valued at 11(Jacks), 12(Queens), and 13(Kings). So, after the color guessing round, now we move on to the number guess.

• The First Player: The first player picks one of their four cards. They call if their card is ‘higher’ or ‘lower’ than a 7. If the card is 7 they drink.
• Continue Guessing: The next player goes, the next player goes. If the guess is incorrect, then they take a drink.
• Revealing Cards: Once all players have guessed. Everyone reveals their four cards to see how many they guessed correctly.
• Who Drinks: Players who did not have at least one card of the stated value higher or lower than 7, or a 7 have to drink.

Phase Three: Inside or Outside

In this phase we have to guess if the value of the card is in between the two values that we have already played, or if its outside of those two values.

• The First Player: The first player picks one of their four cards. They call if their card is in between the values of ‘higher’ or ‘lower’, or if its outside of the range of the high and low number.
• Continue Guessing: The next player goes, the next player goes. If the guess is incorrect, then they take a drink.
• Revealing Cards: Once all players have guessed. Everyone reveals their four cards to see how many they guessed correctly.
• Who Drinks: Players who did not have at least one card of the stated range have to drink.

Phase Four: Matching Suit

In the final phase of the first round we are now focused on guessing the correct suit of our card.

• The First Player: The first player picks one of their four cards. They will state which suit their card is. If their card is of that suit they are safe.
• Continue Guessing: The next player goes, the next player goes. If the guess is incorrect, then they take a drink.
• Revealing Cards: Once all players have guessed. Everyone reveals their four cards to see how many they guessed correctly.
• Who Drinks: Players who did not have at least one card of the stated suit have to drink.

The Second Round: The Pyramid

Okay, now that you’ve survived the guessing game, it’s time to move on to the pyramid! This stage involves more cards from the deck and a different kind of strategy. This is where things really start to pick up!

Building the Pyramid

The dealer will now create a pyramid using the face-down deck. Here is how to make the pyramid:

• First Row: Deal one card face-up.
• Second Row: Deal two cards face-up on top of the first row, overlapping it slightly.
• Third Row: Add three face-up cards on top of the second row, overlapping it slightly.
• Fourth Row: Continue adding rows until you reach the bottom row with six cards. You should now have a pyramid with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 cards in each row, with a total of 21 cards.

It’s best if you can see all the cards in the pyramid. When you set up, you may want to place the cards with space in between, so the players can see each cards.

How the Pyramid Works

The pyramid introduces a new rule: each row corresponds to a number of drinks a player has to take.

• First Row: The first card equals one drink.
• Second Row: Each card here equals two drinks.
• Third Row: Each card in this row means three drinks.
• Fourth Row: These cards equals four drinks each.
• Fifth Row: Each card here equals five drinks.
• Sixth Row: The bottom row of the pyramid equals six drinks per card.

Playing the Pyramid

This is where your four cards from the first phase come in handy! Let’s break it down.

• Starting with Player One: The first player will pick one of the cards in their hand. If that card matches any of the cards in the pyramid, then the player gets to get rid of the card.
• Distributing the Drinks: Once they have matched their cards to one in the pyramid, they will decide who will drink. For example, if Player 1 matches with a card in the 4th row, then player one decides another player who will drink 4 drinks.
• Continuing around the Circle: The game moves clockwise to the next player. They will do the same thing.
• Finishing the Round: Once all players have matched all cards in their hand, then the round ends.

The Third Round: Riding the Bus

Okay, this is where the game is known for, and usually the most fun and intense part of the whole thing. After the pyramid, the player who has not yet finished their four cards, has to “Ride The Bus.” Don’t worry, no actual buses are involved!

The “Bus Rider”

The first player who could not match all their cards is the “bus rider.” This player will keep drawing cards until they have gone through the full bus.

The Bus Layout

The “Bus” is a vertical line of cards. The dealer will lay out the cards one by one. The number of cards depends on how many cards are in your hand.

• Starting the Bus:The dealer will start with the first card at the bottom of the line, or the ‘bus stop’.
• Going up the Bus: The dealer will place the next card above the first card, creating the second stop of the bus. This continues until we have enough cards to go through the bus.

Playing the Bus

The bus rider will now go through the bus. Each stop of the bus corresponds with a certain value, which will impact how many cards the player needs to get through the bus.

• The Start: The bus rider will start by flipping over the first card.
• First Card: If the first card matches any of the 4 cards in your hand, you will move to the next card on the bus.
• If it does Not Match: If the first card in the bus does not match the four cards in your hand, you will start the bus from the beginning. Each time the bus rider has to reset, they will drink a drink.
• Finishing the Bus: The bus rider will have to go through all the cards of the bus and match the cards in their hands. Once you get to the end, without missing a stop, you are done “Riding The Bus”.

Winning the Game

There’s no real “winner” in Ride the Bus, but the goal is to be the last person to successfully match all of their cards. Everyone plays together until someone is done riding the bus.

Variations and House Rules

Like any great card game, “Ride the Bus” is open to a little creativity! Here are some popular variations and house rules you might want to try.

Adding More Cards

Some people like to add more cards to the pyramid or even start with more than four cards in your hand for a longer game. This works well with larger groups.

Different Drink Rules

You can change how many drinks people take at different stages, you can even make specific rules like, a certain card in the pyramid makes all players drink.

Themed Rounds

Why not make specific rounds have specific themes? One round could be “super suit” where a player takes 2 drinks if they dont match the suit.

Remember, the most important part of “Ride the Bus” is having fun with friends! Feel free to make up your own rules or variations to keep the game fresh and exciting.