What you need
A standard 52-card deck (no jokers) and a drink for each player. Three to eight players, one of whom acts as dealer for the whole game. A game takes about 15 to 25 minutes. Aces are high throughout.
Ride the Bus is an adult drinking game. Play it only with people of legal drinking age (21 in the United States), never pressure anyone to drink, keep every “drink” to a small sip, have water on the table and drink some between phases, and never drive afterwards. It plays just as well with soft drinks, or with points: a wrong guess or a pyramid card simply scores a point against you.
Setup
Choose a dealer, shuffle, and sit in a circle. No cards are dealt at the start: the dealer turns cards from the top of the deck as players guess. The dealer can play too by dealing to themselves in turn.
How to play
The game has three phases. Groups agree drink values before they start; the numbers below are the most common.
Phase 1: four guessing rounds
The dealer goes round the table four times, starting on their left. Each round, you make a guess, the dealer turns the top card and places it face up in front of you, right or wrong. Guess right and you give one drink to another player; guess wrong and you take one.
- Red or black? Guess the colour of your first card.
- Higher or lower? Will the next card be higher or lower than your first? A card of the same rank counts as wrong.
- Between or outside? Will the third card fall between your first two cards’ values or outside them? If it matches either card, most groups count it as outside, and some as an automatic drink.
- Which suit? Guess hearts, diamonds, clubs or spades. Some groups let a correct suit give out more drinks, since it is the hardest guess.
At the end of phase 1, everyone picks up their four cards.
Phase 2: the pyramid
The dealer lays fifteen cards face down in a pyramid: five on the bottom row, then four, three, two and one. Starting at the bottom, the dealer turns one card at a time. If you hold a card of the same rank, you may lay it on the pyramid and give out drinks: one for the bottom row, two for the next, up to five for the top card.
You may hold a match back hoping to play it on a higher row, but every card still in your hand at the end counts against you.
Phase 3: riding the bus
When the pyramid is finished, the player with the most cards left rides the bus. Ties go to the player with the highest card, then to a fresh draw.
The rider faces the same four questions in order (red or black, higher or lower, between or outside, suit) using new cards from the deck. A wrong answer costs a drink and sends them back to the first question. Some groups instead flip a fixed row of cards, often five, and the rider guesses red or black for each.
Scoring and winning
Nobody wins outright. The game ends when the rider gets all four answers right in a row, or when the deck runs out. Agree in advance on a maximum number of attempts so nobody is stuck on the bus.
Common variants
- Give and take pyramid. Rows alternate between “give” rows (hand out drinks) and “take” rows (you drink).
- Face-down pyramid. Players keep their four cards face down during phase 2 and must remember them.
- Short bus. The rider only answers three questions, which keeps the last phase quick.
- Face card bus. The dealer turns cards and the rider drinks only on face cards and aces.
- Points, not drinks. Keep a tally on paper instead of drinking. The rider still has to get four guesses right in a row, just for the glory.
Tips for first games
- Write the drink values for each pyramid row on a sheet in the middle of the table.
- A bus ride can go on for a long time. Cap it (for example, three resets) and let the rider take water instead of a sip.
- Use the odds: if your first card is a queen, “lower” is the better guess.
Frequently asked questions
Are aces high or low in Ride the Bus? High. The ranking runs from 2 (low) to ace (high).
What happens if the card matches in higher or lower? It counts as a wrong guess, so you drink.
Who has to ride the bus? The player holding the most cards after the pyramid. On a tie, the higher card rides.
How many players can play Ride the Bus? Three to eight is the usual range. With two, the pyramid has too few targets for drinks.
