Busfahrer (Ride the Bus)

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Setup
3. Phase 1: Four questions
4. Phase 2: The pyramid
5. Phase 3: Riding the bus
6. Winning the game
7. Tips for beginners
8. Variants

Overview

Busfahrer – German for "bus driver", in English-speaking countries known as Ride the Bus – is a party game of guessing and luck in three phases. First everyone collects four cards by guessing things about them. Then a pyramid of cards is turned up, and every card of yours that matches lets you hand out penalty points to the others. Whoever is left with the most cards becomes the bus driver and has to "drive the bus" through a diamond of cards alone. The player with the fewest penalty points at the end wins.

• Players: 2–8.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck without jokers, and pencil and paper – or a pile of tokens (chips, matches) – for the penalty points.

Ranks: from low to high 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 J Q K A. The Ace is high.

Setup

Choose a dealer. The dealer shuffles and deals all cards in the game – and plays along like everyone else. Everyone starts with 0 penalty points.

Phase 1: Four questions

There are four rounds. In each round the dealer goes round the table clockwise, starting with the player on their left. The dealer plays too and answers last, then deals their own card. Each player first answers the question for that round, then the dealer gives them the top card of the deck face up. If the guess is wrong, the player gets 1 penalty point. Keep your cards face up in front of you.

1. Red or black? – guess the colour of your first card.
2. Higher or lower? – will your second card be higher or lower than your first? If it has the same rank, the guess is wrong.
3. Inside or outside? – will your third card's rank lie between your first two cards (inside) or above or below them (outside)? A card of the same rank as one of them counts as inside.
4. Which suit? – guess ♠, ♥, ♦ or ♣ for your fourth card.

Example: Anna says "red" and gets the 9♦ – correct. She says "higher" and gets the 4♣ – wrong, 1 penalty point. Her cards are 9 and 4; she says "inside" and gets a 7 – correct. For the fourth card she says "hearts" and gets the Q♠ – wrong, 1 more penalty point.

Phase 2: The pyramid

The dealer lays 10 cards face down in a pyramid: 4 cards in the bottom row, 3 above, then 2, and 1 at the top.

The dealer turns the cards face up one at a time, row by row, starting with the bottom row. Each time a card is turned up, every player who has a card of the same rank (suit doesn't matter) places it on the pyramid card – it is out of play – and hands out penalty points to other players. They may give them all to one player or split them. The number depends on the row:

If you have two cards of the same rank, you may place both and hand out points for each.

Example: The first card of the 3rd row is a 7. Ben still has the 7♥, so he places it and gives 3 penalty points – 2 to Carla and 1 to Anna.

When the top card has been turned, the player with the most cards left becomes the bus driver. If several players are tied, the one holding the lowest card becomes the bus driver; if that is tied as well, each of them draws a card from the deck, and the lowest card drives.

Phase 3: Riding the bus

Collect all the cards and shuffle them. The dealer lays out 16 cards face down in a diamond of seven rows: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 cards. The rest of the deck is the draw pile.

The bus driver "drives" from the top of the diamond to the bottom:

1. In each row, the driver chooses one card and turns it face up.
2. If it is a number card (2–10), the driver moves on to the next row.
3. If it is a J, Q, K or A, the driver gets as many penalty points as there are cards in that row (1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2 or 1). All cards turned up on this ride are removed and replaced with new face-down cards from the draw pile, and the driver starts again at the top.

The ride is over when the driver turns up a number card in the bottom row. If the draw pile runs out, the ride ends as well.

Example: Carla drives. Top row: 5 – go on. 2nd row: 8 – go on. 3rd row: K – 3 penalty points. The three cards are replaced and she starts again at the top.

Winning the game

After the ride, add up everyone's penalty points. The player with the fewest penalty points wins (a tie shares the win). You can play several games in a row and keep a running total.

Tips for beginners

• Red or black is a coin toss, but higher or lower isn't: after a 3 say "higher", after a Q say "lower".
• Inside or outside: if your first two cards are far apart (e.g. 3 and K), say "inside"; if they are close, say "outside".
• In the pyramid, the top rows are worth the most – cards you still hold then are valuable.
• In the bus, the middle rows cost the most; there is no way to choose well, so just enjoy the ride.

Variants

Optional – agree before you start.

• Rising stakes in phase 1: a wrong guess costs 1, 2, 3 and 4 penalty points in rounds 1–4, and a correct guess lets you hand out the same number to someone else.
• Counting the cards: in the bus, a face card costs as many penalty points as the number of cards turned on this ride so far, instead of the row size.
• Bigger pyramid: some groups lay 5-4-3-2-1 or 6-5-4-3-2-1 cards; the points still rise by one for each row.
• Ride the Bus, American style: the bus driver answers the four questions of phase 1 again in a row with fresh cards; after each wrong answer they get a penalty point and start again from question 1, until they get all four right.