Ride the Bus Rules
Who will end up on the bus tonight?
Game Details
How do you play Ride the Bus drinking game?
The drinking game Ride the Bus rules are simple to learn and is played with a deck of playing cards without jokers. Shuffle the cards well and start the game by asking each player a question per round. In each round, the player receives a card. For every wrong answer, the player must drink. The four rounds are as follows:
Round 1: Red or black?
Guess the color of your first card: red (hearts / diamonds) or black (spades / clubs).
Question 2: Higher or lower?
Guess if your next card is higher or lower than your first card. On a matching card, everyone drinks!
Question 3: Inside or outside?
Guess if your next card falls inside (between) or outside the values of your first two cards.
Question 4: What suit?
Guess if your next card has the same suit as one of your previous cards.
The Pyramid
After each player has four cards, a pyramid of 15 face-down cards is built. This starts with a row of five cards at the bottom and ends with one card at the top.
The cards are turned over one by one, from the bottom to the top. Do you have a card that is turned over? If so, place it on top [of the matching card] and deal out the number of sips corresponding to the row (e.g., one sip for the bottom row, two for the second row, and so on).
Who will ride the bus?
The player with the most cards left at the end loses. In case of a tie, the player with the lowest card wins, and the other player rides the bus. If it’s still a tie, both players ride the bus together.
The Bus
All cards are shuffled again. The loser draws a card to determine the length of the bus. The value of the card (e.g., a ‘6’) is the number of face-down cards placed on the table. Optionally, you can agree on a maximum beforehand, for example, 10 cards, or have an Ace count as 14 cards for more of a challenge.
The loser must then guess for each card, from left to right, whether the new card is higher or lower than the previous one. Guessed correctly? Move on to the next card in the bus. Guessed incorrectly? Drink a sip for the incorrect card. The entire bus is rebuilt with new face-down cards, and you start again at the first card. The bus is only completed when all cards have been guessed correctly in a row.
Frequently Asked Questions about Ride the Bus
How many players can play ride the bus?
You play Ride the Bus with 2 to 8 players. If you want to play with more people, use an extra deck of cards.
What is “Blind Ride the Bus”?
“Blind Ride the Bus” is a variant of Ride the Bus where you place your pyramid cards face-down. This allows you to bluff and still win even if you have bad cards. The basic Ride the Bus rules remain the same.
How long does a game of Ride the Bus take?
A game lasts 10 to 20 minutes on average. More players or extra variants, like a longer bus ride, can extend the playtime.
Ride the Bus Variants
Are you familiar with the basic rules of Ride the Bus and looking for a new challenge? These variants add an extra layer of excitement and fun to the game.
Christmas Tree
Add one extra card to the bottom of the pyramid as a “trunk”. This card is worth 12 sips, so it’s sure to keep you extra warm!
Blind Ride the Bus
During the pyramid phase, everyone places their cards face-down, allowing you to bluff. If your bluff is called, you drink double the number of sips.
Disco or Rainbow
Do you already have three suits? Then on question 4, you can say ‘disco’. If you draw the correct suit (a 25% chance!), everyone else takes a sip!
Rotating Cards
While laying out the pyramid, you can choose to rotate some cards a quarter turn. These cards are then worth double the sips!
Checkpoint
If the bus is long (has many cards), create a checkpoint halfway through. If you guess wrong after the checkpoint, you return to the checkpoint, not to the beginning.
Open Bus
The loser tosses a card in the air. If it lands face-up, the bus is ‘open’. Alternatively, draw another card; its value determines how many cards in the bus are dealt face-up.
Pairs
If a player receives two cards of the same rank, this is known as “Pairs”. All players must take a sip as soon as this occurs.
Ride the Bus Strategy
Tired of always being the loser at Ride the Bus? This game seems like pure luck, but with smart choices, you can significantly improve your chances. Use these mathematical strategies to drink less and win more often!
Red or Black: Count the Cards!
A standard deck has 52 playing cards, 26 of which are black and 26 are red. This simply means you have a 50% chance to guess correctly. However, this only applies to the first player to start. If the first player draws a Queen of Hearts, it means there are only 25 red cards left in the game. This shifts your odds of drawing a black card to 51%.
| Difference | Choice | Chance (%) | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Either | 50% | ⬤ |
| +1 Red | Black | 51% | ⬤ |
| +2 Red | Black | 52% | ⬤ |
| +3 Red | Black | 53,1% | ⬤ |
| +4 Red | Black | 54,2% | ⬤ |
By tracking the drawn red/black cards, the success rate with optimal play can rise as high as 57.8%. Choose the color that has been drawn the least so far, which gives you roughly an extra percent chance for each card difference in the count.
Higher or Lower Strategy Table
By simply looking at the card you already have and counting the number of ranks above and below it, you can increase your odds of being correct. A 7 might seem like the middle, but there are only five ranks below it (2-6) and 7 ranks above it (8-A). Therefore, there’s a 54.9% chance on ‘higher’.
| Card | Choice | Chance (%) | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Higher | 94,1% | ⬤ |
| 3 | Higher | 86,3% | ⬤ |
| 4 | Higher | 78,4% | ⬤ |
| 5 | Higher | 70,6% | ⬤ |
| 6 | Higher | 62.7% | ⬤ |
| 7 | Higher | 54.9% | ⬤ |
| 8 | Either | 47.1% | ⬤ |
| 9 | Lower | 54.9% | ⬤ |
| 10 | Lower | 62.7% | ⬤ |
| J | Lower | 70.6% | ⬤ |
| Q | Lower | 78.4% | ⬤ |
| K | Lower | 86.3% | ⬤ |
| A | Lower | 94.1% | ⬤ |
Average success rate with optimal play: 72.0%. The strategy is simple: choose “higher” for cards ≤7, and “lower” for cards ≥8. With an 8, the odds are 47.1% for both directions.
Inside or Outside Delta Analysis
The “delta” (the difference between your two cards) is the most important factor in round three. If the difference between your two cards is minimal, it is more likely that your next card will fall outside these two values.
| Delta (Difference) | Choice | Chance (%) | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-1 | Outside | 88% | ⬤ |
| 2-3 | Outside | 72% – 80% | ⬤ |
| 4-5 | Outside | 56% – 64% | ⬤ |
| 6-7 | Either | 48.0% | ⬤ |
| 8-9 | Inside | 56% – 64% | ⬤ |
| 10-11 | Inside | 72% – 80% | ⬤ |
| 12 | Inside | 88% | ⬤ |
The optimal strategy is based on the “delta”. The smaller the delta, the more favorable “outside” is. The larger the delta, the more favorable “inside” is. The average success rate with optimal play is approximately 74.3%.
Suit Strategy
The more cards of one suit that have already been seen, the greater the chance of one of the other suits. For example, if 4 hearts, clubs, and diamonds are in play, you have a 32.5% chance when choosing spades.
The base chance is 25%. The success rate with optimal play can rise to approximately 26.5%. The strategy is simple: choose the suit of which the fewest cards have been seen (i.e., the most are left in the deck). This maximizes the chance of success.