Bus Driver

Bus Driver is three short drinking card games stacked into one, and only the last one has a loser. The first part is guessing, the second is a pyramid, and the third is the punishment: whoever ends the pyramid holding the most cards is the bus driver, and the bus driver rides the bus. You will hear it called Ride the Bus in the US and Busfahrer in Germany. Same road.

What you need

• A standard 52-card deck
• A drink for every player
• A dealer who is not playing the first round, or is willing to deal and play
• 2 to 10 players (4 to 8 is best)

Setup

1. Shuffle and pick a dealer. The dealer flips every card in the guessing round and builds the pyramid, so pick someone who can still shuffle.
2. Clear space in the middle of the table for the pyramid. It needs room for a row of five cards with four rows stacked above it.
3. Agree on the bus before you start. Four questions or face cards (see variations). Choosing after someone has lost is how arguments start.

How to play Bus Driver

1. Red or black. Each player in turn guesses the color of their first card, then the dealer flips it in front of them. Right, give 1 sip to anyone. Wrong, take 1 sip.
2. Higher or lower. Each player guesses whether their second card will be higher or lower than their first. Right, give 2 sips. Wrong, take 2. A card of the same value is wrong.
3. Inside or outside. Each player guesses whether their third card falls between their first two cards in value or outside that range. Right, give 3. Wrong, take 3. Matching either card is wrong.
4. Pick the suit. Each player names a suit for their fourth card. Right, give 4 sips. Wrong, take 4. Keep all four cards face up in front of you; you need them for the pyramid.
5. Build the pyramid from the rest of the deck. Five face-down cards in the base, then four, three, two, and one on top. Bottom row is worth 1 drink, then 2, 3, 4, and 5 for the peak.
6. Flip the pyramid one card at a time, base row first. Any player holding a card of the same value can lay it on the flipped card and give out drinks worth the row. Two matches means two lots of drinks. You may hold a match back for a higher row, but a card still in your hand at the end counts against you.
7. Whoever has the most cards left rides the bus. Count hands when the top card is flipped. Ties go to whoever holds the higher card.
8. Ride the bus. The dealer shuffles everything and lays out a fresh row of face-down cards, six is standard. The bus driver guesses the four questions in order on the first four cards, then red or black for the rest. A wrong guess means a drink, the row is replaced, and they start from the first card again. Four cards right in a row, and then the remainder, ends the ride.

Variations and house rules

• Face card bus. Instead of guessing, the dealer flips a row of ten cards. Number cards are safe. A Jack is 1 drink, a Queen 2, a King 3, an Ace 4, and any face card also resets the row. The ride ends on ten clean cards or when the deck runs out. Faster to explain, and the rider has no control at all, which some people prefer.
• Give and take rows. The version this page used to describe. Instead of a pyramid, lay two rows of four face-down cards and name one the give row and one the take row. Flip them in pairs. A match on the give row hands out drinks, a match on the take row means you drink, and both rows climb from 1 sip to 4. Most cards left still rides the bus.
• Heaven and hell. The German Busfahrer pyramid, where rows alternate between hell (hand out the drinks) and heaven (drink them yourself). Nobody wants to reveal a match on a heaven row, so the memory of who held what becomes part of the game.
• Bluffing pyramid. Matches are claimed without showing the card. Anyone given drinks can call bullshit; the claimant shows or drinks double. This is Beeramid grafted onto Bus Driver, and it runs long.
• Ties push. In the higher or lower round, a card of equal value is a push: nobody gives, nobody drinks. Softer than the standard “same is wrong”.
• Short bus. A four-card ride for big groups or late nights. The rider only has to land the four questions once. Our house rule when the bus driver is the same person twice in a row.
• Two-player Bus Driver. Skip the pyramid. Whoever drinks more across the four questions rides the bus, and the other player deals it.

Tips

• Play the pyramid cards early unless you are holding a pair. A 1-drink card played now is worth more than a 4-drink card you are still holding when the top flips.
• Remember the cards that have already shown. If three 7s are on the table, a 7 in your hand is safe to sit on until the top row.
• Keep the ride to sips of beer, not shots, and put a cap on it. A bad ride can reset six or seven times, and every reset is another drink for the same person. If the rider is on their fourth reset, call it and move on.
• Let the bus driver deal the next game. They have earned a round of flipping cards instead of guessing them.