Official Ride The Bus Rules

Last Updated on July 3, 2025 by The Official Game Rules Team

Ride the Bus is a fast-paced and intense drinking game that challenges players’ memory, luck, and ability to hold their drinks. Played with a standard deck of cards, the game consists of multiple rounds where players try to avoid being the unlucky one who has to “ride the bus” at the end. Whether you’re playing with friends at a party or during a night in, this game is sure to bring laughs and plenty of drinks!

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see our disclosures here.

How to Play Ride The Bus

---

What You’ll Need

• A standard 52-card deck
• A group of 3 or more players
• Plenty of drinks

Setup

Shuffle the deck and have all players sit in a circle. The game consists of two main parts: the qualification round and the bus ride.

---

Part 1: Qualification Round

The qualification round consists of four mini-games, where players must guess card characteristics.

1. Red or Black?
   • The dealer asks each player to guess if the top card will be red (hearts/diamonds) or black (spades/clubs).
   • If they’re wrong, they take a drink.
2. Higher or Lower?
   • The dealer reveals the first card and asks the player if the next card will be higher or lower.
   • If wrong, they drink.
3. Inside or Outside?
   • Players guess whether the third card’s value falls between or outside the values of their first two cards.
   • If incorrect, they drink.
4. Suit Guess
   • Players must guess the suit of the next card (hearts, diamonds, spades, clubs).
   • If wrong, they drink.

After this round, players receive the cards they guessed on. The player with the most incorrect guesses typically has the highest chance of riding the bus.

---

Part 2: Building the Pyramid

1. The dealer arranges cards face down in a pyramid shape:
   • Row 1: 1 card
   • Row 2: 2 cards
   • Row 3: 3 cards
   • Row 4: 4 cards
   • Row 5: 5 cards
2. Cards are flipped one at a time, starting from the bottom row. Players with a matching card in their hand place it down and assign drinks to others.
3. The number of drinks assigned depends on the row:
   • Row 5: 1 drink
   • Row 4: 2 drinks
   • Row 3: 3 drinks
   • Row 2: 4 drinks
   • Row 1: 5 drinks

---

Part 3: Riding the Bus

• The player with the most remaining cards must ride the bus.
• The dealer flips five cards one at a time. The player must correctly guess red or black for each one.
• Every incorrect guess = one drink.
• If they get all five wrong, they must restart.

Once completed, the game resets for another round, or players can switch games!