Ride the Bus

Setup

• Use a standard 52-card deck without jokers.
• Choose a dealer to manage the four guessing rounds and the pyramid.
• Deal four cards face down in front of each player. Players should not look at their cards until instructed.
• Build a five-row pyramid of face-down cards in the center, with five cards on the bottom row, then four, three, two, and one at the top.

Alternatively, the dealer can deal each player's four cards one at a time as they make their guesses during the opening rounds.

Part 1: The Four Guessing Rounds

Each player works through their four face-down cards, revealing one card per round and making the required guess before it is flipped. A correct guess lets the player assign the listed number of sips to another player. A wrong guess means the player takes that number of sips themselves.

Round 1: Red or Black

Guess whether your card is red or black. Guess correctly to give out 2 sips; guess incorrectly and take 2 sips.

Round 2: Higher or Lower

Guess whether your next card will be higher or lower than your previous card. Guess correctly to give out 4 sips; guess incorrectly and take 4 sips.

Round 3: Outside or In Between

Guess whether your next card's value will fall outside or between the values of your first two cards. Guess correctly to give out 6 sips; guess incorrectly and take 6 sips.

Round 4: Guess the Suit

Guess hearts, diamonds, clubs, or spades before revealing your final card. Guess correctly to give out 8 sips; guess incorrectly and take 8 sips.

Agree on the card ranking before starting. Usual rules place Ace as 1 (low), but alternatively you can make Ace 14 (high). Decide how ties and repeated values work for the higher/lower and outside/in-between rounds.

Goal Post: Bonus Call

During the Higher or Lower round or the Outside or In Between round, a player can make a bonus call of "Goal Post" before their card is revealed.

• Correct guess: Triple the number of sips you can assign.
• Wrong guess: Take triple the number of sips for that round.

For example, a successful Goal Post call during the Higher or Lower round lets you assign 12 sips instead of 4.

Part 2: The Pyramid

After everyone has revealed their four cards, the dealer turns over the pyramid one card at a time, starting with the bottom row and working upward.

Drink Values by Row

The pyramid has five rows, so the standard values from bottom to top are 2, 4, 6, 8, and 16 sips.

Matching Cards

• If a revealed pyramid card matches the value of a card in your hand, you can play your matching card and assign drinks to another player.
• The number of sips you assign depends on the row where the pyramid card appears.
• If you have multiple matching cards, you can play all of them and assign drinks for each match.
• You can hold a match instead of playing it, hoping to use it on a higher row later.
• Cards remaining in your hand at the end count against you when determining who rides the bus.

You can choose whether to play a match immediately or save it for a higher-value row. Saving cards can pay off, but every unplayed card increases your chance of being the one who rides the bus.

Part 3: Who Rides the Bus?

After the dealer reveals every card in the pyramid and all matches have been resolved, each player counts the cards left in their hand.

• The player with the most remaining cards loses and must ride the bus.
• If players tie for the most cards, the player with the highest-value card among their remaining cards loses.
• If the tie still remains, each tied player draws a random card from the deck. The player who draws the higher card rides the bus.

ALternatively, you can just have both losing players ride the bus.

Part 4: Riding the Bus

The losing player rides the bus solo, completing the four guessing challenges in order. They must get through all four correctly to finish the ride.

1. Red or Black: Guess the color of the next card.
2. Higher or Lower: Guess whether the next card is higher or lower than the previous card.
3. Outside or In Between: Guess whether the next card's value falls outside or between the previous two cards.
4. Guess the Suit: Guess the suit of the next card.

If the player guesses incorrectly, the player takes a sips, the cards are discarded, and they must restart. Even if the deck runs out the cards must be reshuffled and the ride must continue until the player gets all 4 guesses correct in a single run.

Variant: Give and Take Pyramid

For a faster version with less strategy, alternate the pyramid rows between "give" rows and "take" rows.

• Give row: Every player with a matching card assigns the row's drink amount to another player.
• Take row: Every player with a matching card takes the row's drink amount themselves.

This variant removes the choice to hold matching cards for a higher row and can make the pyramid move faster.