Ride the Bus started as a party card game, and its first stage is a run of four questions about the next card off the deck. This version keeps those four questions and turns them into a cash-out ladder. Each correct call multiplies your bet; a wrong one ends the round. The part that makes it more than a coin flip is that the deck remembers. Cards already dealt are gone, so the odds, and the price of each call, shift with every card on the table.
How to play
Bet and start. Choose a stake from 10 to 500 credits (in tens) and press Start. One shuffled 52-card deck is used per round, and cards are not put back.
Card 1: Red or Black. Guess the colour of the first card.
Card 2: Higher or Lower. Will the second card be higher or lower than the first? Aces are high. A card of the same rank loses either way.
Card 3: Inside or Outside. Will the third card fall strictly between the first two ranks, or outside them? Matching either rank loses.
Card 4: Suit. Name the suit of the fourth card: ♣ Clubs, ♦ Diamonds, ♥ Hearts or ♠ Spades.
Cash out or carry on. After every correct call, the Cash out button shows what you would take home. Get all four right and the round pays out by itself.
Each guess button shows two numbers: the chance that the call is right, given the cards still in the deck, and the multiplier you would reach if it is. If a call cannot possibly win (for example “Lower” when the first card is a 2, or “Inside” when the first two cards are a 7 and an 8), its button is disabled.
How the multipliers are priced
Every step is priced on the cards actually left. If a call wins with w of the n remaining cards, it multiplies your running total by n ÷ w. The whole product is multiplied by 0.96 and shown rounded down.
A sample round:
| Step | Situation | Call | Winning cards | Multiplier after |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | full deck | Black | 26 of 52 | ×1.92 |
| 2 | first card K♠ | Lower | 44 of 51 | ×2.22 |
| 3 | K♠ and 5♥ out | Inside (6 to Q) | 28 of 50 | ×3.97 |
| 4 | K♠, 5♥, 9♦ out | Clubs | 13 of 49 | ×14.97 |
On step 2 of that round, “Higher” than a king would win only with the four aces, 4 of 51. That call would have taken the multiplier straight to ×24.48. On step 4, clubs pays a little less than the other suits because no club has been seen yet; there are 13 left against 12 of each other suit.
Because each step is priced on its exact odds, the expected return is 96% for every call and every stopping point. Picking the likely side and picking the long shot are worth the same on average; so is cashing out after one card or going for all four. The house edge is 4% throughout.
Strategy
Choose the risk, not the “right” answer. With fair pricing at each step, no call is better than another in the long run. “Lower than a king” wins often and pays a little; “higher than a king” rarely wins and pays a lot. Pick the one that suits how you want the round to go.
Read the buttons. The percentage and multiplier shown on each button are exact. If you want small, frequent wins, take the higher percentage every time and cash out early.
Middle cards make step 2 a coin flip. After a 7 or 8, higher and lower are close to even. After a 2 or an ace, one side is nearly certain and the other nearly impossible.
Watch step 3 closely. Two close ranks (say 6 and 8) leave very little inside, so the inside call becomes a long shot with a big multiplier. Two far-apart ranks (3 and Q) make inside the likely call.
Suits favour the unseen. On the last card, a suit you haven’t seen yet has the most cards left, so it is the likeliest pick with the smallest multiplier.
Decide when to stop first. Going for all four cards wins only occasionally. If you prefer to bank something, set a stopping point (after two cards, for example) before you start.
For a different take on guessing the next card, try Hi-Lo.
If you enjoy Ride the Bus, try Road Cross or Royal Queens 21 next.
