2015Jeroen Doumen, Joris Wiersinga
- Videos
- 75
- Creators
- 59
2 - 5 players120 - 240 minVery heavy weight

1999Jeroen Doumen, Joris Wiersinga
Mainly reviews. Bus is covered on BoardGameVideo.com by 16 reviews, 6 how-to-play guides, 3 recorded sessions, 7 unboxings, and 3 other videos.
From BoardGameGeek
Prior to Essen 1999, a group of students created Splotter Spellen to sell some of their own game designs. This game is regarded as one of the highlights of that group. The object of the game is to deliver as many people to their destinations as you can. To accomplish this, players place route markers on the board to connect passengers to their destinations. However, the destination types (work, bar, home) vary from turn to turn, so you can follow certain passengers as they make their way through the daily grind. Players may buy more buses (they start off with one), build onto their bus route, bring new passengers to the city (via the trains), expand the city by adding more buildings, and run their buses. There is another option, the clock. The action board has one other clever feature. On some actions, route expansion and building, the first player to choose that action actually gets to execute the action last! Which leads to some interesting games of chicken and some painful decisions. Buying more buses allows a player to carry one more passenger every time they run their buses - hence scoring, in the best case, one more point. Depending on how the city gets built, however, finding lots of passengers on the street can be tricky. Bus routes extend from either end of a Settlers-style initial placement. Extensions are appended to either end. Routes may only run parallel if there are no empty streets at one of the ends or the line ends on the crossing as another player's end. All new passengers will arrive at one of two train stations so that is one concern when route building. One must also be careful to run by a nice mix of building types. And, when building, one must always have an eye towards spoiling other players' routes by placing a mix of building types at each of their intersection so that all of their passengers just walk! Finally, when carrying passengers, one wants to be careful to set up to carry the same passenger next turn.
Bus has 35 videos from 28 creators: 16 reviews, 6 how-to-play guides, 3 playthroughs, 7 unboxings and 3 other videos. They date from 2016 to August 2026.
To learn the rules, start with "Bus - How To Play" by Watch It Played, which runs 19 min.
For an opinion before you buy, start with "Bus Review - with Eric Summerer" by The Dice Tower. 13 creators have reviewed it. To see it played, watch "BUS, Gummies, and Sexual Tension - (Quackalope Gameplay)" by Quackalope, one of 3 playthroughs.
If you like it, try Food Chain Magnate, The Great Zimbabwe, Horseless Carriage and Indonesia, also by Jeroen Doumen. It appears in convention videos from Spiel Essen 2019.
8 of 28
2015Jeroen Doumen, Joris Wiersinga
2 - 5 players120 - 240 minVery heavy weight
2012Jeroen Doumen, Joris Wiersinga
2 - 5 players90 - 150 minHeavy weight
2023Jeroen Doumen, Joris Wiersinga
3 - 5 players180 - 240 minVery heavy weight
2005Jeroen Doumen, Joris Wiersinga
2 - 5 players180 - 240 minVery heavy weight
From BoardGameGeek:
Prior to Essen 1999, a group of students created Splotter Spellen to sell some of their own game designs. This game is regarded as one of the highlights of that group. The object of the game is to deliver as many people to their destinations as you can. To accomplish this, players place route markers on the board to connect passengers to their destinations. However, the destination types (work, bar, home) vary from turn to turn, so you can follow certain passengers as they make their way through the daily grind. Players may buy more buses (they start off with one), build onto their bus route, bring new passengers to the city (via the trains), expand the city by adding more buildings, and run their buses. There is another option, the clock. The action board has one other clever feature. On some actions, route expansion and building, the first player to choose that action actually gets to execute the action last! Which leads to some interesting games of chicken and some painful decisions. Buying more buses allows a player to carry one more passenger every time they run their buses - hence scoring, in the best case, one more point. Depending on how the city gets built, however, finding lots of passengers on the street can be tricky. Bus routes extend from either end of a Settlers-style initial placement. Extensions are appended to either end. Routes may only run parallel if there are no empty streets at one of the ends or the line ends on the crossing as another player's end. All new passengers will arrive at one of two train stations so that is one concern when route building. One must also be careful to run by a nice mix of building types. And, when building, one must always have an eye towards spoiling other players' routes by placing a mix of building types at each of their intersection so that all of their passengers just walk! Finally, when carrying passengers, one wants to be careful to set up to carry the same passenger next turn.
Designers
Jeroen Doumen, Joris Wiersinga
Artists
Herman Haverkort, Tamara Jannink, Daan van Paridon, Thijs van Paridon, Joris Wiersinga
Publisher
Splotter Spellen
Categories
Mechanics