Bus: 7 ways to empty your deck first

The Bus belongs to the Spite and Malice family of card games: two players, a private deck each, shared piles in the middle, and a race to be the first one out of cards.

If you know the basics (if not, the short version is below), these are seven things worth thinking about on every turn. They're advice, not rules — the rules come first.

The rules in one minute

• You win the moment your 10-card deck and all three of your piles are empty. The cards in your hand don't count.
• The foundations are shared. Each one starts with an Ace and is built up, one rank at a time, to the King. The suit doesn't matter, and both players build on them.
• Your turn: your hand fills back up to 5 cards, you play as many cards as you can onto the foundations (from your hand, the top of your deck, or the top of a pile), and then you end your turn by putting one card from your hand on one of your three piles.
• Only the top card of a pile can be played.
• In the classic rules a Joker is wild: it plays as whatever card the foundation needs next.

Some of what follows depends on the house rules you've set for the match (the Hijack, the Burn Pile, X-Ray Vision). Where it does, the post says so.

1. Play your deck, not your hand

Your hand refills every turn, so it's never what wins the game. Your deck is. Whenever the top card of your deck fits a foundation, that's usually the play to make first — every card you take off your deck is a step towards the finish, while a card from your hand is replaced by a new one next turn.

Use your hand to unlock the deck: play the cards that make the next deck card playable.

2. Build your piles from high to low

You end every turn by burying a card in one of your piles, and only the top card of a pile can be played. So think about the order they'll come back out.

The foundations are built upwards, Ace to King. If you lay lower cards on top of higher ones (a Jack, then a 10, then a 9), your pile gives them back in the order the foundations want them. Lay a King on top of a 3 and the 3 stays buried until the King has gone, if it ever does.

(The game itself leans this way: a Joker you put on a pile turns into the next card down.)

3. Look at what the foundations need

Every foundation shows the next card it's waiting for. Check them before you choose where to put a card — and remember they're shared. When you play a 7, your opponent can play the 8 straight after you.

Sometimes the best play is the one you don't make: if a card would hand your opponent exactly what they're missing, a different pile, or a different card, may be better.

4. Don't bury what you need soon

Your three piles are a store, not a bin. Before you put a card on a pile, look at what's already on top of it, and at what you'd be covering. A card that's one step from playable is worth keeping on top. A card that's four steps away can go on the bottom of a pile that's going nowhere.

When you can, keep one pile as your "dump" for cards you won't need for a while, and keep the other two playable.

5. Keep your Jokers for gaps

A Joker is wild on the foundations, so it can fill any gap: the one card a pile is missing, or the Ace that starts a new foundation. That makes it the most valuable card in your hand when you're stuck, and a waste when you spend it on a card you could have played anyway.

Two small things to know. A Joker can't be put on an Ace in a pile (the Ace is the lowest card, so there's nothing below it). And, with the Hijack on, a Joker has a second job — see the next point.

6. A Hijack costs you less than it looks

(House rule: The Hijack.) With the Hijack switched on, you can play a Joker from your hand straight onto your opponent's deck or one of their piles. It freezes it for a few turns. Playing a Hijack ends your turn.

That last part sounds like a price, but you were going to end your turn by putting a card on a pile anyway. A Hijack is a way to end your turn with a Joker that does something, instead of with a card that does nothing.

The freeze is worth most when it lands on something your opponent is close to using: the top of their deck, or the pile they were about to build on. While it's frozen, your opponent can't play cards from it or onto it. To thaw it early they have to break the freeze, which ends their turn.

Remember that a Joker spent on a Hijack is a Joker you can't use to fill a gap. If you're the one who's stuck, keep it.

7. Know when to burn

(House rule: The Burn Pile.) Once per game, instead of playing, you can burn the top card of your deck. It's gone for good, and your turn ends. You can only do it at the start of your turn, before you've played anything.

Burning is a way out of a stuck deck: if the card on top of your deck keeps blocking you and nothing in your hand can open it, getting rid of it can be worth the turn. It also means you don't have to bury a card from your hand that turn.

But you only get one, and your opponent keeps playing while you do it. Keep it for the turn when you really can't move, not for the first awkward card.

One more thing

Every one of these changes with the house rules. Color Lock locks each pile to a colour, X-Ray Vision shows you the top two cards of your deck, the Mulligan lets you redraw when you're stuck. Set the rules you like, and the same advice gets a different answer.