Stop the bus is a card game common in England, where it is also known by the alternate name Bastard, built around the same hand-ranking system used in the older gambling game Brag. Hand strength runs from a prial, three cards of the same rank, down through a running flush, an ordinary run, a flush, a pair and finally a plain high card, with players trying to build or hold the strongest hand relative to their opponents. Play revolves around tokens that represent lives, with players exchanging cards from a central pool to improve their hand across the game, and any player may call for the round to end by stopping play once they judge their hand strong enough, forcing every remaining player to reveal and compare. The game belongs to the wider Commerce family of card games, sharing its card-swapping structure with related regional pub and family card games across Britain.
Facts
Classification
Player Count Player CountSmall Group (3-6 Players) 1 Player CountLarge Group or Variable 1 Sport
Game Type (category) In the Other Atlases
Found In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Source Pagat (John McLeod): Stop the BusIntroductionQuote, Introduction
Stop the Bus is a British draw and discard game in which players try to collect a good Brag hand.
Sources
1. Pagat (John McLeod): Stop the Bus
Pagat (John McLeod)IntroductionQuote, Introduction
From 2 to around 9 or more people can play, but the game is perhaps best for 3 to 5 players.
2. Stop the bus (Wikipedia)
Lead sectionQuote, Lead section
Stop the bus is a simple game, common in England
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.