Review: Bus

Introduction & Overview

Citizens are busy traveling back and forth between home, work, and the pub. Your mission will be to develop a bus route that allows you to pick up as many passengers as possible and take them wherever they want to go. To achieve this, you will expand your bus line, contribute to the strategic development of the city, attract new passengers, and invest in more and more buses. However, you will also need to reach the pick-up points before rival companies do. Sometimes unexpected events occur: time stands still, and transport demands change completely overnight. Even so, you cannot let this happen too often, as continuous space-time distortion might shatter and collapse the universe.

This is the premise behind Bus, a design by Jeroen Doumen and Joris Wiersinga (Antiquity, Food Chain Magnate). The game was first published in 1999 by Splotter Spellen in a German edition. In 2019, a 20th-anniversary edition was released by Capstone Games. Artwork for the original version was created by Tamara Jannink (Roads & Boats), while the reprint features illustrations by Daan van Paridon and Thijs van Paridon (The Estates, Wildcatters).

It is not widely distributed in local retail across every country, so players may need to resort to importing to secure a copy (although the game is completely language-independent, with text only present in the rulebook). It plays with 3 to 5 players, with a recommended minimum age of 14, and a playing time of approximately 120 minutes. The MSRP is €84.95. A review copy of the Capstone Games anniversary edition was used for this review.

Important: if you already know the game and/or are only interested in my opinion about it, you can go directly to the Opinion section. The Content and Mechanics sections are especially intended for those who do not know the game and prefer to get a general idea of how it works.

Components

Inside a two-piece cardboard box (lid and bottom), measuring 31.1×22.1×5 cm (standard rectangular box akin to Hansa Teutonica), we find the following items:

Game board
125 Route markers (25 in each color) (wooden)
100 Action markers (20 in each color) (wooden)
25 Buses (5 in each color) (wooden)
15 Passengers (wooden)
5 Score markers (1 in each color) (wooden)
5 Time stones (3 blue, 2 green) (glass)
90 Building tiles (30 of each type) (cardboard)
Starting player marker (cardboard)
Rulebook

How to Play

Bus is a game featuring worker placement and route building as its core mechanics, where each player runs a bus company. The objective is to connect different points of interest across the city for passengers. In each round, players first go through a planning phase where they assign their markers to the various action spaces, followed by an execution phase where actions resolve in strict sequential order. Notably, each player has a strictly finite pool of action markers: once a marker is used, it is returned to the box for good. One key action allows players to transport passengers who want to reach a specific destination type (offices, pubs, or houses), scoring one victory point per passenger successfully delivered along their network. The game ends when all players but one run out of action markers or when all stones from the time-stopping action space are removed (players can halt time at the expense of taking one of these stones, each worth a negative point at game end).

Key Concepts

Let’s start with the Main Board. It depicts a city grid with streets connecting intersections that feature one or two building spaces. These spaces are numbered from 1 to 4, requiring players to fill them strictly in ascending order (from lowest to highest). Furthermore, there are two special intersections representing railway stations without building spaces, which serve as entry points for new passengers. On the left side runs the victory point track with numbered spaces, while the right side displays the different action tracks, resolved from top to bottom. It is worth noting that several actions feature multiple spaces labeled with letters; these spaces are always occupied following alphabetical order, but resolve from left to right.

To claim action spaces, each player starts with a set of 20 Action Markers. These markers are finite throughout the entire game and return to the box immediately after carrying out the assigned action. Consequently, spending them also acts as one of the primary end-game triggers.

Buildings are represented by tiles of three distinct varieties: houses (home icon), offices (briefcase icon), and pubs (drink glasses icon). These buildings are erected over the course of the game, serving as the required destinations for commuters.

Passengers arrive via train stations through specific player actions and seek transport depending on whichever destination type is active in the current round. A commuter demands transport only if they are not already located at the desired building type. If a passenger is at an intersection containing an empty building of the target type, they simply walk across the street and require no bus ride.

Each company possesses a transport capacity tracked with Bus Markers. This capacity can be upgraded via actions, setting the maximum number of passengers a player may deliver during a single transport action. Additionally, the company with the highest bus count determines the operational ceiling for several other actions on the board.

At the same time, every company manages a single continuous transit line across the board connecting intersections. This line is laid out using Route Markers placed along streets. Expanding a line must always take place from one of its two open endpoints into an unoccupied street, subject to narrow exceptions allowing construction parallel to an opponent’s route.

The primary objective is to amass the highest total of Victory Points. Points are scored by transporting passengers, earning one point per commuter delivered to a valid destination.

Finally, when determining the active destination for the round, players have the option to halt time and preserve the previous round’s destination, albeit at a cost. For this purpose, five Time Machine Stones (four in a 3-player game) are available on the board, collected whenever a player claims this action space to freeze the clock. Each collected stone inflicts a negative point at game end.

That is enough to get started.

Place the game board in the center of the table.
Set the clock dial to point toward the house icon.
Place the five time stones on the time machine spaces (4 stones in 3-player games).
Form a general supply with the building tiles and passengers.
Place 4 passengers at the four Central Park intersections.
Each player chooses a color and receives:
20 Action markers.
One score marker, placed on space 0 of the score track.
5 Buses, placing one on the first space of their personal bus column.
25 Route markers.
Randomly select a starting player and give them the starting player marker.
Starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise, each player places 2 buildings (of any chosen type) onto empty spaces numbered 1.
Starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise, each player places their initial route marker on a street. At this setup stage, sharing a street with another player is permitted.
Starting with the player to the right of the first player and proceeding counter-clockwise, each player expands their line by placing a second route marker according to standard building rules (extending from an endpoint into a free street, unless it meets the endpoint of an opponent’s line, in which case it may run parallel to that opponent’s line).

We are ready to begin!

Game Flow

A game of Bus unfolds over an indeterminate series of rounds (up to a maximum of ten, dictated by each player’s action marker pool). Every round consists of two distinct phases.

Phase I: Planning

Beginning with the starting player and proceeding clockwise, players take turns choosing one of two options:

Place an action marker on an action space. Action spaces are occupied following alphabetical order based on their printed letters, meaning a player always takes the leftmost available lettered spot on that track.
Pass. The player places no further markers this round, forfeiting any remaining turns in this phase. Passing requires having placed at least two action markers earlier in the round. If a player begins a round with fewer than two action markers in their supply, they must pass immediately, as placing a solitary marker during a round is forbidden.

This phase ends once all players have passed.

Phase II: Execution

Actions are executed in numerical sequence from top to bottom, resolving from left to right whenever multiple spaces exist on a track. Whenever an action is resolved, the active player discards their marker back to the box.

The available actions are:

Line Expansion (resolved from left to right). The active player (the leftmost marker) may place up to a number of route markers equal to the fleet size of the player with the most buses, minus 1 for each step of distance away from the rightmost space of that action track. When expanding a route, the following rules apply:
- The line must be extended from one of its two current endpoints.
- It must occupy an empty street. Two specific exceptions apply:
  - If the endpoint touches the dead end of an opponent’s line, the route may be built parallel to that opponent’s last section.
  - If no empty streets remain connected to that endpoint, the route may run parallel to any other opponent’s line (never along one’s own).
Buses. The player moves one bus from their personal supply onto the next space of their company’s bus column.
Passengers. The active player (leftmost marker) may introduce up to a number of passengers equal to the maximum fleet size among all players, minus 1 per step of distance from the rightmost action space. These passengers enter via the two train stations (split in any proportion). If the passenger supply runs dry, this action can no longer be used.
Buildings. The active player (leftmost marker) may place up to a number of buildings equal to the highest bus level in play, minus 1 per step of distance from the rightmost space. The player chooses which building type to construct, provided building plots are developed in strict ascending order (all spaces marked 1 first, then spaces marked 2, and so forth). Where multiple plots share the lowest available value, the player chooses where to build.
The Clock. The player claiming this space chooses between two alternatives:
- Advance time by rotating the clock hand clockwise to the next building type. When this occurs, any passengers at an intersection (whether on an open space or inside a different building type) that contains an unoccupied building of the new target type will immediately walk over and occupy that building.
- Stop time by removing one glass stone from the time machine and placing it into their personal play area.
Transport. The active player (leftmost marker) may transport as many passengers as their company’s personal bus capacity allows. To qualify, a passenger must reside at an intersection or inside a building (of a type differing from the current target) connected to the player’s transit line; they may then be moved to any unoccupied building of the target type located on that same network. Each delivered commuter awards one victory point.
Starting Player. The active player claims the starting player marker. If no one selected this space, the marker passes to the player seated to the left of the current starting player.

Once all assigned actions have been resolved, a new round begins unless an endgame condition has been triggered.

Game End

The end of the game is triggered whenever any of the following conditions occur:

The final time stone is removed from the time machine, ending the game immediately (canceling any subsequent passenger transport actions even if markers were assigned).
At the end of a round, only one player (or none) retains action markers in their supply.
At the end of a round, no empty building plots remain anywhere on the board.

Players deduct one point for each time stone they collected. The player with the most victory points wins. In the event of a tie, the following tiebreakers apply:

The player with the most accumulated time stones.
The tied player whose marker sits lowest in the stack on the score track (having reached that score first).

Personal Opinion

Those who have been around the hobby for a while will likely know the origin story of Splotter Spellen, the Dutch publisher founded by Herman Haverkort, Tamara Jannink, and Joris Wiersinga to self-publish their designs, originally shipping them inside VHS video cases.

It was not until 1999, however, that they truly broke into the wider tabletop scene with two influential titles. One was Roads & Boats, and the other is the game in front of us today—specifically its 20th-anniversary release, notable for being the first Splotter design licensed to an external publisher (those Dutch designers have always marched to their own beat). Let’s see how this bus handles on the table.

In Bus, we encounter one of the earliest designs to implement worker placement mechanics with notable success. This arrived well ahead of Agricola (read the tocho-review here) or Caylus (read the tocho-review here), the landmark titles responsible for turning worker placement into a modern industry standard. If this happens to be your first encounter with the mechanic, it functions as an action-drafting system where players take turns choosing available action slots, typically locking out opponents from taking those same options.

The other fundamental pillar supporting the design is route building. True to its title, your goal is to grow a transit network across an expanding urban landscape. Three types of buildings will spring up across town—houses, offices, and pubs—and depending on the time of day, commuters will demand access to one of these three destinations.

That is where your bus company steps in, trying to cater to the mobility needs of local citizens by linking their current location to a matching empty building. This introduces a third key mechanic: pick-up and deliver. Deliveries here resolve instantaneously once proper connectivity is met, differing markedly from games where a player physically picks up cargo and maneuvers it step-by-step across intermediate spaces before dropping it off.

Let’s return to the worker placement system, where the real meat of the game lies. Starting with the first player and moving clockwise, players alternate placing action markers onto tracks that allow them to expand routes, purchase additional buses, introduce passengers, erect buildings, advance or freeze time, transport riders, and claim turn priority for the next round.

It sounds straightforward on paper, doesn’t it? Mechanically speaking, there is little overhead. Players assign markers and resolve actions sequentially. Yet right beneath that surface lies that signature Splotter Spellen touch: delivering tremendous strategic depth while mercilessly punishing miscalculations.

Bus demands that every player mentally project how the entire execution phase will play out, factoring in player turn order and the options available to each rival when their turn arrives. Make no mistake: this is far from simple.

For starters, every round forces you to anticipate two divergent scenarios: either transit needs shift when an opponent triggers the clock, or they remain identical because the clock space was ignored or intentionally frozen at the cost of a penalty stone.

This setup is a stroke of design genius. Sitting near the end of the action order, the player holding the time action acts with nearly complete information regarding available destinations and player turn order. Doing the exact opposite of what the table expects is an absolute delight in Bus, though you must take care not to backfire on your own position—a calculation that both the active player and their rivals must weigh continuously.

Consequently, each round offers two potential destination targets: the current building type or the next one on the dial. The next step is calculating how many buildings of both types sit on the board and, crucially, whether your transit lines actually reach them.

Building new structures remains an option, but development spaces must be filled in strict numerical order, meaning you need the lowest-numbered available plots to be located on intersections serviced by your bus routes.

Layered on top of that is the requirement for eligible passengers—riders standing at an intersection or inside a building that does not match the newly established destination.

As you can see, your brain can quickly overheat before you even drop an action marker on the board. Compounding this pressure is the diabolical action resolution mechanic: for the two biggest development actions (line expansion and building construction), acting earlier grants fewer build actions, as capacity scales off the player with the largest bus fleet.

In these spaces, the player acting last can place as many connections as that maximum fleet capacity permits, but they must wait while earlier players take their turns, opening the door to devastating blockades on critical avenues. The same dynamic governs building placement, where players must juggle available plots and numerical restrictions.

In fact, you will often find yourself so absorbed in your own optimization puzzle that you overlook opponent options, allowing someone to thoroughly derail your plans with ruthless efficiency—especially when developing plots. An opponent acting ahead of you need only notice that your network lacks valid destinations; by claiming a build action, they can drop the single building type that passengers will not want to visit this round into your open plot. Pure villainy.

Track expansion operates under similar tension, making operational pacing essential. On that note, there is one element that makes me raise an eyebrow slightly: securing a connection to at least one train station feels almost mandatory, as failing to do so early on can trigger crippling bottlenecks later in the game.

As you might imagine, a single blunder can quickly snowball into disaster. Recovering from a bad turn is an uphill battle, because playing Bus feels like a sustained sprint where you have to keep your foot flat on the pedal all the way across the finish line. Keeping your foot down does not mean burning actions recklessly, though, thanks to another key element separating Bus from most worker placement titles.

Your pool of action markers must last the entire match, and every marker committed to an action is permanently discarded to the box after use. Every single placement demands careful scrutiny. Executing an inefficient action that ends up benefiting opponents more than yourself is a massive step toward defeat.

Managing this dwindling worker reserve feels like a cycling peloton taking turns pulling at the front, collectively setting the race pace. If the table pushes hard, the game will wrap up quickly. When multiple players play conservatively, the session stretches out. Either way, games almost always end through exhausted worker supplies.

I appreciate this management mechanism immensely; treating action workers as a finite, consumable resource forces you to weigh every placement with care. If an action yields questionable value, passing your turn is often the smarter play—especially when holding prime turn order for the upcoming round.

Turn order timing is another critical aspect when choosing where to commit your next marker. As opponents claim spaces, you must constantly refresh your mental projection with confirmed information. This continuous re-evaluation can prove mentally draining, making this a design I would hesitate to table with players prone to analysis paralysis. Keep AP in check, however, and the game moves at a brisk pace with minimal downtime, though the occasional pause to avoid a catastrophic blunder is inevitable.

Players familiar with the publisher’s catalogue might naturally wonder about the game’s complexity. True to Splotter form, Bus is noticeably more accessible than Food Chain Magnate (read the tocho-review here) or Antiquity (read the tocho-review here), both mechanically and strategically. It remains demanding, yet it never reaches the dizzying heights of those two titles. When played briskly, a three- or four-player game can wrap up in just over an hour.

This brings us to player count scaling. While it runs smoothly across all three intended counts, I find it shines brightest with four or five players. A crowded board drives table interaction to chaotic heights, complicating round projections as you balance threats across multiple fronts.

Fewer players leave more breathing room on the map, occasionally letting an opponent run away with the surplus space—though this dynamic also brings table talk and persuasion to the fore, encouraging you to nudge the active player toward choices that benefit you both.

Adjusting the initial worker count according to player count might have smoothed out the progression curve across different table sizes, but the base rules hold up solidly regardless.

Replayability is another hallmark of the publisher. Even with an identical starting setup and a fixed board layout, sharp player interaction and tactical choices ensure no two games play out the same way. The experience is intensely tactical, demanding constant recalculation from turn to turn, with zero randomness to dilute player agency.

Be forewarned: since every victory point is earned through sheer effort, stumbling early can prove fatal. Falling behind by even 2 or 3 points leaves you facing a steep uphill battle to recover, which runs the risk of a trailing player checking out of the competition. Fortunately, games resolve quickly enough to avoid feeling like a prolonged slog. Still, pay close attention during opening placements: just like in Food Chain Magnate, an early positioning misstep can torpedo your chances before the game even gets going.

Regarding production quality, Capstone delivers clean, functional components, though it falls short of feeling like a true luxury edition (even if the price point suggests otherwise). The cardboard is thick and well-compressed, the wooden pieces offer good heft, and the glass stones add visual flair even if their presence is largely cosmetic. The rulebook is structured logically, supported by helpful examples that clarify key edge cases.

Visually, this may well be the most eye-catching release in the Splotter Spellen lineup, though that is admittedly a low bar to clear (few of their titles win beauty contests, Food Chain Magnate’s card graphic design notwithstanding). The main board evokes an authentic transit line map beneath a bright, cheerful cover that completely belies the tense, cutthroat pressure of the gameplay within. It is practical and appealing.

And let’s wrap this up. Bus brings together worker placement and route building into an experience that, while conceptually accessible, remains highly demanding when anticipating multi-step execution chains each round. It asks players to stay sharp at all times, as one miscalculation can push you out of contention entirely. It is best kept away from players prone to heavy analysis paralysis. My only real gripe is that initial route extensions feel somewhat scripted toward specific milestones to ensure a competitive start. Overall, an exceptionally rewarding design. For all these reasons, I give it a…