Michigan's Favorite Drinking Game May Surprise You

It's summertime, which means the people of Michigan are taking their fun outside— usually with a drink in hand. In my opinion, drinking games like flip cup, beer pong and boom cup are best played outside on a folding table. It makes the clean-up process much, much faster, and we avoid sticky floors.

While my favorite games all include some sort of athletic prowess (or coordination at the very least), you may be surprised to find out the state of Michigan's favorite game doesn't require athleticism, or skill, really, at all.

TheTakeout.com has been diving deep into drinking culture, and they've uncovered some pretty cool stuff about our state.

So, here's the lowdown: in 2022 they kept tabs on what folks are searching for online, especially when it comes to drinking game rules. Turns out, Michiganders are all about "Ride the Bus." It's like the game found its way into our hearts, one search at a time.

How Do You Play Ride the Bus?

At its core, "Ride the Bus" is a game of chance and a generous dose of good-natured competition.

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What You Need: Gather a deck of cards and a group of willing participants. Sit in a circle and place an empty cup in the center of the table.

Set Up: Shuffle the deck and deal out the cards face down in a pyramid formation, with the base facing upward. The number of rows in the pyramid can vary depending on the group's preference.

Gameplay:

Guessing Game: Starting with the bottom row of the pyramid, players take turns guessing whether the next card will be higher or lower than the card currently facing up.
Drink or Pass: If a player guesses incorrectly, they must drink. If they guess correctly, they can choose to either continue guessing or pass the turn to the next player.
Climbing the Pyramid: As players progress through the rows of the pyramid, the consequences for guessing incorrectly become more severe, AKA increased drinking penalties.

"Riding the Bus": The end of the game happens when a player reaches the top row of the pyramid. At this point, they must "ride the bus" by correctly guessing the suit of the next card drawn from the deck. If they guess incorrectly, they must drink and start the pyramid over again.

Winner