Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Low interaction
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
In Let's Make a Bus Route: The Dice Game, each player is a member of a bus company and creates bus routes by drawing lines on a map.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Line Drawing
Draw lines to connect, divide, trace, or claim parts of the play area.
Paper-and-Pencil
Record choices and results directly on a personal sheet.
Dice Rolling
Roll dice to introduce uncertainty into actions, production, movement, or resolution.
Network and Route Building
Create connected routes that improve reach, delivery, control, or scoring.
Set Collection
Gather related items that become more valuable when scored together.
Read the full game description
In Let's Make a Bus Route: The Dice Game, each player is a member of a bus company and creates bus routes by drawing lines on a map. You want to meet the needs of each client — tourists, commuters, local university students, the elderly, and parents with children — while also considering congestion and traffic conditions. Who can create the bus route that pleases the most passengers? In more detail, the game lasts 24 rounds, with you being the start player for half of those rounds. On a turn as the start player, you roll the six white dice in the game, then choose three of them, with the other player taking one of the remaining three dice. With the die results, you mark spots on the game board with an erasable pen to extend your bus route and pick up and drop off passengers. With bonuses, you can re-roll dice or roll an extra black die. After deducting traffic (and other) penalties, the player with the most points wins. The game includes two maps: On the City Map, you must be mindful of the river as its bridges restrict your course at various points of the map. On the Mars Map, you can warp from one corner of the map to one of the other three corners, continuing your route across vast distances! Let's Make a Bus Route: The Dice Game includes a solo mode that features mostly the same rules. The challenge is that you play the game twice on the same map with different colored markers, and re-using the same road in the second game causes traffic and negative points. How well can keep the routes separate to cover ground and make the most happy customers.