Busstop: The Boardgame

Busstop: The Boardgame Rulebook

Table of Contents

3 rulebooks (Japanese, English, German)
2 bus stop boards (3 sides total, for different amount of players)
5 player boards
50 Passenger tiles: 8 each of 5 sorts: babies, children, girls, salary men, grannies; 5 VIP tiles (1 of each sort); 5 extra-terrestrials
50 Player tiles: 10 each, numbered 1 to 10, in 5 colors
10 Player color tiles: 5 standard game/passenger bonus tiles, 1 of each color; 5 end game bonus tiles (Jpn/Eng), 1 of each color
1 conductor tile
5 bus tiles (1 for each player)

Preparations

Place the bus stop board that corresponds to the number of players in the middle of the game area. Please note that rules for 2 players differ from the rules for 3-5 players. Refer to the section at the end of the rules.
The player who most recently rode a bus takes the conductor tile (the player with the conductor tile is called the conductor).
The conductor shuffles the 50 passenger tiles and places them face down in a pile in the left corner of the bus stop board.
Each player takes one player board, a player color tile, and the 10 player tiles of a color of their choice and 1 bus tile. Place the bus tile on the top right corner of the board (see figure) and the player color tile on the top left. Keep the player tiles in your hand.
If you use additional rule 2 (see last), each player also takes the end game bonus tile of their color.

Flow of the Game

The conductor lines up the passengers.
All players choose one of their player tiles. The conductor chooses a player tile face up. The other players choose a player tile face down.
Flip tiles and determine player order. Line up the player tiles, smallest number to the left. The player who ended up on the conductor space takes the conductor tile.
Take passenger(s) in player order.
Distribute passengers in the buses. (Return to 1.)
After the 10th round, the game ends. Count score. The player with the highest score wins.

1. The Conductor Lines Up the Passengers

The conductor takes the top tiles of the passenger tile stack and lines them up on the passenger queue on the bus stop board.

(Figure: five passenger tiles lined up from the draw pile in the passenger queue, below the player order zone.)

2. All Players Choose One of Their Player Tiles (the Battle for Passengers!)

2-1 First, the conductor chooses one of his player tiles, face up.
2-2 Then, all other players choose one of their player tiles, face down.

3. Flip Tiles and Determine Player Order

When all players have chosen their player tiles, flip them and line them up, lowest number to the left and in rising order, on the 'player order zone' on the bus stop board.
The player whose player tile ended up on the player order space marked with a conductor symbol takes the conductor tile and becomes the conductor for the next round.
If several players chose the same number on their player tiles, the order among them is clockwise around the table, starting with the conductor. See below.

Players who chose the same number are placed in clockwise order from the conductor.

Example 1: Player A (the conductor) plays 2, Player B plays 5, Player C plays 3, Player D plays 5. Order: first Player A (2), second Player C (3), third Player B (5), fourth Player D (5).
Example 2: All four players play 8; Player A is the conductor. Order: first Player A, second Player B, third Player C, fourth Player D.

4. Take Passenger(s) in Player Order

Players will now take passenger tiles according to the icons on the player order zone positions, starting with the leftmost one.
A filled (black) icon means the player receives all passengers that his position's arrow is pointing at (no choice).
An empty (white) icon means the player receives one of the player tiles (they are also passengers) from the player order lineup (the earlier in player order, the more to choose from).

Example: Green is first. The icons at his position show that he both receives the passenger that the first position arrow is pointing at (the child), and also that he may choose one of the passengers from the player order lineup (he chooses another child).

5. Distribute Passengers in the Buses

Each player distributes the passengers he received, on his player board.
Customers may either be placed on a bus, or put in the temporary queue.

(Figure: the top bus "isn't here yet"; a child and girls board the buses (5A), a baby is put in the temporary queue (5C).)

5A. Boarding Buses

These passengers are picky. Only one type of passenger on each bus!
Extra-terrestrials, however, work like wild cards — they can enter any bus.

5B. Bus Leaves (Let's Go!)

When a bus is full, it leaves instantly (even if you're in the middle of boarding). Remove all the tiles on the bus and place them in your score pile. They will be worth points at the end of the game (except the ETs that are worth zero points).
After a bus has been emptied, it can immediately be boarded again, by the same or another type of passengers.

(Figure: the bus is full, so it leaves! Take all passenger tiles from the bus and place them in your score pile.)

5C. Temporary Queue

Passengers that can't board a bus, or that you want to keep waiting, must be placed in the temporary queue, in the first free space.
Once in the queue, the queueing passengers will not change order.
ETs can't stand in the queue.
If you have more than 13 passengers queueing, line them up outside of the board.
After you've distributed all the passengers you received this round, you may if you wish let the queueing passengers board buses. They must, however, board buses in queue order.

5D. Extra Bus

The first time you have 9 or more passengers in your temporary queue at the end of a round (after all boarding has been done), take the bus tile from the 9th queue position and place it on the head space of the third bus. This bus can be used from the next round and onwards, till the end of the game.

6. After the 10th Round, the Game Ends

The player with the most points wins.

Positive Points

Each passenger tile in the score pile is counted as 1 point.
The VIP tiles, however, count as 3 points.
Extra terrestrials yield no points.
Passengers left in the buses on the player boards yield no points.

Penalties (Angry Passengers)

Each passenger in the temporary queue counts as -2 points.
A VIP waiting in the temporary queue is -6 points.

In the Case of a Tie

The player with the least number of ETs (in score pile, buses, queue) wins.

Rules Differences for 2-Player Games

For 2-player games, a third player, called the proxy bus, is simulated.

Shuffle the proxy bus's player tiles and make a face down draw pile of them. They're drawn each turn as the tile the proxy bus chooses.
The players take turns choosing passengers and distributing them on the proxy bus's board.
When one of the proxy buses leaves, the current proxy bus player gets those passengers as points for his own score pile.
At the end of each turn, if there are 14 or more passengers in the proxy bus's temporary queue, the current proxy bus player takes the mas [sic] penalty points to his score pile (they count as extra passengers in the temporary queue for that player at the end of the game).

Additional Rules

Use these rules once you've got used to the game.

1. Special Passenger Bonus

Use the "passenger bonus" side of the player colour tiles.
Each passenger of the type on the player color tile is worth 2 points. (The VIP of that type is worth 6 points.)

2. End Game Special Bonus

Take the "end game special bonus" tiles at the start of the game.
Each player gets a different end game requirement to meet. Meeting it yields a bonus of 5 points.
Additional rules 1 and 2 can be used at the same time.