Press any key to start driving. Sound on recommended.
How it works
You drive a bus from Tucson, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada — in real time, at a top speed of 45 mph. One trip takes roughly eight hours. The steering constantly drifts, so the game can never be left unattended: veer off the road and the bus breaks down and is towed all the way back to the start of the leg. Reaching Las Vegas earns exactly one point, and a twelve-second decision window: drive back for another point, or bank your score. Bus stops along the route can be serviced with the door lever for a separate tally.
Controls
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| ↑ / W | Gas |
| ↓ / S | Brake (press again at standstill to reverse) |
| ← → / A D | Steer |
| Space | Horn |
| Shift / O | Open / close the door (service a bus stop) |
| Esc | Pause (resume or end the run) |
| M | Mute |
| F11 | Fullscreen |
About Desert Bus
Desert Bus is a minigame from Penn & Teller's Smoke and Mirrors, a video game produced by Absolute Entertainment for the Sega CD in 1995 that was finished but never released. Penn Jillette has said its aggressively realistic design was a response to the era's political controversy around violent video games. The game later found fame through Desert Bus for Hope, the annual charity marathon in which the crew of LoadingReadyRun plays it non-stop for donations.
This browser version is a Godot 4 reimplementation of the Java applet recreation by "Roger Explosion", which was playable on desertbus-game.org until the end of 2016 (archived). It features the full drive with day, dusk, night, and dawn themes, bus stops, breakdowns and towing, a local high-score table, and a worldwide online leaderboard.
Changelog
| Version | Changes |
|---|---|
| 1.1.1 | Redesigned the on-screen keyboard with a proper QWERTY layout, and added dedicated DRIVE and BACK buttons so starting a run and returning to the high-score table always work the same way on touch. Cleaned up the high-score screen's tabs and footer, and gave hint text a clearer look. |
| 1.1.0 | Touch devices get on-screen name and start-time entry. |
| 1.0.1 | Steering now feels natural — the rightward drift no longer fights your input. Distances are shown in miles, and the high-score screen got a refresh. |
| 1.0.0 | Initial release: the full real-time drive with day, dusk, night, and dawn themes, bus stops, breakdowns and towing, a local high-score table, and a worldwide online leaderboard. |