Caravan is a one-on-one card game played with 2 standard decks of cards, including 2 jokers per deck (54 cards per deck). Objective The objective of the game is to own the most caravans when all three are considered to be sold at the same time. IGN posted rules to Caravan - the card game that Obsidian developed for Fallout: New Vegas. Caravan plays a bit like a head-to-head version of Blackjack, with the objective being to build sets of cards - or Caravans - with combined values between 21 and 26.

Caravan was designed by Obsidian Entertainment as a fictitious card game played in New Vegas within their role-playing video game Fallout.

This page presents two interpretations of Caravan as a real life card game using standard playing-cards. The first version, devised by Kyle Mifflin , tries to reproduce as closely as possible the game played in New Vegas. The second version, by Joe Foxon and friends, is a looser interpretation inspired by the Fallout game but with several differences. A third version, with some variants and strategy suggestions, has been published in Robert Nevins eBook How to Play Caravan.

First Version

Here is a link to Kyle Mifflin's description of this version, which simulates as closely as possible the the way that Caravan is played in New Vegas. The only differences are

that instead of custom decks, each player receives the same deck to make the game as fair as possible (custom decks are allowed as a variant).
that the bug that allows you to discard during the opening round has been removed as an option.

Players and Cards

Caravan is a two-player game using two standard Anglo-American decks of 52 cards plus 2 jokers, one deck of 54 cards for each player.

Layout

Player A

Caravan

one

Caravan

two

Caravan

three

Player B

Caravan

one

Caravan

two

Caravan

three

Number cards are placed in an overlapping column within each caravan, and each number card may be modified by picture cards placed overlapping to the side.

Throughout the game Player A's caravan one will be directly competing against Player B's caravan one. The same goes for caravans two and three.

In addition each player has a face-down deck from which they draw cards and some cards in their hand, and there is a face-up discard pile.

Objective

Each caravan has a numerical value, based on the total value of the number cards in it, possibly modified by Kings.

A caravan is 'for sale' when it's value is in the range 21 to 26. A caravan with a value of less than 21 or more than 26 is not for sale. Cards may be added to a caravan that is already for sale to change its value.

The object is to sell at least two of your three caravans. If both competing caravans in a position are for sale, only the higher valued caravan is sold. No sale takes place until there is at least one caravan for sale in each of the three positions at the same time.

Opening round

To start, each player shuffles their deck, stacks it face down, and draws the top eight cards from it to form their initial hand.

The opening round in its entirety consists of three turns for each player, playing alternately. Each turn must be used to place one card face up to start off each of their three caravans. During this opening round only number cards (A, 2-10) can be placed.

If a player does not have three number cards or aces to play, then they must show their hand, reshuffle their deck and draw eight new cards.

No cards can be discarded or re-drawn during the opening round. Therefore at the end of this round when each player has had three turns, they will each have a hand of five cards and one card in each caravan.

Game Play

After the opening round play continues, with players taking alternate turns. On each turn, you must do one of the following:

Play a card from your hand on a caravan, then draw a new card from your deck and add it to your hand.
Discard a card from your hand, then draw a new card from the deck to replace it.
Disband one of your caravans. Take all the cards from this caravan and place them on your discard pile.

Note that after the opening round, if any of your caravans is empty of cards you are not required to play on the empty caravan in your next turn: it can be left empty. Technically, you could win the game with only two caravans if you could sell both of them while your opponent sold the third.

Any card that is discarded or removed from play is added to the discard pile. These cards can't be recovered.

Playing Number Cards (A=1, 2-10)

Number cards in each caravan are played in a column. Each new card is added to the bottom of the column overlapping the previous number card. Number cards can only be placed on your own caravans.

On an empty caravan, any number card can be played.

On a caravan with one card, you may play any number that is not equal to the first card.

On a caravan with two cards, the bottom two cards indicate its numerical direction - ascending if the bottom card is higher, descending if it is lower. You may play any card that preserves the direction, or any card matches the suit of the bottom card. Example: if the last two cards of a caravan are 3, 7 the direction is ascending. On this caravan you may play any 8, 9 or 10 to continue the ascending direction, or the A, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 of hearts changing the direction to descending.

Note that cards following numerical direction do not need to be adjacent in value. For example you can go up from a three to a seven, or down from a seven to a three.

Under no circumstances are you allowed to place a number card on an equal number card (e.g. a 10 on a 10).

Playing Picture Cards (J, Q, K, Joker)

Picture cards all have special effects. Unlike number cards which are placed in a column overlapping each other, a picture card is placed to the side of and overlapping the card it is played on. A picture card can be played on a number card in any caravan, no matter whether it belongs to you or your opponent. Jacks, Kings and Jokers can be played on any number card; a Queen can only be played on the bottom card of a caravan's column. The special effects are as follows.

Jack: Removes the card the Jack is played on as well as any face cards attached to it, and place them on the discard pile.
Queen: This may only be played on the last card of a caravan's column. It reverses the current numerical direction of the caravan and changes the suit of the caravan to that of the Queen. Example: if the last two cards of a caravan are 3, 7 and the Q is played on the 7 the numerical direction is changed to descending and the suit to diamonds - so the next card played on this caravan can be any A, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 or the 8, 9 or 10 of diamonds. Multiple Queens can be played on the same card.
King: Doubles the value of the card the King is played on. Multiple Kings can be used on the same card (for example a 9 with a King on it is worth 18, a 9 with two Kings on it is worth 36).
Joker: If a Joker is played on an Ace it removes all other number cards (including Aces) from both player's caravans that are the same suit as the Ace on which the Joker was played, along with any picture cards attached to those cards. Picture cards that are the same suit as the Ace are not affected (unless they are attached to a number card removed by the Joker). Number cards and Aces with Queens attached to them count as belonging to their printed suit: the suit of the attached Queens is ignored.; If a Joker is played on a number card from 2-10 it removes all other printed number cards of the same value from both player's caravans, along with any picture cards attached to those cards.; In all cases the card on which the Joker is played and any pictures attached to it are spared. A played Joker only affects cards that have been played before it, not cards played subsequently. All removed cards are added to the discard pile.

Picture cards can be

Caravan Card Game Online