Hi everyone,

I recently wrote this guide on How to Play Caravan in F:NV fo http://www.playstationfuture.com/2010/10/26/fallout-new-vegas-a-wasteland-guide-to-the-basics-of-caravan/, a gaming website dedicated to everything PlayStation, but I thought the Fallout community should get a look at this, so let me know what you think! Unfortunately I've had to link to images from my site as images aren't allowed in posts here, but I hope this helps some of you that are at a loss as to how to play the game.

Any release day buyers of Fallout: New Vegas who have even touched upon the card game of Caravan within the game will understand me when I say that the tutorial on how to play the game is, well, brief to say the least. When you are given your first deck of cards, you also retrieve a note, containing several paragraphs on how to play the game, and that's it, you learn the rest yourself - if you don't quite understand what the game is instructing you to do, then you're helpless to play what can be an intriguing game of tactics, skill and, as with any card game, luck.

OBTAINING A DECK

At the beginning of the game, you'll find yourself in Goodsprings, a small town in the central portion of the map. Going to the bar and witnessing several events take place will reveal that a trader by the name of Ringo is holed up in the Gas Station nearby.

Talking to Ringo will net you a free 54 card deck for you to play Caravan with (only 30 cards are required to play). Once you've got these cards, you'll notice that throughout the Mojave Wasteland you occasionally find chances to play the card game with characters - with Ringo being the first one you meet.

Additional cards to add to your deck can be found throughout the Mojave Wasteland too, some can be just picked up off of the floor, others can be stolen from people, but you'll most likely get most of your additional cards by purchasing them from various merchants.

RULES OF THE GAME

At the beginning of each game, there will be six empty piles for cards as shown below. The lower three piles (D, E and F) are for you, and the upper three piles (A, B and C) are for your opponent. The aim of the game is to build your pile to a value between 21 and 26 inclusive by use of numbered cards and aces - with aces valued at 1 and each numerical card valued at their respective numbers, these numbers are then summed to get the pile's total value.

http://www.playstationfuture.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Caravan-Basic-Layout1.png

Each pile is pitted against the pile immediately below or above it (i.e. A is placed against D, B against E, and C against F), and whichever pile is valued highest without being overburdened (valued at over 26) is awarded a win. The winner of the game is decided by the player with the most winning piles - either by 2 piles to 1, or 3 piles to 0.

At the start of the game, each player will draw eight cards from their deck - this becomes their current hand. Each player must lay a numerical card or an ace on each of their piles so that there is one card on every pile. After these initial turns, each subsequent turn follows the same basic pattern, with each player carrying out one of the following moves in a turn. These are:

• Placing a card from their hand onto a pile and drawing a new card from their deck to their hand.
  
• Removing a card from their hand by discarding it completely and drawing a new card from their deck to their hand.
  
• Disbanding one of their caravans by discarding all the cards in one of their piles.
  
• Players are somewhat limited in which card they may place on their piles, any numerical cards (or aces) placed on a pile should either be the same suit as the top card of the pile or should continue the direction of the caravan. The direction is based upon the top two cards in a pile - for example if the second card is a 3 of spades, and the top card is a 5 of clubs, then the player may only place a club, a picture card (these will be explained shortly), or a numerical card of value 6 or higher.

VALUES OF THE CARDS

As explained above, each numerical card had a value equal to its number - a 7 of clubs has a value of 7 - with ace cards holding a value of 1. Unlike picture cards, numerical cards cannot be placed on your opponent's piles. Picture cards add more strategy to the game and affect the various piles as follows:

THE JACK

When played on top of a numerical card or an ace, that card is removed, along with any picture cards attached to it.

http://www.playstationfuture.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Caravan-Jacks.png

Although you may want to use this card on your own piles, the most useful device for using this card is actually placing it on your opponent's piles. Say you are drawing with a player on one set of caravans, using a Jack on their pile will reduce the value of their pile, allowing your caravan to be 'sold'.

THE QUEEN

When played on top of a numerical card or an ace, the direction of the caravan is reversed - a caravan of descending value will now only allow numerical cards of a higher value to be placed on it. Multiple queens may be placed on top of each other.

http://www.playstationfuture.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Caravan-Queens1.png

The Queen may also be used to hinder your opponents progress, perhaps by changing the direction of their caravan from ascending to descending when their caravan is of a low value so that they can only put lower valued cards on their caravan. In the same way, changing your opponent's caravan direction from descending to ascending when their caravan is at a high value may stop them from gaining the best value caravan possible.

THE KING

When played on top of a numerical card or an ace, the value of that card is added again to the caravan's total value - placing a King on top of a 5 will add another 5 points to the caravan. Placing multiple Kings in succession multiplies the value - placing a King on top of the previous example will add an extra 10 points to the caravan, making the total 20.

http://www.playstationfuture.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Caravan-Kings.png

The King can also be used to sabotage your opponent's caravans, perhaps by increasing the value of one of their sold caravans in order to overburden it.

THE JOKER

When played on top of an ace, all numerical cards and aces of the ace's suit are removed from the table (excluding the ace beneath the Joker). Placing a Joker on an Ace of Spades will remove all other Aces of Spades and all numerical Spades.

http://www.playstationfuture.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Caravan-Jokers-1.png

When played on top of a numerical card, all numerical cards of that value are removed from the table with the exception of the numerical card beneath the Joker. Placing a Joker on top of a 9 of clubs will remove all other 9s from the table.

http://www.playstationfuture.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Caravan-Jokers-2.png

THE AIM OF THE GAME

To win the game, you need to have the most caravans of value between 21 and 26 inclusive. If two opposing piles are both within the winning values, then the caravan of the highest value without being overladen wins. Two opposing caravans of the same value results as a draw and does not count as a winning caravan for either player.

http://www.playstationfuture.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Caravan-Winning-Conditions1.png

However, if you have two winning caravans, and the third pile has not been won by either player, then the game continues - the final condition for the game to end is that three caravans must be 'sold'. To complete the game shown above, you may want to place a Jack on your drawing caravan so that the opponent's caravan wins, this would mean there are now three caravans that have been 'sold', of which two are yours, leaving you to take the win - as shown below.

http://www.playstationfuture.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Caravan-Winning-Conditions-2.png

Hopefully this guide has made the rules of the game clearer in your mind. Knowing how to play this little mini game can prove a lot of help in earning currency and acquiring a few of those pesky trophies! Not to mention the diversion it generates, you can literally spend hours roaming the wasteland, and sometimes its nice to have a break and play a game of caravan with an inhabitant of the Mojave Wasteland.

Please leave suggestions on how to make my future guides better, or any suggestions on the best tactics to use!

Overall nicely done. Mainly for the images. I'd already been winning almost every game of caravan from the start, but the visuals will likely help people out a lot, because some of the text of the rules (from the game/book) can seem a hair twisty

Cool. I have yet to play Caravan. I've been building my deck though. I missed the 54 card deck in Goodsprings! Looking forward to giving this a try, thanks for the informative post! :foodndrink:

Very nice, I think this should be stickied :tops:

A couple of questions... (I've got over 60 games in a row won, I understand most things about the game, but have a few questions.)

"Direction is determined by the top 2 cards of the pile" So if I play a 7, then a 9, place a queen on the 9 and then play a 5, if my opponent plays a Jack on the 9 with a Queen, that would make my pile descending since the top 2 cards would be 7 then 5, right?

Secondly, does playing a card of the same suit change the direction of the pile? For instance, if I play a 5 then a 6 of clubs, if I play a 4 of clubs (since that's the only way to play a lower card), does the pile then become descending, or ascending from there? I thought it left the order alone, but I've played some games where it seems to have changed the direction as well...


Edit: I also think it would be handy if the winning conditions charts actually showed varying "sold" states for the caravan bids instead of all of them being Too Heavy/Too Light or tied. If I've got 22, 24, 26 against your 26, 25, 24, I'd still lose even though they're all valid bids.

Edit2: I also think it should be noted that face cards can be played on any card in a stack, not just on the top card. So if your opponent has a 10 with a king under a 6, you can play a Jack on the 10 with the King leaving just the 6, you don't have to just take the top card away.

Very nicely done! The only additional info I would add is on the controls... it took me 3 days to figure out that the previously never used arrow keys were needed to navigate on a PC. :stare:

I wish this guide was put in the damn game.

Mind if I add this to my new website? Registered a little place for myself on the interwebs that I'll be dedicating to mods and other Oblivion/Fallout 3/Fallout NV related stuff.

hi!


i found the best way to win is to just take out all cards in your deck that aren;t a 7,9, and 10 (or any cards that add up to 26, 7,9, and 10 are just the easiest to remember for me-)

then when you start, make sure you have either 3 7's, 3 9's and 2 10's to start or 2 7's 3 9's and 3 10's

then just build up to 26 on each caravan, and wala! you win everytime!


it was confusing at first, now it is too easy!


i have TONS of $$$ now, almost too much!

What I do is 10's K's and 6's. Lay down a 10, then a king on top then a 6. Surplus kings are used to sabotage opponents caravans :ninja:

It also works with 6's, 8's, 10's, and Kings. Take on all the face cards to get up to the 30 card minimum and just play them on the oppenent's deck.

With a 6, you lay down a 10 on it and add a King. Viola, 26.

With an 8, you slap a King on it and lay a 10 on it. Viola, 26 again.

Same goes in reverse with the 10's.

I very rarely lose a hand now with that strategy. I usually just add extra A, 2-10 cards for fun... To make it a little less certain.

@Turikan and @Falcon5090-

heh heh heh, we know when to hold em, know when to fold em, know when to walk away, when the dealings done..

Yeah... Sure do. Caravan has made me a rich man.

i dont get caravan at all. no matter what i do i can never play anything but kings.

Yep, it's too easy. I didn't witness my opponent using his/her cards on my hand yet. Sometimes I use this tactic to make my opponent go bust or remove cards, with K's & J's. Would be more tactical and harder that way. Anyways, thanks for the tutorial. There are also a couple of youtube videos about Caravan for newer players, if you're a more visual comprehensive person like me.

To make it more of a challenge, I only use the cards I'm dealt. No discarding before playing evens the field quite a bit.

Ok, this is the only thing I have a problem with. The only pattern I see is ascending or descending.

Eg: If I start with an three of clubs, and I place any suit in an ascending order. So lets say I place a 5 of hearts. My next card could again be ANY suit, as long as it's higher than 5. I cannot recall ever being unable to play a card because of it's suit. Direction, ascending and descending, appears to be the only limit.


Edit.... Unless a same suit card allows me to place a card out of the directional sequence??
The other things is, the first round when you place your first cards, there is NO discarding that round. But what if you do not have at least 3 cards to place?

I just pick a 30 card deck where I have chosen all the 10's 9's and 7's. In my first turn I discard every single card that is not one of those three. Then I can start building my caravans of 10's first, then 9's and finally 7's. That way you'll get the number of 26, which is the highest possible to have a caravan, and.. that's it. the game is won.

If you play a 3 of clubs then a 5 of hearts, you could then play an Ace through 4 as long as it's a heart also.

Edit, I also believe it has to be the same suit as the last numerical card played, NOT the same suit as the first card in the pile.
Edit: I think my confusion lies with top/bottom. I'm thinking of top as viewed on the screen, when really the top card in the pile is the one closest to the bottom of the screen for you.

THANK YOU!!!!!
I think I get it now!

Thanks for the feedback guys in answer to your questions:

@Fizziii I'll have to get back to you on your first question but your second question I can answer. Playing a 5 of clubs, then a 6 of hearts and then a 4 of hearts for example would then make the caravan descending.
Thanks for the suggestions, I'll see what I can do

@GrayeWolf I have no problem with you using this guide on your website, I only ask that you link to the original article under the address if that's ok? The address is: http://www.playstationfuture.com/2010/10/26/fallout-new-vegas-a-wasteland-guide-to-the-basics-of-caravan/

@Bulwark A same suit card can be placed on top of the pile - by which I mean the card furthermost down the pile on the screen - regardless of the direction. I'll have a play around with what you also noted - not being able to play 3 cards in the first round - and get back to you.

Thanks again everyone for all your positive feedback and suggestions, hopefully I've solved a few problems there, and I'll work on those other questions over the next few days.

Thanks for this guide, this really cleared up the game for me! I NOW know why sometimes the games ends and I lose. I know what to watch for now, and better how to manipulate the other player. The ONLY thing is about not discarding the first round. I haven't tried lately, but a couple weeks ago the first time I played, it allowed me to discard cards the first round. Simply cause I didn't know how to move and select the cards and such.

I think, if you don't have 'valid' cards to play, then you would have to discard and pick up a card. Otherwise you must play with what you have.


*** If I use a king on my opponents caravan and make it bust, I believe that only THAT card gets removed... I'll have to test that again. I also haven't tested if I want to disband one of my caravan's, can't see why I'd want to do this, do I pick up a card after and end my turn?

rymanb, you rock. Thank you. Maybe now I won't be a pauper and I can get enough caps to get my armor repaired and get more .308 ammo for Boone. I finally get it.

Ringo gives you one in the beginning of the game

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by this. If you bust their caravan with a King ALL of the cards STAY there until someone does something about it. If he plays a Jack on whatever card you played the King on, then the King, plus the card it was played on get removed. If he removes the stack, then everything goes away.

I've never disbanded one of my caravans.