Caravan (game)

Caravan is a card game designed by Obsidian Entertainment specifically for Fallout: New Vegas.

Inside of game
While traveling throughout the Mojave Wasteland, you will encounter NPCs who will be available to play a game of Caravan. In order to play Caravan you must possess a full deck (30+ cards), however the dialogue option appears even if you don't have enough cards. (PS3, 360 and PC confirmed) If an attempt is made to play with an insufficient number of cards, a message appears informing the player they need at least 30 cards to play a hand of Caravan.

Obtaining a deck
A free 54 card deck and game instructions can be received from Ringo in Goodsprings. Additional cards can also be obtained from various stores and merchants across the Mojave wasteland.

Building A Deck
Caravan decks are composed of at least 30 cards from one or more traditional playing card sets. The deck may have any number of cards of any type that suits a player's strategy, although it cannot have duplicate cards from the same set. For example, a King of Spades from Set A and a King of Spades from Set B is acceptable, but more than one King of Spades from Set A would be illegal.

Rules
Caravan is played with two players building three opposing piles (or "caravans") of numbered cards. The goal is to outbid your opponent's caravan with the highest value of numbered cards without being too light (under 21) or overburdened (over 26). The game begins with each player taking eight cards from their deck and placing either one numerical card or ace on each caravan. Players may NOT discard during this initial round.

Once both players have started their three caravans, each player may do ONE of the following on their turn:

1. Play one card and draw a new card from his deck into his hand.

2. Discard one card from his hand and draw a new card from his deck.

3. Disband one of his three caravans by removing all cards from that pile.

Caravans have a direction, either ascending or descending numerically, and a suit. The suit is determined with the first card placed on the caravan, the direction by the second. All subsequent cards must continue the numerical direction or match the suit of the previous card. Cards of the same numerical value cannot be played in sequence, regardless of suit. Face cards can be attached to numeric cards in any caravan and affect them in various ways.

Card Values

 * Joker: Played against Ace; 2-10.
 * Effects change based on whether it's an ace or a number (see below). Multiple jokers may be played on the same card.


 * Ace: Value of 1.
 * Jokers played on aces remove all other non-face cards of the ace's suit from the table. e.g. a joker played on an Ace of Spades removes all spades (except face cards and that card, specifically) from the table.


 * Numbered Cards (2-10): Listed value.
 * Jokers played on these cards remove all other cards of this value from the table. Eg. a joker played on a 4 of Hearts removes all 4s (other than that card, specifically) from the table.


 * Jack: Played against Ace; 2-10.
 * Removes that card, along with any face cards attached to it.


 * Queen: Played against Ace; 2-10.
 * Reverses the current direction of the hand and changes the current suit of the hand. Multiple queens may be played on the same card.


 * King: Played against Ace; 2-10.
 * Adds the value of that card again. Eg. a king played on a 9 adds 9 to that pile. Multiple kings may be played on the same card for multiplicative effects; that is to say, a second King will add the doubled value resulting from the first King. So 4+King=8, but 4+King+King=16 (8 plus 8)

Winning
A player's caravan is considered sold when the value of its cards is over 20 and under 27. The other player may still outbid by increasing the value of their opposing pile while staying within the 21-26 range. When each of the three competing caravans has sold, the game is over. In the event of a tie between two matched caravans, the game continues until all three caravans have sold. The player with two or more sales wins the pot.

Clarifications
The official instructions are a little brief. For players having trouble playing, always seeing the card red when trying to add it to the caravan, note that you have to press DOWN in order to put it UNDER the caravan. A more thorough explanation can be found below.

Winning condition in plain English
Winning is easy to understand if you grasp the fact that the tech writer who wrote the official rules goofed a very important point of clarity: there are only three caravans on the board. Your three piles on your side are your bids for each caravan, and likewise for your opponent. Six bids, three caravans. As soon as all three caravans are sold, the game ends. The player who has the highest bid on at least two of the caravans at game end wins the pot.

A caravan is sold when at least one of its bids falls between the range of 21 - 26 AND the bids for that caravan are different amounts. Until all three caravans are sold, either player can keep adjusting the bids on any caravan! Only when all three meet the "sold" criteria does play stop and you determine who has two or more of the highest bids within the 21 - 26 range.

Now here's the tricky part: a caravan with tied bids (e.g. your bid and your opponent's bid add up to the same value; 25, for example) is not yet sold, so something must happen to break the tie. This can be done in many ways, such as: reducing your opponent's bid by playing a jack on one of the cards in their bid; playing a king on one of the cards in their bid to make their bid exceed 26; or say you're tied with 24 each and you discard for a few turns until you finally draw an ace and increase your bid to 25 to break the tie. Or say all three of your bids are 26 each but you opponent has one bid at 26 too, so that caravan is in a tied state. In this case you can simply wipe out your own bid (remove your stack for that caravan) and you'll instantly win the pot because the final caravan becomes sold, the game ends, and you'll have two winning bids to your opponent's one winning bid.

Opening
Each player starts out with 8 cards in his hand drawn from his deck. Players take turns placing their opening bids for each of the three caravans (i.e. columns on the table). To start a bid, a player must play any non-face card on the table, regardless of value or suit. Once both players have played their three cards regular gameplay commences. At this point there will be 3 columns and 2 rows of cards on the table.

Regular Play ('Contract War')
During a Player's turn, they can do one of the following:
 * Discard a card from their hand.
 * Discard one of their stacks from the table. (one of their bids)
 * Add to a bid. (Play a number card; i.e. Ace to 10)
 * Modify their bids or their opponent's. (Play a Face card; Jack, Queen, King or Joker)

Regardless of which option chosen, the player will draw a card afterwards, unless they already have eight cards in their hand.

Add to a Bid: Players add a number card (i.e. an Ace, or any card from 2 to 10) to one of their three columns and increase their bid. In order to add to a bid, a player plays a number card on the bottom of one of their stacks. The card must match the suit of the last card, or match the current direction. (ascending numbers or descending numbers) In both cases, the card must be a different value from the previous card.

Direction is determined by looking at the previous two cards in the column. At the beginning of the game, a player can choose to play a higher or lower value card, setting the Direction of the bid. Once there are at least two cards on a stack, those need to be checked to determine the current direction. Example: if there is a column consisting of "9-Hearts; 4-Spades; 3-Diamonds" then the direction is currently descending because 3 is smaller than 4. You could play any 2 card or any Ace. You could also play any Diamond card, except for 3-Diamonds.

Discard: A player can choose to discard either a card from their hand, and draw a new card, or discard a stack from the table. In either case, their turn immediately ends.

Modify a Bid: Face cards (Joker, Jack, Queen, King) have special abilities and can be attached, (Placed next to, rather than below) any number card currently on the table.

Example: played on a 7-Hearts this card will now be worth 14 points. If a second King is attached to it, it adds 14 (the total value) rather than 7, and the value would now be 28. Example: if there is a column consisting of "9-Hearts; 4-Spades; 3-Diamonds", attaching a "Q-Clubs" to the "3-Diamonds" means that you can now play any Clubs card, or any number card higher than 3. Example: When played against a 6-Spades, all other 6 cards regardless of their suit will be removed from the table. When played against an Ace-Diamonds all other Diamond number cards on the table will be removed.
 * King: Doubles the total value of the card(s) it attaches to.
 * Queen: Changes the column's direction and suit; an ascending bid becomes descending, and vice-versa. The bid's suit changes to match the suit of the Queen played. NOTE: The player can only play a Queen on the last card in the stack.
 * Jack: By playing this against a number card it acts as an eraser. The number card (and all its attachments) are removed from the table. This can be used on the player's bids to lower them from 27, correct a bad play made earlier, or to sabotage the opponent's bids.
 * Joker: Similar to a Jack, the Joker removes cards, but it does so on a larger scale. When played on a number card, all cards matching that number are discarded from play. When a Joker is played on an Ace, however, all cards matching the suit of the Ace are removed. The card the Joker is played on is 'spared'; it does not get removed from play.

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Strategy

 * I have found that using only two suits is easiest. For example, I personally use hearts and clubs, remember to add in all kings, jacks, jokers, and queens. You should have about 30 cards. Next you try to play at least one of both suits, this can get tricky. If you have a ten and a king at the time, be patient and play your 10 first and when you've placed your first 3 cards, play the king on the 10, you will now be 6 away from a easy win. Also remember to use your jacks on "risky" looking stacks.


 * A deck will be most effective when it contains multiple ways to make totals between 21~26 quickly. The best combinations will revolve around Kings because one won't need to worry about playing cards in order as much.  For example, when playing the combo King-10-6, one can play TK6, 6KT, T6K, or 6TK to make 22 or 26.  Playing a combo like 10-9-7 requires one to play 79T or T97.  KT8 would be a combo similar to KT6.  In addition, T86 makes 24, a strong caravan as well.  A deck with a composition of five Kings, 10's, 9's, 8's, 7's and 6's would make a very strong 30-card deck (over 50% chance of drawing a playable 3-card combo to 22~26 when drawing 3 random cards).


 * My Winning Strategy, over 90 wins in a row and counting: Before the game begins you can discard and redraw as many times as you'd like. Abuse this ability to craft the following hand.  3 Kings, 3 8's or 10's and two 8's or 10's, whichever you don't have 3 of.  Whichever card you have 3 of use as the start of each of your bids.  Then the computer will play a card on one of his bids.  You play a second card on any other bid, he plays, you play on the remaining bid.  Then use your kings to double the 8's to 26 total and win the 2 bids you're on.  If you come into a tie situation remember that you can use a king to double one of the opponents cards to cause them to go over 26.


 * Kings are almost as useful to play on your opponent's caravans as your own. A well-placed king can overburden a winning bid (e.g. TK6 -> TKK6, making a caravan of 46. The opponent's best move is probably to discard the caravan!). Additionally, when you have two winning bids, you can often win by forcing your opponent to win the third bid.


 * Using this strategy makes the game very easy. Buy from vendors as many Kings, 10s, and Jacks that you can find - then put them all in your pack when playing. When laying down the three starter cards, keep discarding any card that isn't a King, 10, 6 and Jack. When you get a 10 - lay it down on one of the caravan. Try to have 3 Kings on your hand, one or two Jokers and some other cards from 2-6. So now you should have 10s (9s or 8s) on your three caravans. As the war starts, be as quick as possible to lay down Kings. If you strike out on drawing Kings you can also lay down 9 or 8. Very quickly now you will have 20 points on at least two decks. If you now notice your opponent having a good caravan you can use Jacks to take it out. All you need to do to win is lay down some (ideally) 6s on your 20pt caravans, but anything between 2-6 obviously works. Also keep in mind you only need to win two out of three caravans to win overall.

A simpler strategy
All you need to win at caravan is three 10s three 9s and three 7s. Once the game has started continue to discard your hand till you have these cards. Now build two bids (10,9,7 or 7,9,10) ignoring the caravan the computer is paying attention to. Congratulations, you will now win every time in only 6 moves.

Criticisms of this strategy:
 * This strategy is weaker than many of the strategies in the preceding section because it has no cards designed to break a tied 26 value on two or more caravans. If the computer manages to tie one of the first two caravans you build to 26, that gives it time to then build a tied 26 value on two or all three caravans. In this case, discarding one of your bids will lose the game for you. You must have a way instead, to destroy up to two of the enemy bids in the even of a 26-26 tie on all three caravans.
 * This strategy (and many of the strategies listed above in the preceding section) will work somewhat we only as long as the game bug that allows you to discard during the initial round remains in place. As soon as the game is patched to prevent this bug, this strategy will be very weak.
 * This is not a strong strategy at all if you "play fair" now for roleplay purposes and do not abuse the "discard during initial round" bug that makes this a 100% win strategy.
 * There are other 3-card combos that can work in this particular strategy: king/10/8 or king/10/6.

Bugs

 * Currently it's impossible to add purchased cards to the deck. Though this can be fixed by adding the cards to a container and then removing them from the container.
 * It is also difficult to select cards when editing your deck, because the card that's highlighted is often not the card you're selecting.
 * In game work around: Open any container or companions' backpack, put the cards from your inventory into the container or give them to your companion. Then close the container or end the trade. After this, open the container / companions' backpack again and get the cards back. The cards should now be added to your deck instead of being in your misc. inventory.
 * In some cases this workaround is impossible as, at least in my experience, the player is only capable of viewing the cards within their own inventory, when viewing a container or a companion's inventory the cards and deck are not shown, and it is therefore impossible to do anything more than throw them away.
 * Also it seems that the same bug is found on the US PS3 version of the game. Seeing as it sometimes causes the game to freeze when buying large amounts of cards from a vendor. The UK PS3 version also freezes when buying large amounts of cards. A possible work around is to first put all playing cards you already have in the backpack of a companion. Then buy the cards you want of a vendor and finally retrieve all already owned cards from your followers inventory.
 * Though the rules state no discarding may occur during the initial round, it is nonetheless possible to do so anyway. If you do, your opponent does not get a turn and you get to go again. By doing this you can stack your hand with whatever cards you want at the beginning and easily win every game.
 * After the game ends, when it says to press any button to continue pressing start and then hitting start again will cause the game to become unresponsive yet party chat still works.
 * It is not possible to discard cards from your hand once your main deck is empty. Your opponent will still be able to do so once their deck is gone.

List of NPCs who play Caravan

 * Ringo - Ringo also gives the Courier one of his spare decks, which allows you to play Caravan.
 * Johnson Nash (Some players experience that he usually only bets 1)(being a merchant, you can buy all his stock and then win the money back betting in caravan)
 * No-Bark Noonan (His highest bet is 1400)
 * Dale Barton - The Fort
 * Lacey - Mojave Outpost Barracks/bartender (Usually starts her bets high in the 500's and as you win, she'll lower her bets) (being a merchant, you can buy all her stock and then win the money back betting in caravan)
 * Jake Erwin - NCR Embassy
 * Dennis Crocker - NCR Embassy (First bet is usually at or above 1000)
 * Little Buster - Camp McCarran
 * Mayes - Quartermaster, Camp Forlorn Hope(has no stock to buy(Until you get permission from doing missions for the lieutenant), but still has 2000+ caps)
 * Isaac At Gun Runners.
 * Cliff Briscoe(being a merchant, you can buy all his stock and then win the money back betting in caravan)
 * Keith - Aerotech Suite 200
 * Jules- North Vegas Square

Behind the scenes
The achievement name "Know When to Fold Them" is an homage to the song "The Gambler" by Kenny Rogers, specifically the well-known chorus: "You got to know when to hold 'em, Know when to fold 'em, Know when to walk away, Know when to run. You never count your money When you're sittin' at the table. There'll be time enough for countin' When the dealin's done."