Caravan (game)

Caravan is a card game designed by the developers of Fallout: New Vegas.

Inside of game
While traveling throughout the Mojave Wasteland, you will encounter NPCs who will be available for a game of Caravan. In order to play Caravan you must possess a full deck (30+ cards), however the dialog option appears even if you don't have enough cards. (PS3 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
Cards can be obtained from merchants and a free deck can be received from Ringo in Goodsprings.

How to Play
BUILDING A DECK

Caravan decks are comprised 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 suite from the table. Eg. a joker played on an Ace of Spades removes all spades (except face cards and that card, specifically) from the table.

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 an 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. Eg. 4+king=8. 4+king+king=16.

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.

List of NPCs who play Caravan

 * Ringo (Gives the PC one of his spare decks)
 * Johnson Nash (Generally only bets 1)
 * Cliff
 * No-Bark Noonan

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 lines: "You got to know when to hold 'em Know when to fold 'em; Know when to walk away, Know when to run."